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‘True Blood’ Season 3 Plot SPOILERS

Anthony Ocasio — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:16:16 +0000

[WARNING: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!]

Last week the Paley Center for Media hosted an “Inside the Writers Room” for the hit HBO vampire series, True Blood. Before the event started, the folks over at Sci-Fi Wire caught up with writer/producers Alan Ball, Alexander Woo and Raelle Tucker, to ask them what kind of things we can expect to see in Season 3. It appears that the showrunners may still be under demon-god Maryann’s spell as they have no inhibitions about revealing anything and everything about the third season.

Readers beware, WHAT LIES BELOW IS NOTHING BUT SPOILERS!!! So, if you’re the type that doesn’t want things ruined for you, turn back now. But, if you’re like me and can’t bear to wait until June 2010 for the next season, then enjoy.

First up is executive producer Alan Ball with news on kidnappings, werewolves and the vampire king & queen.

Bill’s kidnapping is going to last a while.

The last thing we saw in the season two finale was that Bill had been taken and Alan Ball says that his kidnapping will last around six episodes.

Just because his kidnapping lasts six episodes doesn’t mean that we won’t see Bill before then. Remember that in season two there was a lot of time spent with Lafayette and his captors…

(There are some Eric SPOILERS below)

Werewolves invade Bon Temps.

It seems as if this small town just can’t catch a break. Now it appears that the town is going full on “Team Jacob” as werewolves are the newest beasts to invade Bon Temps.

Ball explains what they’ll look like.

“They’re just wolves. It’s just people who can turn into wolves, but they’re slightly bigger and much stronger. Their eyes glow orange a little bit.”

Vampire Queen of Louisiana will be in hot water.

With Evan Rachel Wood signing on to return for a couple of episodes in season three, it appears that her fun nights of playing scrabble as the vampire queen of the Louisiana sector might be over – for good.

“Well, Sophie Anne, when last we left her, she was sort of behind this selling of ‘V’ as a recreational drug on the streets, pretty much. That’s not something a vampire authority figure should be doing. If higher-up vampire authority figures figure that out, they’re not going to be happy.”

All hail the Vampire King.

If there’s a Queen, there has to be a King and as Ball stated, the Vampire King companion to Sophie Anne doesn’t look like he has same sense of humor.

“He’s older. He’s much more mature. He’s much more methodical and grounded. She’s kind of crazy. To me, she’s kind of like Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan, where she has a very short attention span and she’s very, very egomaniacal and very self-obsessed and doesn’t really think about her actions, whereas the Vampire King is very much an adult. He has an agenda. He has things he wants to achieve. I think he’s much more formidable than she is.”

Next up is Alexander Woo with news of a new character and some other creatures that might be stirring in the night.

New character impacts our favorite townsfolk.

It looks as if Bon Temps is going to have a new character by the name of Tommy Mickens and it looks like Mr. Mickens may become quite important to many of or favorite characters.

“Tommy Mickens is someone I don’t want to reveal too much about, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. He’s a completely new character, but he plays very prominently in the emotional life of at first one and then, later, several other of our characters. He’ll be the first domino to push the rest.”

Vampires, maenads & werewolves aren’t the only things lurking around.

It seems like the Sookie’s world is going to get much bigger as werewolves aren’t the only things coming in the new season.

“The entire world is going to get a lot bigger. Not only the human world, but in Sookie’s eyes, she’s going to see the whole supernatural world. Luckily, since this show is through Sookie’s eyes, as an audience we’ll get to see a much larger supernatural world.”

Finally, Raelle Tucker concludes the spoilers with Sam’s family, Sookie’s Powers, Jason’s trouble-making, biker gangs, headgear and Eric’s screen time…

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Scream Awards 2009: A Report From Front Row Center

Brian Kettler — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:42:51 +0000

This past Saturday, October 17th, I attended my second year of Spike TV’s annual Scream Awards. Not only did I attend, but I had been hand-picked by the casting director to sit front row center for the show! As a fan-focused awards show, it’s much more enjoyable being seated amongst JJ Abrams, Karl Urban, Elijah Wood and Woody Harrelson. My favorite personal surprise of the evening came when the Best Science Fiction Actress nominees were being announced. I cheered (maybe a little too loudly for my girlfriend’s tastes) for Eliza Dushku when her name was announced, only to discover she was sitting right in front of me. She turned around and flashed me her lovely smile. Good thing my girlfriend isn’t the overly-jealous type.

