2014 Comic-Con: Saturday's TV Fun

Saturday was a lighter day as far as panels go, but we still managed to fit in a nice variety of television activities. Two pilots, an off-site experience, two state-of-programming television evolution discussions, another behind-the-scenes writers' session, and a scavenger hunt of sorts filled the day. Included below are some highlights from these events - look for more in-depth articles in the future. And, be sure to follow us on SmugMug, on Twitter or on Facebook for the latest throughout Comic-Con!

Why Not Serious? Comedy vs. Drama in Animation, with Craig Miller, Ted Biaselli, Brian Hohlfeld, and Jim Krieg.
- comedy episodes are more re-watchable than drama or adventure installments.
- sometimes descriptions don't translate well when animators are from a different region. Example: there aren't marshmallows in Spain, so there's a scene around a campfire with someone toasting a piece of bread instead!
- Mickey Mouse is a lot like SpongeBob... both are exuberant and love the world.

photo: Amy K. Bredemeyer

Inside the Writers' Room: Earth's Mightiest Writers Re-Assmble, with Chris Parnell, Michael Narducci, Steve Holland, Sarah Watson, Bill Harper, Christine Boylan, Ashley E. Miller, Steve Melching, Jose Molina, and Mark A. Altman.
- The Vampire Diaries and The Originals allow support staff to submit scenes. If the make it into the script, they get a credit, and some even wind up joining the staff!
- Series that the panelists really enjoy currently include Game of Thrones, Justify, The Americans, Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, Korra, Adventure Time, Penny Dreadful, The Good Wife, The Walking Dead, The Leftovers, and Fargo.

photo: Amy K. Bredemeyer

NBC's Off-Site Constantine
We also went off-site to check out the Constantine experience (if you're looking out from E lobby, across the train tracks, it's the blue dome near the Omni). At the time, the wait was about 25 minutes, which was definitely worth the unique four minutes you watched the trailer. It was similar to a theme park atmosphere, actually, as there were 4D elements such as fans blowing wind.

photo: Amy K. Bredemeyer

The Digital Revolution: The Convergence of Television and the Internet, with Daniel Alter, Jasmine Andrevos, Adrian Askarich, and Jeff Krelitz.
- you can be raunchier in an online format like Hulu, Amazon, or Netflix.
- The way the digital age affects television may show up again in the near future, as people don't want to deal with the hassle of driving to a movie theater if they can have a good time at home.

photo: Amy K. Bredemeyer

The Strain Screening
- During specific times throughout Comic-Con, you could stop by three booths (FOX, Dark Horse, and Harper Collins) and collect wristbands promoting The Strain. Then, you could take them to a specific theater downtown and see what could have been done better. We scored autographed The Strain comic books and had our faces morphed so we'd know what we'd look like if something similar happens. After photographing a few of the props that were places around the room, we bailed on viewing episodes 2 and 3 in favor of hitting something more closely aligned with our interests...

photo: Jonathan Bredemeyer

Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment: The Flash, Constantine, Arrow, and the World Premiere of Gotham, with ~35 members of talent on the stage at once! *We'll discuss the pilots later, but here are some highlights from the panel itself:
- Arrow will bring in Wildcat this season, who will interact with Laurel.
- Grant Gustin likes to dig as deep as he can with the emotional rawness of The Flash.
- Jesse L. Martin is excited to play a detective who actually gets to shoot people, as he apparently never did that in his ~200 episodes of Law & Order.
- Constantine's basic plan is to try a spell, fight, con, kick, then run away... he's no Superman! 

photo: Jonathan Bredemeyer

** find more pictures of these panels, plus others, the exhibit floor, and off-site events at our SmugMug site! 

My 2014 Comic-Con TV Panels

In a week, it'll all be over. San Diego Comic-Con (known by many simply as "Comic-Con") begins on Wednesday night at 6pm and runs until Sunday at 5pm. Plans for the convention begin over a year in advance, and the dates for the subsequent event are generally known before the current one ends. Online pre-registration for badges takes hours. Determining your hotel order for the lottery is a lengthy process. But what really takes time and effort is planning how you'll make the most of those four days... from panels to see to booths to visit, from autograph possibilities to sorting through shopping exclusives, from to sifting through film schedules to discerning the best off-site activities, the work involved is great. [flashback to our previous SDCC schedules: 2011, 2012, 2013.] And that's considering you've been before and don't need to learn how to get around San Diego, where to eat, and how the logistics of attending work.

