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Morning folks. It's a bank holiday here in the UK, but here are a couple of stories for today:
FrightFest 2009
 This weekend the Film4 FrightFest is taking place at The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London. It's on until tomorrow. Are you there? Get in touch and let us know how you're enjoying it! Meanwhile our chums over at Total Film are reporting on each screening and event so pop over there for summaries of The Horseman, Best Worst Movie and Federico Zampaglione's Shadow. Io9 has also reported on the appearance of John Landis to celebrate the Blu-ray release of American Werewolf. Horror film festival FrightFest first began in August 2000 with the UK premieres of Scary Movie, Pitch Black and Audition.
Eureka renewed
 Quirky US sci-fi comedy drama (A Town Called) Eureka has been given the green light for a full 22-episode fourth season. The third season is currently airing on Sky1 in the UK. Actress Erica Cerra, who plays Deputy Jo Lupo, told SCI FI Wire, "We’re thrilled, and the way we found out was so much fun, getting word before the end of the season. You’re usually waiting until much later [to hear]." There are also plans to do a two-part musical episode next year. Thanks Slice Of SciFi.
See you on Tuesday! And don’t forget to follow our Twitter feed for regular breaking stories and feedback from the SFX team.
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I suppose the linking factor here is lightness; Eureka is inconsequential, inoffensive and easy to dip in and out of, a quality which seems to hold inordinate value to the intelligence-starved brains of your average viewer these days, whereas those other two shows I mentioned both consistently challenged and shocked the viewer every episode - and died early deaths because of it.
Are we expecting too much from TV? Or should we just accept that low-brow is the new norm? Eureka is nothing more than a schedule filler, ultimately destined to occupy the same place in TV listings as TNG, the Simpsons and Friends do now.
I've tried to like Eureka, I really have, but it never fails to disappoint. Shame. It was a promising concept, but it's just been pissed away IMO.
Posted by PJ Bottoms (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 11:39 AM BST #
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Posted by Paul (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 02:38 PM BST #
Posted by 127.0.0.1 on August 30, 2009 at 02:41 PM BST #
Maybe the US would benefit from reducing the number of episode's per series, or maybe even setting up a BBC style system. I for one prefered Firefly over Eureka or Smallville
Posted by Ludwig (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 02:45 PM BST #
Posted by Ray (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 04:15 PM BST #
Posted by Kell Harker (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 04:40 PM BST #
Posted by PJ Bottoms (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 05:05 PM BST #
Posted by richard (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 06:35 PM BST #
Posted by Jon (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 06:56 PM BST #
What version of Terminator (I presume you mean SCC) have you been watching richard? Brian Austin Green and Thomas Dekker both put in some of the best, most understated and finely nuanced performances you're likely to see outside of many more 'worthy' mainstream TV shows such as 24 and The Wire. But if you want to talk about atrocious acting, I refer you back to your very own Matt Frewer, perpetrator of the worst and least-convincing Australian accent ever mangled on TV in that Eureka programme.
Posted by PJ Bottoms (127.0.0.1) on August 30, 2009 at 08:39 PM BST #
Posted by The Purple Avenger (127.0.0.1) on August 31, 2009 at 02:22 PM BST #
Posted by The Purple Avenger (127.0.0.1) on August 31, 2009 at 02:26 PM BST #
Simple math.
TSCC was just as poorly plotted. It was full of inconsistent writing and soporific blather. It had plot holes you could fit an episode of Eureka in.
And Shirley Manson was just as atrocious an actor at the end as she was at the beginning.
Posted by Impossibilium (127.0.0.1) on September 01, 2009 at 06:53 AM BST #
Eureka is cheap. It shows. But TSCC was no more expensive. The effects budgets were largely the same. But what I was trying to say was that advertising revenue shouldn't be the only factor that decides what shows we get to watch. Some people on here seem to think it's okay to accept the blinkered attitudes and shoddy treatment we recieve from the TV powers-that-be; I think this state of affairs is lamentable, and what's more is a reflection of how lazy-minded and meek our global society had become. We can't do anything, so why bother even trying? In fact, let's just stop wishing for betterment at all.
So go ahead and laugh at my ranting all you want. I'm just one man, with apparently unpopular opinions. But I'm not going to shut up, and I'm not going to stop wanting more than we're presently dished out. OK everyone?
Posted by PJ Bottoms (127.0.0.1) on September 01, 2009 at 03:53 PM BST #