DAMNATION SEASON 1: SHOWS EXACTLY HOW TO BUILD YOUR TV WORLD
Although Damnation season 1’s execution didn’t quite live up to the promise of the pilot, it remains a world-building blueprint for any budding TV writers
FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: CREATING AND WRITING ANTAGONISTS
Season 3 of Fear The Walking Dead was a masterclass in creating and writing antagonists. So let’s look at these conflicted characters, their relatable motivations and their backstories
HBO’S CHERNOBYL: TV MELTDOWN IS THIS THE BEST TV SHOW OF THE YEAR?
HBO’s Chernobyl is quite simply, a storytelling masterpiece. Terrifying, devastating and beautiful, the five-part series was created and written by Craig Mazin
SOUTH PARK’S EXPERT STORYTELLING: HOW TO MAKE STORY B MIRROR STORY A
Today, we're gonna learn how to make Story B mirror Story A. First off, I'm not a die-hard South Park fan - I've probably watched three episodes in the last fifteen years but can you believe the show began its 21st season this week? One of the reasons for South Park's...
WHAT’S PAST IS PROLOGUE: THE BEST STAR TREK: DISCOVERY EPISODE SO FAR
Star Trek: Discovery, why can’t you be like this all the time? What’s Past is Prologue was a breathless ride through everything Star Trek should be every week
AGENTS OF SHIELD SEASON 5: HOW LIMITED LOCATIONS LIMIT YOUR STORY
After a stupendous fourth season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, introduced antifa subtexts to a brilliantly immersive illusory Agents of HYDRA dystopia, I was expecting great things from writers D.J. Doyle, the Zuckerberg sisters et al…
WACO S01E06 “DAY 51” WHY IT’S A WRITERS JOB TO TELL THE TRUTH
Waco really kicked into gear once the siege began to play out. The series went from strength to strength, culminating in a powerful finalé entitled Day 51
MIRROR WORLD-BUILDING: WHAT’S WRONG WITH COUNTERPART’S UNIVERSES?
When Counterpart launched its first episode two full months before we'd get to see the second, it seemed a fresh and original concept. A gripping idea of an alternate universe accessible only from a subterranean door under a grey, Kafka-esque Berlin government...
BETTER CALL SAUL’S NEXT SEASON: VINCE GILLIGAN SHARES SOME WRITING TIPS
“No man is an island,” they say. Except for one man – Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator, Vince Gilligan. He’s an island… Gilligan’s Island.
STAR TREK: PICARD TRAILER WILL SEND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE
Put down that Earl Grey, Jean Luc Picard – you’re coming out of retirement for Star Trek: Picard and the teaser trailer has just landed.
HIS DARK MATERIALS TV SHOW FINALLY, LYRA BELACQUA LIVES!
The BBC’s His Dark Materials TV show is right around an Oxford cloister and it looks like the team behind it have finally done justice to Philip Pullman’s excellent coming-of-age novels…
WATCHMEN TEASER IS HEREI GUESS WE HAVE OURSELVES A RECKONING
HBO My God! No sooner do I mention to a friend that there’s no Watchmen teaser trailer and an hour later, they only bloody go and release one!
AGENTS OF SHIELD SEASON 6HEADS BACK INTO SPACE THIS FRIDAY
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD season 6 roars back onto our screens as it ups the ante for surely its final season, which begins on Friday night… IN SPACE!
GHOST RIDER & HELSTROM TV SHOWS ROBBIE REYES & DAIMON HELSTROM SHARED UNIVERSE
Hulu is launching their own iteration of beloved comic book character Ghost Rider. The fiery, hell brand anti-hero will again be played by Gabriel Luna who played the Robbie Reyes version of the character in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD just a couple of seasons ago. I...
WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? HBO GREEN-LIGHTS LINDELOF’S WATCHMEN
Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen has been officially ordered to series by HBO and it’s expected to hit our screens sometime late in 2019
WILD, WILD COUNTRY: IS THIS DOCUSERIES 2018’s MAKING A MURDERER?
Every once in a while, a documentary comes along that literally drops your jaw. Wild, Wild Country is one of those documentaries, and like Making A Murderer before it, it’s not necessarily the quality of the filmmaking that leaves you reeling… it’s the real life events.
