Television: An Unequaled Storytelling Medium

Regardless of whether watched on a computer monitor, iPod, mobile phone or flat-screen TV, television has risen above the stigma of its early years to become the premier storytelling medium of the Twenty-First Century. From comedy to drama, mystery to fantasy, sci-fi to spy thriller, the former “vast wasteland” now offers something for everybody on a level equal or superior to film and literature. Whether it’s great writing or character development, a psychological study or social critique, television indeed has it all, and alterna-tv.com covers both the best of today as well as the classics of yesteryear.

—alterna-tv.com

Burn Notice Season One Review

Regardless of whether watched on a computer monitor, iPod, mobile phone or flat-screen TV, television has risen above the stigma of its early years to become the premier storytelling medium of the Twenty-First Century. From comedy to drama, mystery to fantasy, sci-fi to spy thriller, the former “vast wasteland” now offers something for everybody on a level equal or superior to film and literature. Looking for sci-fi? Try Battlestar Galactica. Medical dramas? There’s Grey’s Anatomy. Epic mysteries? Lost. In the mood for comedy? How about The Office and 30 Rock. All of the above not only entertain, but invoke storytelling techniques filled with philosophical discourses and social critiques that compliment the narrative. Then there’s Burn Notice on USA Network. This light-hearted affair may not raise your IQ level but it is the small-screen answer to 1980s “buddy movies” and firmly establishes television as an equal to film in that genre as well.

Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is a spy. More precisely, a freelancer for the CIA. While on assignment in Nigeria he discovers he has been issued a “burn notice,” the espionage equivalent of being fired. Cut-off from his associates by direct order of the United States government and with his bank accounts frozen, he is unceremoniously “dumped” in Miami and put under constant FBI surveillance. With a handful of friends (and family), Westen now earns a living by taking small jobs helping every day people who suddenly find themselves in need of someone with his expertise, while also trying to figure out who “burned” him and why he has been blacklisted from his profession.

JUNE 30, 2008 (READ MORE)

Lost Season Four Finale: There's No Place Like Home

Season finales of Lost traditionally accomplish two things: bring the overarching theme of the season to a close while likewise setting up a new focus with an unexpected twist. The first year, for instance, was an introduction to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and the strange surroundings in which they suddenly found themselves stranded. The final episode offered a double-twist of “not alone” in both the past and present tense, as the mysterious Others fully revealed themselves with the kidnapping of young Walt while John Locke finally found the means to open the equally mysterious hatch. Season Two expanded upon those events with an exploration of the island’s mythology through the Dharma Initiative, along with Michael Dawson’s quest to retrieve his missing son. Bookended by the entering of the hatch and its subsequent implosion, that season ended with Michael and Walt leaving the island while Jack Shephard, James “Sawyer” Ford and Kate Austin were in turn taken captive by the Others.

Lost then shifted its focus the following year to include these strange island inhabitants as well as their de facto leader, Benjamin Linus. The season concluded with Ben seemingly losing control of his position of power as the Lostaways turned the tables on the Others, with the added twist that the traditional episode flashback was in actuality a flashforward showing another de facto leader, Jack, off-island and likewise losing control as he screamed “we need to go back” to fellow survivor Kate.

JUNE 9, 2008 (READ MORE)

The Television Career of Young Indiana Jones

With the May 2008 release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, America’s fascination with the iconic fictional character will know doubt be again resurrected. The original adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, earned $209 million in 1981, and the subsequent prequel (Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom) and sequel (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) likewise ruled the domestic box office, respectively scoring $179 and $197 million each. Conceived by Star Wars guru George Lucas and born from his love of 1940s serials, the movie franchise features Steven Spielberg as director and Harrison Ford in the role of Indiana Jones, the famed archaeologist who continuously finds himself in pursuit of lost relics and ancient treasures.

Old time movies, however, are just one of the many passions Lucas has had through the course of his life, and in the early 1990s he decided to wed one of his greatest characters with an equal love for history by creating The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, a television drama that ran on ABC for two seasons, from 1992 to 1993. “I have an educational foundation working with interactive projects, and I got this idea to get kids involved in history through the Young Indiana Jones character,” TheRaider.net quotes Lucas as saying at the time. “The turn of the century is my favorite part of history because it has so much to do with the emergence of the modern age we live in today. It seemed like such a great idea and such an interesting adventure that I just got lured into it by the creative potential.”