As for the show itself, it seems as though the winners have already been leaked online, and the best surprises have been revealed, even on Spike’s own website. So keep in mind there be spoilers here.

Starting off the show was the “Most Anticipated Movie” award. I’m sure everyone there was utterly surprised by the winner. After a black and white checkerboard “red” carpet, and a Wonderland-esqe stage design, who would have guessed it would be Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland?

In all seriousness though, having Johnny Depp there was very cool. After his extremely brief appearance at the San Diego Comic Con panel this summer, I half-expected that to be his only appearance for this show. Thankfully I was wrong and he came back onstage one more time to present the Rock Immortal award to Keith Richards. Johnny was very gracious on his way up to the small center stage, shaking hands with many of us in the pit next to the stage. Keith Richards was very spry on stage, bounding up the steps to receive his award from his former on-screen “son.” Johnny reiterated the old axiom that after the End of the World, “all that will be left are cockroaches… and Keith Richards”. Take that, Nancy Reagan!

Megan Fox, as I’m sure you all have already heard around the net, was apparently trying to smooth things over with Michael Bay. Here’s her speech:

“I would like to take this moment to actually say something genuine. There have been a lot of false reports concerning how I feel about this movie and I just want to be very clear that I’ve always felt that I am a very ordinary part of an extraordinary film. These movies took me out of obscurity and they gave me a career and I am completely grateful to everyone involved with this franchise. I don’t know why you guys keep voting for me for these things. I don’t feel like I deserve them but thank you and I love you so much, thank you.”

At first, it seemed as though she was setting us up for a SNL-style gag. I thought we’d see her then jokingly refer to Jennifer’s Body, since she never once uttered the names Transformers or Michael Bay. But then, after the disappointing box-office on Jennifer’s Body, it’s no surprise she wants to be a part of Transformers 3. Her speech did sound genuine, it just sounded odd not hearing either name.

Vampires and Werewolves were very well represented this year, from stand-out series True Blood, to the new movie Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. But judging by the cheers, it was Twilight that had the best reception. Representing the franchise was Taylor Lautner, star of the upcoming The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The footage shown to us was more behind-the-scenes than actual movie footage. After Depp and Lautner, my girlfriend had all but forgotten my earlier Dushku encounter.

Harrison Ford presented the Best Director award to JJ Abrams. It would be exceedingly cool to see these two Hollywood titans do a project together. I wonder if having Ford in the next Star Trek movie would cause some kind of mass nerd head-explosions? William Shatner was also present at the show. He practically begged JJ to be in the next movie. I would have given anything to have been a fly on the wall of that green room! Just imagining Shatner and Ford having drinks and talking shop, I’m reminded of a line from Free Enterprise. When the young character in that movie complains that a kid at school “said that Han Solo was cooler than Captain Kirk”, Shatner, playing himself, remarked “kick the little f&@ker’s @$$”. Seriously though, it would be pretty mind-blowing to see Ford play a Trek villain.

Click to continue reading “Scream Awards 2009: A Report From Front Row Center “

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True Blood Season 2 Finale: Review & Discussion

Rob Keyes — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:08:47 +0000

Season 2 of Alan Ball’s growing-in-popularity adult vampire show came to an end Sunday on HBO. The True Blood Season 2 finale tied up the major plot threads of the season and set up several more that will be key story elements moving forward into the third season.

Join us as we look back on some of the things that happened this season and in the finale, and as we look forward on what things we could be seeing next season.

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]

You’ve been warned – If you’re reading this, I expect that you’ve seen the episode, so some spoilers will be mentioned. Let’s get to it then, shall we?

The End of Maryann

The focus of the finale is on putting an end to Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes) and her wicked ways. As we know, she has the entire town under her control and sporting black eye contacts, the kind that makes people eat raw hearts and start community orgies.