ANDREW SCOTT’S HAMLET COMING TO BBC2 NEXT WEEK
Andrew Scott’s Hamlet arrives on our screens next week and, as the Irishman is one of the most gifted and exciting actors of our generation, I can’t wait!
DECEPTION S01E01: ABC’s BONKERS CRIME MAGIC SERIES IS FINALLY HERE!
When a superstar magician career is ruined by scandal, where does he practice his art of deception, influence and illusion? At the FBI… of fucking course!
JESSICA JONES S02E01: WILL FEMALE-LED S02 FIX MARVEL’S PROBLEMS?
Jessica Jones S02E01 has landed on Netflix today along with the other twelve episodes to complete a female-centric second season of Marvel’s best show
“THANK THE MAKER” FAVREAU’S NEW STAR WARS SERIES IS A NEW HOPE
Swingers and Iron Man director Jon Favreau is to write and produce a new Star Wars series and, after a swathe of bad decision-making, this means finally… “There is another.”
EKO’S WARGAMES TV SERIES: IS INTERACTIVE TV THE C21ST DEFINING ART FORM?
1983’s Wargames ushered in a new era of hi-tech spy thriller and now, as cybersecurity rules the world, British game designer Sam Barlow brings us a Wargames TV series.
SCIENCE, BITCH! IS JESSE PINKMAN RETURNING IN BETTER CALL SAUL?
When we last saw Jesse Pinkman speed off into the night, we may not have seen the last of the character. Vince Gilligan, the creator behind Breaking Bad and spin-off series Better Call Saul revealed that he’s open to bringing Jesse back.
THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS: BRYAN CRANSTON RETURNS IN AMAZON SERIES
The Dangerous Book for Boys, Conn and Hal Iggulden’s famed 2007 how-to guide is coming to Amazon Prime and its bringing Breaking Bad’s Walter White with it.
FULLER EXITS YET ANOTHER SHOW: WILL HOLLYWOOD STOP EMPLOYING SHOWRUNNER?
Writer and producer Bryan Fuller leaves Amazing Stories is the news coming outta Hollywood. While it’s a shame, it’s hardly surprising news, given that the showrunner also left two other shows in the past year.
AMC’s THE TERROR TRAILER:SHALL MAKETH YOU SHIT ICICLES, DEAR READER!
AMC is delving into the Victorian era to bring us The Terror; a horror story that is so much up my street that I’m a-gonna have to be careful I haven’t already unknowingly plaigarised it… before having even seen it!
ASH vs EVIL DEAD S03 TRAILER: ASH IS BACK, BABY!
Starz brilliantly over-the-top and camp series Ash vs Evil Dead is right around the corner and it’s sending Bruce Campbell back to his roots.
WACO S01E03 OPERATION SHOWTIME: WRITING & DIRECTING ARE 2 DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES
Further to my recent post about it taking a hell of a storyteller to both write and direct a TV series, I thought I’d try and back it up with some evidence from the show-in-question; Waco.
“WE’RE DOOMED” WHO ARE THE NEW STAR WARS WRITERS?
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to a galaxy far, far away, Kathleen Kennedy has announced that Game of Thrones head writers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write and produce a new series of Star Wars films.
WESTWORLD SEASON 2 TRAILER: SUPERBOWL AD CONFIRMS LAUNCH DATE
The New England Patriots might have lost Super Bowl 52 but amongst all the spectacle came trailers for Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, J.A Bayona’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Avengers: Infinity War and Westworld.
AMERICAN GODS NEW SHOWRUNNER: AND IT AIN’T WHO YOU THINK
American Gods looked to have become less American and less godly when showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green walked away after the first season wrapped and Starz CEO, Chris Albrecht suggested creator Neil Gaiman would take up the reins.
WHO DIRECTS THE WATCHMEN? LINDELOF ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN
Damon Lindelof has found his man to direct the pilot of his new show, HBO’s adaptation of Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel… and it’s not a man, it’s Nicole Kassell.
HBO ORDERS DEMIMONDE SERIES: JAR JAR ABRAM’S SCI-FI FANTASY FINDS A HOME
From one Lost alum to another as J.J. Abrams’ finds a home for his epic sci-fi fantasy series Demimonde at HBO meaning he and my other hero, Damon Lindelof (currently penning Watchmen for HBO) may share nearby office space and cross paths again.
