Shmee.Me

March 18, 2015

Community Stays Weird With Season 6!

Well Community is back on the air! Well not on the air, but on the internet, and not in the usually places like Netflix, Hulu, or iTunes. Nope, it is on Yahoo!. I guess things people thought were dead like to live together. Actually Community is Yahoo!’s big push to become a TV media streaming giant like Hulu, or at least Vimeo. We will see, but as long as it has Community every Tuesday they have at least one viewer…err streamer.

This season picks up directly after season 5. Greendale has been saved from becoming a Subway college, and Jeff and the gang are trying to clean up all the little loose ends. Sadly they forgot about the pile of Frisbees on the roof, so the Dean needs to hire a new Administrative Consultant (Paget Brewster). She is not super keen on keeping Greendale weird, so obviously the group is against her. Will she prevail, or will she be converted to the wonderful weird ways of Greendale? Watch and find out. It is free after all.

It is a shame the cast has lost yet another member in Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley), but there are hints she may be back for at least a few episodes, and it looks like the group will still be up to its usual shenanigans which is fun. Some people might be turned off now that Yahoo! has freed Dan Harmon to go full on crazy with his sitcom, but I think it is shaping up to be a wonderful season. I am also quite happy to be promoting good original programming on the internet, since that is the future after all, and the sooner we start to embrace it, the better. Much like the weirdness of Greendale.

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015

What Tron 3 Needs To Do!

With Tron 3 filming in the fall it is clear Disney really wants Tron to be major franchise, and for the record so do I, but if Disney is going to be successful then the next Tron will not be able to get by on its good looks and cool sound track. I figure they could use a little help, so here are my thoughts on how to make Tron 3 work. This will have a few spoilers about Tron and Tron: Legacy, but they are so old at this point if you haven’t watched them you weren’t going to, and you are probably not going to read this post.

1: Keep the story simple

Tron: Legacy’s story was unnecessarily complicated. There were these weird non-program AI people called ISOs, and they were being wiped out by CLU the program clone of Flynn tasked with making the perfect system. Then to make matters worse they raised the stakes to ridiculous levels by having CLU plan an invasion of the real world. I mean they have kind of painted themselves in a corner with the ISOs deal now, but at least we don’t need to go over it again, or dig any deeper in to it. Also they are also going have to get back on The Grid fast. I don’t want a Tron movie outside the computer world. That is just a bad motorcycle movie.

2: Have more Tron

Tron was barely in Tron: Legacy and the movie bears his name. It was great to get Jeff Bridges back, but Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) is really the man that loves this franchise, so it is time to let him push it forward. That is not saying I don’t want The Dude in the new movie, but that it just needs more Bruce. Tron should have Tron in it.

3: Bring back Tron: Uprising

The cartoon was the best thing the Tron franchise ever did. Story wise anyway. It didn’t have the best production values, and the animation was a little stiff, but they should bring it back to start the hype train for the new movie. That way people have an idea of what is going on in the Tron universe, and it starts off the advertising.

4: Speaking of advertising…

Admittedly Tron is a hard movie to advertise for. It is supper geeky and hard to explain, but if Disney can make Guardians of the Galaxy one of the hottest properties on the planet, they can do a better job with Tron. It will take some work, but I am pretty sure that they can get people excited to see a special effects spectacle.

5: Keep it up with the light cycles

The biggest thing Tron: Legacy got right was all the cool light cycle races, and light fighter battles, and the light everything else. Pretty much anything with a light vehicle was awesome, and they need to do more of that. If they keep the story simple like in my first point there should be more time for cool stuff, and this series should be all about cool stuff.

Well those are my ideas for making a great Tron 3. I know it is too late for the script since they are going to start filming soon, but maybe this will help them in the editing process.

March 9, 2015March 9, 2015

Witness The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!

Are you feeling down that both 30 Rock and Parks and Rec are off the air? Well Netflix has a series for you, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It is written and produced by Tiny Fey and stars Ellie Kemper of The Office fame. It is zany and fun, and a great addition to Netflix’s library of original shows.

The premise is that Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) was locked underground in a doomsday bunker with four other women by a crazy cult leader. She has now emerged fifteen years later determined to make a life for herself in New York City despite only having almost an eighth grade education, and no idea how the world has changed in the fifteen years since she was abducted.

It is a dark concept to be sure, but they use it perfectly. It gives Kemper the opportunity to act like a middle school student, and to be totally mystified by the culture and technology of today. She often refers to the current day as “The Future”. This show is completely nuts, and I am guessing that is because of Tiny Fey. Her fingerprints are all over Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The randomness of 30 Rock are alive and well here.

Kemper is spot on as the lead. She pulls off the childlike woman struggling to make it in the big city with such gusto and charm it is hard not to smile while watching. She is not alone. Half of the cast of 30 Rock is in, or shows up in this show, and just like on 30 Rock they are great. Especially Jane Krakowski who plays Jacqueline Voorhees the wealthy socialite who employs Kimmy as a nanny. She is so delightfully crazy, you never know what she is going to say or do.

The only downfall I have for the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is that there are only thirteen episodes, and at twenty-two minutes a piece it doesn’t take long to watch the entire thing. At least they have already picked up the show for a second season, and I can’t wait for them to release it. Netflix has been on a roll lately, I hope they can keep it up.

March 6, 2015

Downton Survives Another Year!

Downton Abbey season five has come and gone, and while I was not to keen on the middle portion of the season (it has the Walking Dead‘s ability to get nothing done if it doesn’t want to) it did come to great close. They tied up a few plot points and opened up a few more. They also made me tear up a little bit which was quite nice (Shmee doesn’t have a heart of stone it seems). I hope they will continue to move the plot forward.

They are going to loose a lot of characters in the next couple of years, so we will have to see how that goes. It is always a struggle to bring in interesting characters to replace the ones that have left. They have done well so far, but can they keep it up? I suppose I will have to keep watching to find out. Of course the big question is how long they can keep the estate solvent. I am guessing at some point there will not be a miracle infusion of cash to keep the abbey going.

With five great season’s under its belt, Downton Abbey continues to be must watch TV. I hope it manages to do so through season six. It will be a long wait until January to find out.

March 4, 2015

Star Wars: Rebels Season 1 Wrap Up!

I have to say that I was really disappointed when Disney stopped Star Wars: The Cone Wars to start their own show, but Rebels has been great, and season one ended even better. There will be some spoilers in this piece, but so be it.

I was always hoping that they would bridge the gap between The Cone Wars and Rebels and with the season finale they finely did it. They brought in Darth Vader and Ahsoka which is great, but it raises all sorts of continuity questions. Like if Darth Vader knew that Ezra and Kanan existed why does he think that Luke is the last Jedi? You would think he would have mentioned that to someone that there are Jedi seemingly all over the place. That makes me think this series may end in a dark place.

All that aside what really sold me on this show is how all the characters have grown. Ezra is learning to trust in others, and Kanan is learning to be the Jedi that he was training to be before Anakin killed them all. The show can get a little too silly at times, but hey it is still a kids show, so why not get a little silly. They are also breathing more life in to the rest of the cast as well. I would love to see more solo episodes with Hera and Sabine. They seem like they have a lot to offer, but the Jedi are taking center stage. Sabine especially as a Mandalorian would be interesting.

Anyway. If you are not watching Star Wars: Rebels, you really should be. It is a great show, and it is getting me even more excited for the new movie coming out THIS CHRISTMAS!!!!