Because of the amount of work involved (note that I haven't even mentioned the hours spent in lines yet), outsiders don't think Comic-Con is worth the hassle and expense. It is a pricey event (for starters, the vast majority of hotel options come in over $180/night), but it's also one of a kind. Repeat attendees share a camaraderie like no other; once you've been initiated into SDCC, you understand. You share a kindred spirit with all who swarm upon the San Diego Convention Center, whether they be comic book collectors, zombie fanatics, wannabe filmmakers, creative cosplayers, or another variety of pop culture junkie. Folks at Comic-Con appreciate the passion everyone has for something, regardless of whether there's overlap in interest, and that's what makes the ambiance of the environment truly special.

All of that said, I've painstakingly narrowed down my selections and made my schedule for how I will spend Comic-Con this year. I still have twelve television panels on my list, but I'm not going to be camping out in Ballroom 20 or 6 BCF all day to maximize my TV program exposure. Why? Because I have other interests, too, and can't wait for my geek-out moments, which inevitably happen (like after the Disney Afternoon panel last year).

So, without further ado, here are the television panels I'm hoping to see, tweet, and report on this year:

Thursday, July 24th
10:30-11:30am: Legends of TV Land (Indigo Ballroom, Hilton Bayfront), featuring Betty White, among others, who will answer questions about making history on television. Plus, a look at the animated episode of Hot in Cleveland.

11:30am - 12:30pm: Dig: A USA Network Event Series (Indigo Ballroom, Hilton Bayfront), an inside look at this fast-paced international thriller, with actors participating via satellite from Israel.

8-9pm: Psychology of Cult TV Shows (Room 23ABC), will feature several scholars and scientists and examine the cult followings of shows like Doctor Who, Firefly, and Buffy. As someone who has studied Rocky Horror cult fanatics, I'm especially interested in the scholars.

Friday, July 25th
11:30am-12:30pm: iZombie Pilot Screening and Q&A (Room6BCF), for the new CW series that will premiere midseason.

1:30-2:30pm: The Chair: One Script, Two Visions, One Winner (Marriott Hall 2), for the new Starz series. Both directors and the creator will be there, and scenes from the movies and the series will be shown. I've already written a little about this show, and look forward to more.

4:30-5:30pm: Falling Skies: Season 4 Panel (Room 6BCF), for what may very well be the final panel for this post-apocalyptic television show. I've seen the three before this one (2011, 2012, 2013), and while they're not groundbreaking and tend to show you a clip from the very next episode, they're a goof time.

5:30-6:30pm: Roar Comics: Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, and More (Room 8), because I love that some of my favorite characters are in serialized narrative format. Some announcements are also promised, so perhaps more television shows are going that way?

7-8pm: The Unexplained Files (Room 7AB), from Science Channel, will be taking a deeper look at stuff you can't believe. It's as simple as that, but still truly fascinating, plus there will be scholars, eye witnesses, and prizes.

Saturday, July 26th:
10-11am: Why Not Serious? Comedy vs. Drama in Animation (Room 9), caught my eye because I hadn't thought about how little action and adventure is in cartoons. I grew up with Danger Mouse, and The Awesomes is around, but the big 80s/90s X-Men, Batman, and the like aren't really there anymore, so I am interested in the theories as to why not.

5-6pm: The Digital Revolution: The Convergence of Television and the Internet (Indigo Ballroom, Hilton Bayfront), will hopefully offer more information than I've already been learning lately about how ratings are changing and people are "cord-cutting."

8-11pm: Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment: The Flash, Constantine, Arrow, and the World Premiere of Gotham (Hall H) may be too tough to get into, as the Gotham pilot is very highly anticipated, plus a full viewing of The Flash will also entice people, but I'm game to try.

Sunday, July 27th:
10:15-11:15am Sesame Street & Pop Culture: 45 Years of Spoofs on the 'Street' (Room 6A) is near and dear to by heart. Two new parodies (on Comic-Con and Star Wars, no less!), plus looking at how popular culture has influenced the iconic show, with muppeteers on the panel.