Anyway, that craziness aside, Maryann is getting ready for her very special day, preparing to make a sacrifice to the bull-horned god of evil so she can marry him. Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) is the worthy sacrifice in her mind and her maid of honor absolutely must be the show’s leading lady, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin).

There’s a bunch of usual weirdness around this situation with them forcing Sookie to drink blood and lick a big ostrich egg, a nest that Tara and Eggs built on the bed of Sookie’s grandma, and a tree made of raw meat, but we’ve come to expect that from scenes involving Maryann. We also got to see Jason Stackhouse and Deputy Andy try to be the annoying heroes for 15 seconds before finally enlisting in Maryann’s zombie army against their will.

On the other side of town, good ol’ Bill Compton is back to help save the day and he joins with Sam to form a plan to put an end to Maryann. We don’t know what that plan is yet but we soon find out it involves poor Sam almost dying and Maryann getting horned to death and her heart getting ripped out. Poor Sookie didn’t know what was going on and we got a lot of her screaming and crying as Sam got introduced to Eggs’ ability to use a knife.

I was so thankful when Maryann got put down as I was not digging that whole situation all season long or her crazy interest in Tara, another character I wasn’t entertained by this season.

The Other Stories

With that plot thread finally coming to a close, we still had half the episode left!

During the main event, we also got a few scenes for the other storylines also taking place around that time. We only got one scene of big bad Eric Northman, played by rising star Alexander Skarsgård and that involved him getting owned in a game of Yahtzee by Queen Sophie-Anne, the vampire Queen of Louisiana.

Although it was only one scene, it was very important and has implications for the future of the show. The scene finally presented viewers with a purpose for the vampire mistress as she demonstrated some harsh negative emotion with Eric. As it turns out, that vampire blood that Eric asked Lafayette to start selling is actually hers and he was doing it under her orders. She was not impressed finding out that Bill knew that Eric had done that. This is something to be explored in True Blood’s third season.

The other storyline we got a bit of is that of Hoyt and Jessica’s relationship. Hoyt became a major player this season compared to last year where he played a guest role here and there. He represents pure innocence and goodness and he’s a good balance for Jessica whom we thought was on the right track. Unfortunately, Hoyt’s zombified mom ruined that for them and it sets them apart.

After the Maryann situation, Sam goes to his foster parents who abandoned him after the shock of him shapeshifting into a dog years prior. He’s on a mission to find his true parents who he’s warned against as being bad people from his foster mom. His dying foster dad however, gives him the info he desires.

Click to continue reading about where every character is left off, and info on True Blood’s Season 3…

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2009 Scream Award Nominations

Ross Miller — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:08 +0000

The nominees have been announced for the fourth annual Scream Awards, held every year by Spike TV. The decisively more “fan-friendly” award ceremony (compared to the Oscars) honors films from the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic-book genres of movies, TV shows and comic books. The awards are described as, “the first and only global event of its kind,” to honor those genres.

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders, a list which this year includes the likes of Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth and Zack Snyder, plus many more. The event will be taped on Saturday, October 17th this year at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and will air on Spike TV ten days later on Tuesday, October 27th (check for local times).

Along with the awards, the show will also be airing some exclusive, world premiere of footage of some of the most anticipated movies of 2010! Presenters and musicians for the event are to be announced shortly.

Below is the list of a selection of the 32 categories from this year’s Scream nominations. For those of you (all of you?) who want to have YOUR say on which film should win, you’re in luck! Public voting for the awards has opened already and will run right up to October 17th. But before you head off to vote, here are some of the nominees:

BEST FANTASY MOVIE

“Coraline”

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

“Twilight”

“Up”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST HORROR MOVIE

“Dead Snow”

“Drag Me to Hell”

“Friday the 13th”

“Let the Right One In”

“My Bloody Valentine 3D”

“Splinter”

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE

“Dragonball Evolution”

“Punisher: War Zone”

“The Spirit”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST VILLAIN

Eric Bana as Nero; “Star Trek”

Cam Gigandet as James; “Twilight”

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush; rag Me to Hell”

Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth; “X-Men”

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman; “True Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams; “Star Trek”

Tomas Alfredson; “Let the Right One In”

Michael Bay; “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson; “Up”

Duncan Jones; “Moon”

Sam Raimi; “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST TV SHOW

Battlestar Galactica

Dexter

Fringe

Lost

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

True Blood

BEST ACTOR IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Ed Asner, “Up”

Hugh Jackman, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Michael Sheen, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

BEST ACTRESS IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Scarlett Johansson, “The Spirit”

Jamie King, “The Spirit”

Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”

Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

For the rest of the nominees you can head over to Spike.com, where you can also cast your votes.