DIG IN, WACO SETS UP ITS STALL: IT TAKES A HELL OF A STORYTELLER…
The problem with historical dramas like Paramount Network’s Waco is you already know what’s going to happen – The Titanic will surely sink taking sprout-faced Leonardo DiCaprio with it and Apollo 13’s astronauts will, malheureusement, survive. Therefore, it is vital to find an intriguing aspect of the story that hasn’t been told before.
BETTER CALL SAUL S04 NEWS: GOOD & BAD NEWS, WHICH DO YOU WANT FIRST?
Better Call Saul S04 news has arrived from the ether, and it will leave you cold, shivering, naked and digging your own grave in the New Mexico desert.
DAMN YOU TO ALL TO HELL! USA NETWORK HAS CANCELLED DAMNATION
USA Network announced yesterday that it has cancelled its depression-era strikebreak drama Damnation due to low ratings.
FARGO SEASON 4 REPORTS OF FARGO’S DEATH HAVE BEEN EXAGGERATED
You may have been as dismayed as I was when writer-producer Noah Hawley said that with writing duties on season two of Legion and a feature film in the works, Fargo’s third outing may have been its last… but there’s good news on the snowy, North Dakotan horizon
J.J. ABRAMS’ DEMIMONDE SCRIPT IS WRITTEN & BEING SHOPPED TO HBO & APPLE
After dominating the silver screen by rebooting the two greatest sci-fi franchises, über-talented writer and director, Jar Jar Abrams is heading back to the small screen with Demimonde.
ATLANTA SEASON 2 TEASER CHILDISH GAMBINO WILL SPIN YOU RIGHT ROUND
Hollywood’s best looking and most talented man, Donald Glover returns to FX with a second season of his acclaimed, innovative and frankly brilliantly weird series Atlanta.
GARETH EDWARDS’ MONSTERS IS MAKING THE JUMP TO CHANNEL FOUR
Gareth Edwards’ 2010 indie sci-fi movie, Monsters is being made by Vertigo Films for Channel 4 and the man behind 2014’s Godzilla and Star Wars: Rogue One is “likely to be involved behind the scenes with his full involvement determined when the project has been fully greenlit.”
COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS HALLELUJAH! THE DECADE’S BEST DOCUSERIES RETURNS
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is hopping back aboard his silver spaceship to bring us a second seeason of his acclaimed science-philosophy series, this time subtitled Cosmos: Possible Worlds.
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER ONE: THE LEFTOVERS
You may have noticed that, after an enthusiastic effort, I stopped posting The Leftovers reviews about half way through season three. This is because I get so involved in Damon Lindelof shows that I cannot write subjectively.
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER TWO: BETTER CALL SAUL
I wrote back in April, when the show returned to our screens that Better Call Saul was “both such a delight to watch and the antithesis of America right now…” going on a long rant about The Greatest Country on Earth’s love of style over substance…
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER THREE: MINDHUNTER
David Fincher's Mindhunter came out of nowhere to arrive on Netflix and instantly wrote itself into my top five shows of 2017. Based on the book Mind Hunter: Inside FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, the brutal series tells the tale of two FBI agents Holden Ford...
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER FOUR: MANHUNT UNABOMBER
The Discovery Channel’s Manhunt: Unabomber shouldn’t be in my top five shows of the year. If you need a clue as to why, well the clue is in the words “The Discovery Channel.”
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER FIVE: FARGO
Fargo’s third year may not quite have had the suspense of last season but season three of Noah Hawley’s show was the best so far for exploring what’s really going on in America.
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER SIX: GODLESS
In my endless pursuit of the perfect TV show, one of the long lost brothers I search for is a successor to Deadwood. Twice this year I thought I might have found it, first in Damnation and soon after, in Godless.
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER SEVEN: DAMNATION
USA Network’s Damnation takes the oldest story in the book – the little man against The Man and updates it to dustbowl Iowa, landing it in at number seven on my list of favourite shows of 2017.
TOP TWENTY SHOWS OF 2017 NUMBER EIGHT: TIN STAR
Sky Atlantic and Amazon Prime’s Tin Star was one of the unexpeted surprises of 2017. We all know Tim Roth is a great actor, but rarely have I seen such naturalism in a TV show.