MAY 12, 2008 (READ MORE)

Lost: An Analysis of Season Four, Part One

When the producers of Lost negotiated an “end date” for the ABC drama with network executives, it laid the potential for the final forty-eight episodes to be a revealing, rapid-paced, roller-coaster-of-a-ride to the finish line. Freed from not knowing how long the series would last and the uncertainty of when to answer the multitude of perplexing questions, co-executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse could finally take off the gloves and bring Lost to its full fruition. Based on the first eight of those final forty-eight, it appears that those lofty expectations have indeed been realized.

The initial episode—appropriately entitled “The Beginning of the End”—picks up where the revitalized Season Three left off, with the imminent rescue of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, coupled with the knowledge that a flashforward, heavily-bearded Jack Shephard needs to “go back.” But we quickly find that not everyone achieves rescue, as the ensuing flashforward of fan-favorite Hugo “Hurley” Reyes reveals that only six passengers make their way back to civilization. More importantly, the flashforward is filled with cryptic references—Hurley denies ever meeting fellow Lostaway Ana-Lucia Cortez, an apparition of deceased Charlie Pace declares “they need you,” and Hurley himself pulls a bearded Jack when he tells the good doctor “I don’t think we did the right thing; I think it wants us to go back”—all alluding to a fabricated lie told by the media-dubbed “Oceanic Six.”

MARCH 24, 2008 (READ MORE)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Funnier on Cable

It seems that ever since Seinfeld ended its nine-season run on May 14, 1998, the media industry has been lamenting the demise of television comedies. Entertainment Weekly, for instance, first reported on the “Death of the Sitcom” in its April 16, 1999, issue, writing that “the current generation of sitcoms has two fundamental problems: the situation, which is mind-numbingly familiar from one show to the next; and the comedy, which not only is a threat to national intelligence but often carries the unfortunate burden of not being funny.” The magazine ran a follow-up cover story on April 2, 2004, entitled “Are Sitcoms Dead?” and yet another article on October 6, 2006, this time asking the question “Where have all the sitcoms gone?” while suggesting that “TV comedy is broken.”

In August 2005, however, almost exactly in the middle of the “Are Sitcoms Dead?” and “TV Comedy Is Broken” headlines, cable channel FX premiered a new series, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which, according to Wikipedia, began life as camcorder pilot filmed for under $200. The series, which has recently been renewed for a fourth season, follows a group of self-centered, immature, back-stabbing and politically incorrect individuals who live up to the show’s tag-line of “Seinfeld on acid.”

MARCH 17, 2008 (READ MORE)

ADDITIONAL ALTERNA-TV.COM TELEVISION REVIEWS:

Dexter Season One Review of the first season of the Showtime series about a vigilante serial killer which recently made its network debut on CBS (February 18, 2008).

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Review of the new FOX drama, emphasizing the show’s realistic characters and comparisons to The X-Files and short-lived Firefly (January 21, 2008).

Moonlighting Revisited: From Hit to Writers Strike Casualty Review and critique of the classic 1980s dramedy whose cancellation is partially blamed on the last strike by the Writers Guild of America (December 17, 2007).

Twin Peaks Revisited: Monumental Television At Its Best Review of the short-lived classic television series created by David Lynch, recently released on DVD (November 5, 2007).

Best New Shows of the 2007-08 Season Review of the best new shows of the current television season: Pushing Daisies, Reaper, Chuck and Gossip Girl (October 29, 2007).

NBC: Master of 'Comedy Done Right' Review of the NBC Thursday night lineup of My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock and The Office, and how they are worthy heirs to NBC sitcoms of yesteryear (October 22, 2007).

Jericho Season One Review of the first season of the CBS series that was brought back from cancellation last May by a fan protest (October 15, 2007).

ABC: The 'It' Network of the Now Review advocating that ABC is the current network for smart, intelligent, thought-provoking television, using Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Ugly Betty as examples (September 24, 2007).

Wonderfalls Revisited: The Destiny of the Human Spirit Essay on the short-lived-but-cult-favorite television series co-created by Bryan Fuller (September 3, 2007).

Heroes Season One Review of the first season of the new NBC hit series (September 3, 2007).

Tim Minear's Drive Review of the Spring 2007 FOX drama co-created by Tim Minear, which was shortly thereafter cancelled after only four episodes (Flak Magazine: April 24, 2007).

In Defense of Lost Article defending the ABC drama Lost amidst fan unrest during the season three hiatus (Flak Magazine: February 6, 2007).

Bones Season One Review of the FOX forensic drama, highlighting its Moonlighting roots and quirky characterizations (Flak Magazine: December 18, 2006).

Veronica Mars Season Two Review of the second season of the critically-acclaimed yet ratings-challenged UPN/CW drama (Flak Magazine: October 3, 2006).