Although some of the awards are truly suspect (how the hell The Spirit got nominated for ANYTHING is beyond me), I still like the overall celebration of the type of sci-fi, fantasy, comic book and horror films we here at Screen Rant revel in Although I won’t go into a specific rundown of who I think should win, I’d like to throw my opinion in the ring for a few of them:

Lost should win Best TV Show (I love Dexter, but it’s no Lost); Best Horror Movie should go to Let The Right One In (I would say Drag Me To Hell, but since that’s a comedy too, Let The Right One takes it for me); Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie Or TV Show should go to Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Best Comic Book Movie should (EASILY) go to Watchmen.

But enough from me, what and who will YOU vote for? As stated, you can cast your votes over at Spike.com, and you can see if the winners match your picks when the Scream Awards 2009 air on October 27th this year on Spike TV.

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TV News & Notes: Fringe, True Blood, Alien Nation & More

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:32:31 +0000

It’s a new week and today your TV news includes a look at Fringe’s second season; Superman will be teaming with Chuck; The Alien Nation is rising again; True Blood takes a big bit of DVD sales; Patton Oswalt talks life on Caprica; and could Supernatural rise from the grave?

Let’s get to it:

FRINGE

Got a few pics from Fringe’s upcoming second season. The pics include The Bishops (Joshua Jackson, John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) up to their usual hijinks in the lab, as well as guest star Meghan Markle, who will play junior FBI agent Amy Jessup – I’m guessing while Sr. Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is hanging out with Leonard Nimoy in alternate dimensions.

If you haven’t caught up on Fringe, you really need to. Here are the pics:

Should I even ask what’s up with the cow in a birthday hat? Of course not! It’s Fringe!

For the full gallery head over to Sci-fi Wire.

Fringe Returns on September 17 (Thursdays now) @ 9pm ET/PT on Fox.

CHUCK

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh will be joining the cast of Chuck for a multi-episode story arch in the upcoming season. Routh will join the show during its fourth episode where he will be playing a new spy named Shaw who takes over Operation Bartwoski and naturally starts competing for Sarah’s affections.

Chuck returns this spring on NBC.

Source: EW

ALIEN NATION

Alien Nation is still making its way back to television. Syfy (and parent company NBC Universal) are working with Twentieth Century Fox to reboot the 80s-90s cult hit show, under the creative direction of Tim Minear, a TV vet with shows like Firefly and The X-Files under his belt.

Minear has claimed that he was the new Alien Nation to be ‘The Wire with aliens,’ and after seeing all the great stuff that director Neil Blomkamp milked out of the premise for District 9 (a film undoubtedly inspired by shows like Alien Nation), I’d say a retooled Alien Nation definitely has potential.

As for contemporary relevance, Minear claims that examples like the culture clashes happening in many European countries would be a good starting point for the series (transplanted to the US of A, of course).

Head over to Earth’s Mightiest for the full interview with Minear. Alien Nation hopes to be in production sometime next year.

Source: Cinemastatic

TRUE BLOOD

True Blood has “glammed” the masses! The DVD of the HBO Series’ first season is slowly gaining on Flight of the Concords as the best-selling TV DVD. True Blood has sold almost $46 million in DVDs as of the middle of August.

Personally, I think True Blood deserves to be crowned king of DVD, considering how explicitly adult-themed the show is. Guess sex (mixed with violence and vamps) still does sell…

If you still haven’t seen True Blood season 1 (shame on you!) you can snag the DVD for cheap by going here.

Source: TV By The Numbers

SUPERNATURAL

Seems Supernatural still has its neck on the chopping block. Said show creator Eric Kripke in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline…Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.”

