Sci-fi show wastes its potential for political allegory
The CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico” is another attempt to keep the “The Vampire Diaries” magic going. Now that that’s out of the way, we can talk about the series’ political message. Continue reading
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A cold case reopened
By Robert Pulford, Current Staff
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “An upstanding cast of police officers find out that there’s someone in the force who’s corrupt, but as they dig deeper into the case, they find that the corruption goes a lot further up the chain than they bargained for.” Continue reading
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Student reporters earn 19 total awards
Five West Bend students earned blue ribbon honors in a statewide contest for high school journalists. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Video game review: ‘Hearts of Iron IV’
By Robert Pulford, Current Staff
World War 2 is, if unintentionally, the perfect time period for war games. Continue reading
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Chuck Jones’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” brings the iconic art and rhymey dialogue of Dr. Seuss to life, while adding plenty of its own flavor to the fife.
While there are many a Christmas cartoon made in the West, let me tell you why the original “Grinch” is the best. Continue reading
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The creator of “House” returns to the prim and sterile halls of a metropolitan hospital in ABC’s “The Good Doctor.”
“So what separates this from the 7 billion other doctor shows that ape ‘House’?,” I hear you ask. Well, dear viewer, the Good Doctor in question, Shaun Murphy, has savant syndrome autism. The series is centered on Shaun and his struggle just to interact with his patients and fellow doctors. Much like “House” before it, that dynamic is where “The Good Doctor” shines. Continue reading
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Bensen leads with four awards
The West Bend Current set a school record with 21 individual awards from the Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association in a statewide contest for high school journalists. Continue reading
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Making television for teens is easy, making television about teens is herculean.
Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” is about the 13 reasons why a high school girl named Hannah Baker committed suicide. The events of the story are told through recorded tapes that Hannah made before her death and through her friend Clay in the aftermath of her death. It’s surprising to see entertainment aimed at teens actually tackle a subject that’s relevant to them, but it does make it inherently difficult to discuss because of its subject matter. The dodgy execution of the series doesn’t help either. Continue reading
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“Time After Time” is a character-driven drama built on drama-less characters.
On paper, especially if you have prior knowledge about the show’s concept, what I just said must seem silly. After all, how can that be true about a series featuring time travel author H.G. Wells actually traveling through time to stop Jack the Ripper from ripping in modern times? Well, you throw out any personality or perspective that those two characters might have and replace it with public enemy number one of television, teenage drama writing. Continue reading
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What were the most notable commercials of Super Bowl 51?
Hello, hello, and welcome again to the annual TV Talk article about Super Bowl commercials! The corporate advertisers of America have united once again to entertain and frustrate millions of fans. Here are my insights on a few of the most memorable ones.
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There’s something off about the buzzed-about episode of “Black Mirror”
At what point does satire become propaganda?
Simply put, satire is caustic criticism, whereas propaganda is the demonization of a target in order to push what the author views as “good.” The two can be hard to separate at times (especially since satire of propaganda is pretty popular), but it’s important to know what’s what.
Which brings me to “Black Mirror.” Continue reading
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How do you convey the sensation of liking the initial premise of something, but hating the end result of that premise? That’s my dilemma with “Glitch.”
To elaborate, “Glitch” is an Australian series now on Netflix about six people who are resurrected from the dead. Each of these six people come from different time periods and different walks of life, but share one thing in common: they are obsolete. Simply put, the world moved on after they died and those that cared for them are either dead, senile or not the people they knew while they were alive. Continue reading
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“He who fights with CGI monsters should look to it that he himself does not become CGI…. When you gaze long at the spasming, spinny camera, the spasming, spinny camera gazes into you…”
Another summer hath come and gone, yet the eternal wheels of Television keep turning. Preacher was orange, JoJo’s was weird, but there’s a particular series that really stood out to me over the summer season… it’s Berserk 2016. I’ve said it time and time again, I’m a hardcore fan of the Japanese Berserk and highly recommend the stellar, if poorly animated Berserk 1997. It only took 19 years without a proper continuation to the series for Berserk to finally get a continuation of its story. Continue reading
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As the number of remaining school days lessen and the temperatures rise, TV Talk celebrates one whole year of existence! However, we are not here to discuss the length of my tenure on The Current. Instead, we’re here to talk about all the cool stuff coming out over the summer. Continue reading
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I’ll be the first to admit that I was actually pretty excited when I heard about “Marseille.” Imagine, for a moment, Netflix budget + France + political intrigue. Sounds great, right? Well, it pains me greatly to tell you that “Marseille” is underwhelming. Continue reading
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If any of you at home have been keeping up with a little show called The Blacklist, you’re probably aware of what went down in the 18th episode of season three. A major character died and, naturally, forums for The Blacklist exploded with discussion.
Denial and shock on one hand, praise and credit on the other. Typical responses to this sort of thing.