Yeah, you probably noticed that there are quite a few gaps in this schedule... so what else am I planning on seeing, panel-wise? Well, Thursday features a Hanna-Barbera offering I don't want to miss, plus a Goonies discussion, and a look at retro 90s stuff. Friday and Saturday I'll hit a little of the Film Festival for a little bit of old-time Disney magic, plus take in a few how-to sessions about writing television shows. And Sunday I'm back at my old scholarly ways with an anthropological study panel, plus the making of the LEGO movie. Keep checking back as we report on the many distinct facets that make up Comic-Con!

2014 Comic-Con: The Bag Designs!

San Diego Comic-Con begins in less than a week, and today Warner Bros. has released the bag designs. There will be 13 different looks this time, and a bag will be randomly given to attendees when they pick up their badges at registration. They are again designed like backpacks, but will not feature the "cape" addition that was popular at the 2013 convention.

All bags will have an image of the San Diego Convention Center on one side:

But the other sides will vary from popular live-action shows Arrow, The Following, The Originals, Supernatural (which I forget is still around), and The Vampire Diaries...

         

to animated series Teen Titans Go!...

to upcoming programs Constantine, The Flash, Mike Tyson Mysteries, iZombie, and Gotham...

and even a few to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Batman. 

Many Con goers trade bags to get the one they want, and you ca also donate blood during the Convention to get an extra bag. Which are you hoping to snag as your premiere souvenir from this year's event?

2014-2015 Season: The CW

As The CW only does drama series, I generally forget that they're around. Two years ago I liked their medical show, Emily Owens, MD, and this past season I tried out Star-Crossed. Otherwise, I don't bother with the programming on this channel, and this season doesn't look like it will be any different. A comic book series, yet another supernatural protagonist, a mysterious extraterrestrial experience uniting people, and a Hispanic telenovela... nope, not my cup of tea. I will not be diving into any of these shows, so you'll have to look elsewhere for coverage after this. Should you have a compelling reason to persuade me otherwise, be my guest!

First, the fall premieres:

The Flash
Who? Jesse L. Martin (Tom from Rent), Grant Gustin (Arrow)
Where? Central City
What? The background is that Barry was taken in by his best friend’s family when he was 11, when his father went to jail for allegedly killing his mother. Now, an adult, Barry works in CSI and is determined to find out the truth about his mother’s death. After a freak accident that leaves Barry in a nine-month coma, he has become the fastest man alive, The Flash, who continues to solve his parents’ case while looking into other mysteries as well.
My Thoughts: Its best hope for viewers is channel-hopping to watch this at 8 before SHIELD at 9 on ABC. I mean, as long as they weren’t counting on a lead-in for Supernatural…

Jane the Virgin
Who? Yael Grobglas (Olivia on Reign), Diane Guerrero (Maritza on Orange is the New Black), Ivonne Coll (the grandmother on Switched at Birth)
Where? Miami
What? A telenovela about an accidental artificial insemination. A 23-year-old soon-to-be teacher doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps (16 and pregnant)
My Thoughts: Talk about far-fetched! Plus, Miami is not a "small world" city... the fact that the "father" is an old crush of Jane's AND owns the hotel where she works?? PLUS she's engaged to a detective, of all trades. I can't stop shaking my head on this one!

Now, the mid-season replacements: 

iZombie
Who? From Rob Thomas. Robert Buckley (Brian on 666 Park Avenue), David Anders (Julian on Alias, Dr. Frankenstein on Once Upon a Time), Nora Dunn (SNL)
Where? Seattle
What? A med student turns into a zombie but tries to hide it and maintain her life, though she has a very different appearance and personality now. She feeds upon the brains of John and Jane Does in the coroner’s office, but her boss finds out. Another twist is that she inherits some memories from her victims, so she poses as a psychic to help solve homicides, too.
My Thoughts: As much as I'm begging the universe for another medical drama, this sure isn't it! The fact that she essentially steals brains from work is rough enough, but the fact that she then has the memories of the dead is way past where I draw the line.

The Messengers
Who? JD Pardo (Jason on Revolution), Shantel VanSanten (Quinn on One Tree Hill)
Where? New Mexico
What? Five people are affected by a blast when something falls to Earth, and they wind up with various powers. The Rapture may be coming.
My Thoughts: Once I stopped laughing, I immediately poked fun at this series. The CW sure wants to make the "alien object mystery" thing happen, but I don't see this being the ticket.