Well… Kripke at least makes a kind of concession do Supernatural die-hards out there, claiming that is finale for the series will leave room for a whole new installment of the show, with a whole new mythology to build on, in case it gets an eleventh-hour stay of execution. As Kripke points out, Buffy did it, The X-Files did it, so can Supernatural.

The show returns on September 10th @ 9pm ET/PT on the CW.

Source: EW

CAPRICA

Wanna hear actor/comedian Patton Oswalt talk about his role on the upcoming Battlestar Galactica series, Caprica? Oswalt will play Baxter Sarno, a talk show comedian who snags an interview with Cylon creator Daniel Graystone and his wife. There are a couple of good tidbits of the series for you BSG fans who have been wondering what’s coming your way.

Caprica starts with a two-hour premiere on January 22, 2010, @ 9 p.m. ET/PT and will air Fridays at 10 p.m. on Syfy.

Check out the interview with Oswalt over at AV Club.

That’s it for now. Talk to you again during the commercials.

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Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 13th, 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:31:26 +0000

In today’s Weekly TV Wrap Up, we’re going to talk about Fringe realities, Supernatural & Smallville news & True Blood setting records.

We’re then going to touch on some news from Fox’s House, and wrap things up with an NCIS tidbit and some more summer time ratings.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Fringe

Despite the possibility of there being multiple realities, the showrunners for Fringe are only going to torment the viewers with one alternate reality at a time. Thank god. I have enough trouble with my own reality as it is!

As they put it, there’s “over here” and the alternate reality referred to as “over there,” where William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) lives.

The upcoming season will take place mostly “over here,” but what occurs “over there” will have a great impact on what happens “over here.” (Did you follow that?)

Leonard Nimoy has already filmed one episode for season 2 and will be making numerous appearances throughout the season.

Fringe returns Sept. 17 at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Source: TV Guide

Supernatural

I call this when worlds collide! I know you’ve all been waiting for this one moment in time, but Paris Hilton is going to guest star on Supernatural. Crickets…

She’ll be playing a demon that takes the form of, all things, Paris Hilton. I so can’t wait for the Winchester brothers to stake her!

Eric Kripke calls it a “… a fun, irreverent episode.” I call it frightening.

The episode, titled “American Idol,” will air on October 8, 2009.

Source: The CW

Smallville

According showrunner Brian Peterson, they’re backing down from claims made earlier in the off-season that the upcoming 9th season of Smallville will be darker.

After they dropped that bombshell, fans started to get grumpy saying “Superman fans don’t do dark.” and “Nobody watches a TV show to become depressed.” LOL… I’m guessing they weren’t Battlestar Galactica fans.

Peterson went on to sooth the fanbase by adding that season 9 will not be all gloom and doom and backpedaled saying that Clark will just have some hard decisions to make.

WARNING: He did warn us that sparks may very well fly between Clark and Lois… and they’ll be fighting zombies and … well crap, I may have said too much already. Zombies? Am I reporting on Supernatural or Smallville?

Source: EW

True Blood

2 weeks ago, True Blood on HBO hit a record number of estimated viewers, at 4.3 million. But then last weekend they dusted the record books again and the show brought in an estimated 4.4 million pairs of eyeballs, breaking their own personal best.

It is an awesome, well-written show and I am not surprised that they’re pulling in the viewers.

Source: EW

House

For you Cameron and Chase fans from House, good news: They’re going to be back in their old jobs and off the sidelines. Of course, nothing comes easy and with them working side-by-side, that may put some strain on their brand new marriage!

We’ll also be seeing Foreman filling in as the top doc while Dr. Gregory House is on “leave,” which promises to be a rocky transition for Foreman.

As far as Cuddy and House go, don’t be sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for anything to develop anytime soon between them. Despite the tease of the imaginary hook-up, the showrunners are taking a step back and letting this premise simmer for a while.

Of course it all makes sense, right? They want us to go stir crazy, but really, speaking of crazy, House does have to sort out a few things as he tries to re-balance his sanity. He’s apparently not going to have an easy time of it.