However, The Blacklist’s controversy isn’t the only controversy to crop up in the television sphere. A certain AMC post-apocalyptic zombie fest recently had a similarly executed finale that has gained no less of a storm with its fans. Continue reading
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Marvel’s really been getting around lately. With the stellar success of Age of Ultron, Ant-man and Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has been raking in the cash and praise from all cylinders. However, Marvel seems to have adopted an interest in the smaller scale as of November, when they announced a Mini-Avengers of sorts with previous business partner Netflix. Continue reading
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I think Netflix has finally revealed its hand. For a while now, Netflix has been releasing nostalgia pieces, with Fuller House and Pee-wee’s Big Holiday being only the most recent to join the charge. However, what we are dealing with now makes those look modern: Netflix’s Your Childhood, which begins streaming today, is the final boss of nostalgia reboots. Continue reading
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Netflix is really pushing the nostalgic stuff aren’t they? Barely three weeks after Fuller House and we’ve already got other nostalgia trip back to the mid-80s on the plate with Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, and it proves to be a much tastier morsel than expected. Continue reading
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I would like to apologize to Fuller House.
Last week in my review of Fuller House, I unfairly criticized the show’s actors, writing and humor. I was overly negative, partly because a certain episode of the show (unintentionally) hit a little too close to home for me and my disdain became personal. However, hitting close to home is no excuse for lacking as a critic. Thus I present a more objective article on how to fix Fuller House. Continue reading
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When I finished the second episode of Fuller House, I knew that it wasn’t just gonna be a bad show—I was in for the bad show. A kick in the stomach, a needle to the eye, a waterfall of burning flames of which there is no escape.
Where do I even begin? Continue reading
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What were the most notable commercials of Super Bowl 50?
Hello, hello, and welcome to TV Talk’s article about the commercials of Super Bowl 50. Yes, the amusing sideshows for patrons of America’s great pastime and the saving grace for bored friends that you dragged to the Super Bowl party have come yet again to delight and or horribly confuse you! I’m just here to share the ones that stood out to me. Let’s kick it off, shall we? Continue reading
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You know, the original The X-Files was pretty good.
Its use of creepy atmosphere and general paranoia are some of TV’s best and there’s really nothing today that can call itself this generation’s X-Files. (Okay, maybe Supernatural, but let’s be honest: Supernatural stopped trying to be even semi-watchable after the seventh season.) Since there’s no “FBI hunts down monsters/ghosts/aliens/bigfoots” show for the audience of the modern day, it only makes sense for Fox to reboot The X-Files for a whole new generation to enjoy. Continue reading
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Well, 2016 is a thing now.
Another year has indeed passed and with it, many resolutions for the next one have been made (and broken). Shows, new and old hold promise of being bigger and better—and the great entertainment void that is January opens its great maw again.
I could go on and on about how January is a singularity of no releases or how Shades of Blue is totally gonna bomb… but instead, I thought I’d talk about an old gem and personal favorite from 1997 that’s making a comeback in 2016. Continue reading
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Exactly what it says on the tin.
We’ve all seen them, the obligatory Christmas special that every TV show gets around this time of year. They’re often poorly thought out, rushed, and they always have the main character or the villain learning the (gag) “True spirit of Christmas.”
It’s lame, uninspired and a box to check on a script writer’s agenda list.
But you’re probably not wondering, “I’m a person that aspires to go into television writing (and a talentless hack), so I want to know how to produce Christmas specials.” So I present to you a complete template of how to make a cookie cutter Christmas special. Continue reading
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If you are an avid viewer of American TV such as myself, you are probably all too familiar with the unspoken “Moral Code” that infests a lot of scripts. This “Moral Code” is basically that 50’s-era, American Dream shtick. (You can be whatever you want to be and have any love interest you desire! Just work feverishly and be a good person and all that rubbish like realism or other people’s lives won’t apply to your personal dream, no matter how impossibly unrealistic!)
As you can see, I don’t view this positively. But that brings me to Blue Bloods, an American police drama that gets morality right. Continue reading
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Superhero shows are everywhere and with these shows racking up praise and filling up top 30 spots like spring hens in a McDonald’s processing factory, everyone and their brother is jumping on the bandwagon with varying success. Now, on one hand the mass of superhero shows has brought us such quality shows like Gotham and Daredevil, but it has also brought about tosh like The Flash and the 2012 remake of The Tomorrow People.
And now yet another superhero show arrives Monday on CBS, by the name of Supergirl, and based on the previews I’m worried about its reliance on familiar tropes. How will it avoid some of the longstanding pitfalls of the genre? I’d like to present a simple analysis of how to do just that. Continue reading
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The Walking Dead tackles the concept of post-apocalyptic living in a zombie-filled environment rather well, but as its Season 6 premiere on Sunday approaches, let’s talk about an annoyance I have with the series. An annoyance that is like a rusty cheese grater whittling at my ears. This overly masculine cheese grater is named Carl, or “Cooooarl,” if you are going by Rick’s pronunciation. Continue reading
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The West Bend Current 