Saturday, June 30, 2007

The 4400: Fear Itself

They did something that no other show on TV has ever done, they portrayed healing autism. It was a bold and a very controversial move. OK, you're thinking "how could I watch the whole episode and find that as the key arc?" That's easy, I have a 21 year old autistic son, so this hits home for me. The thought of an autistic person, child or not, wondering around in the cold and rain, alone and unsupervised, is frightening. Young actor, Jake Cherry, did a superb job of imitating an autistic person. The rocking and humming sounds, and the non-responsiveness to stimuli were right on. People who are unfamiliar with autism do not realize that most autistic people cannot read, write, talk. At the end when Shawn heals Brandon, and Brandon utters his first words (since being an infant), well it's a moment for a parent that cannot be described with words. It would be really great if they had Brandon is a future episode as a normal child, but able to share his imprisonment with autism. Now that would be controversial.

Newcomer head of NTAC, Meghan Doyle (Jenni Baird), is certainly making her mark. Unlike her predecessors, we get to see inside her personal life. When Tom tells her that having a 4400 on their side comes in handy, she probably doesn't realize the relevance even after she gets the call about her father. But I'm gonna predict that she asks Shawn to help her father.

Kyle got the coolest ability, the wonder of ever man's dreams. Cassie, the girl of his dreams is there whenever he wants, in his mind. Of course, that could make it difficult to have real relationships. Many a psychiatrist pay their country club memberships with the likes of those circumstances. But we know Kyle is normal... for someone with Promicin in their blood. I think we'll see allot of good and bad things from Cassie. She is the embodiment of Kyle's conscience mind so there's a whole lot they can develop on that.

I think Danny will take the shot. He wants to, and now that Kyle's ability has surfaced, he won't be able to resist.

Diana's back, no surprise there. Maia said it would happen and she's never wrong.

We've yet to see Richard this season. It's likely because actor Mahershalalhashbaz Ali is involved in the film "Crossing Over" that's filming in Los Angeles.




Regards
John Crawford

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Saturday, June 23, 2007

Continuity? The 4400 Season 4 Premier

They really did a bad job of transitioning from last season. With no marathons or special to bring us up-to-date, It was difficult to follow the storyline. For instance, why is Shawn in the hospital, in a coma? Where was Kyle? What happened to Nina Jarvis? What happened to all the 4400's when the 4400 Center was closed? I guess we will find out in future episodes.

That Graham kid, though, had an ability many would want. He could make a person do anything he wanted them to do. Talk about being in control? But Jordan took it away, so now we know what his 4400 ability is. But here's what I don't understand. If the authorities have a warrant for Jordan Collier's arrest, how could he show up at that high school, in public view, with police present and then walk away?

Diana and Maia will be back in Seattle soon. This love triangle with Ben and April is far from over. Remember she stole him from her sister? Since April's been given the promicin, there some plot twist coming with her. Then there's Marco. Maybe we'll see an old fashioned fight between Marco and Ben?

We saw Alana (Karina Lombard) abducted again at the end of last season. Chances are we won't see much of her as she is starring in "The L Word" and just finished a miniseries called "Suspectes".

Nina (Samantha Farris / Sarah Ryan) has been very busy since last season. According to IMDB.com she been in 6 episodes of "Supernatural" and 2 episodes of "Battlestar Galactica". She has also appeared in other TV series I've never of: "Tell Me No Lies" and "Last Chance Cafe". She also appeared in these movies: "Butterfly on a Wheel" and "Gray Matters". All of these are/were filmed in British Columbia, Canada.


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John Crawford

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Flop: Stargate SG-1 Series Finale

What a let down. They hyped this episode for months, but it really could have been just another episode. there was no endings, no closures, no surprise cameos, nothing that would make you think of it as the final episode of a 10 year running series. We already knew this was the very last episode, we did not know if someone would really die. We already knew that Amanda Tapping was moving to Atlantis. The only somewhat issue was the Teal'c aged approximately 50 years.

OK, that's not to say it wasn't a good episode. Given the key players were trapped on a ship for that long, the inevitable things happened when boys and girls are together. But what happened to all the other crew members? OK, maybe it wasn't such a good episode.


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John Crawford

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Sleeper: The 4400, Season 4 Premier

It's been awhile since writing in this column. Science Fiction is one of my passions, but writing here is all dependent on what's new on TV. Or in this case, what's not new on TV. When you like a TV series, you look forward to when it's on. It's been 9 months since the last new episode of The 4400 aired, and like millions of 4400 fans, this Sunday night at 9:00PM I'll be tuned in.

What I think the show producers or the studio maybe forgot was the show has been off the air for 9 months. OK, USA network shows a episode occasionally late at night, 1:00 or 2:00 AM, but who's awake for it? So for Season 4 they have no planned marathon, no showing of season 3's finale, no lead up to the story. Nothing. This is in contrast to the season 3 premier which was proceeded by a whole day marathon and a special episode that explained the entire story.

I guess those that make the show or the studio are out of touch with the fans. I have friends that say they liked the show but since they never see or hear about it they assumed it was cancelled. I mean, unless you watch the USA Network allot (and I don't), then you would be very much uninformed about such things. That is a shame since it is a great show.

And it's not just The 4400. There's the Dead Zone, Monk, and Psych. If you don't watch the USA Network you won't know what's up with any of those shows. The USA Network seems to be preoccupied with anything "Law & Order". But I'm not here to dis the network, after all, they do show The 4400, Dead Zone, Monk, and Psych, and that's very good. I just hope these shows will survive the lack of PR a marathon, or special episode does for a continuing storyline.


Regards
John Crawford

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