Sources: EW: Link 1, Link 2

NCIS

According to sources, be sure you do not miss the very first minute of NCIS when it starts up its new season. According to exec producer Shane Brennan, you’re going to be asking yourself if you’re seeing things or not!

The new season of NCIS premieres on September 22nd.

Source: EW

If you missed my prequel TV News article to this one, I chatted about Dollhouse, 24, Lie To Me, Damages, Lawman, King of the Hill and the The Office

Ratings

Well, without really digging up a lot of info, amongst all the reality shows, repeats of NCIS (3rd with 9.9 million viewers), CSI:NY (9th w/ 8 mil viewers), CSI Miami (11th), The Mentalist (13th) & CSI (15th) eeked out their spots in the top 20.

On cable, Burn Notice, The Closer, Royal Pains and Monk chipped out 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th respectively amongst the top 10 cable shows.

Source: TV By The Numbers

Thanks for coming by. Questions and comments are always welcome, here on Screen Rant.

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First Look at True Blood’s Vampire Queen

Rob Keyes — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:42:49 +0000

If you haven’t been watching True Blood this season, you should start. The show is gaining momentum quicker than ever and it just keeps getting better and better.

The last two episodes in particular have both ended with big multiple major cliffhangers that have left fans dying for more. If you’re a fan, we’ve got something for you today – the very first look at Queen Sophie-Anne, the vampire Queen of Louisiana who will soon be making her reigning debut.

This image comes from Michael Ausiello’s column at Entertainment Weekly and depicts Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler, Across the Universe) in character as Queen Sophie-Anne.

The vampire queen makes her debut in episode 11 of this season, titled “Frenzy,” which airs August 30, 2009.

In describing the character, series creator Alan Ball says,

“Nobody’s ever entirely happy to see her… She’s very powerful, capricious and most likely insane.”

As for her role in the show, we only know that she’s likely up to no good with her own ambitions in mind. Ball hints at her purpose by revealing only that she “has more than one secret agenda… which we will slowly become aware of over season 3.”

True Blood incredible cast of growing stars includes Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Michelle Forbes, Nelsan Ellis, Sam Trammell, Deborah Ann Woll and Alexander Skarsgård.

Are you keeping up with True Blood? Where do you think the story’s heading with the Queen coming to town?

If you missed it, check out our coverage of the True Blood Comic-Con panel which talked about a lot of good stuff for the second half of season 2.

Source: EW

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True Blood Comic-Con 2009 Panel

Bruce Simmons — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:01:00 +0000

The HBO True Blood Panel had the loudest crowd I’ve been a part of this weekend so far. Today they had a few interesting announcements amongst the bits from today’s session.

On the panel were Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse. It’s Anna’s birthday today.), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton), Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), Alan Ball (Executive producer), Michelle Forbes (Maryann Forrester), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds), Charlaine Harris (Author of source books: The Southern Vampire Mysteries ), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby) and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman).

The biggest and first item out of the panel was what Alan Ball announced to us, all while holding up a bottle of True Blood. Yep, the drink is a reality now. It’s blood orange soda with all natural products. The label is an exact replica of the product in the show.

Then we were treated to a trailer from the last 1/2 of season 2.

After the trailer, here’s some of what was touched on in the panel:

Rutina Wesley on Tara: Tara is more mellow this season. Though fans liked Tara’s fiery mood, this is the side of Tara that needed to be seen.

Michelle Forbes keeps getting ass kicking roles because sci-fi makes it more possible to cast those roles.

Nelsan Ellis is very popular. He said that Lafayette may stop doing his hustle.

Charlaine was rather shy about some of the scenes in the show after watching the screener that HBO sent her.

Sam gets a little lucky with Daphne and he’s a real magnet for abuse this year.

Deborah Ann Woll is very nervous and is now picturing all of us in our underwear… eesh. Brave girl.

Why is Eric so drawn to Sookie? Eric has been around a long time and he’s over humanity and Sookie is just something different about her. It’s that mystery about her that he can’t put his finger on.

Eric wants to explore the possibilities.

We then went straight to questions quickly

Charlaine just signed a contract for 3 more novels on the Sookie Stackhouse novels, taking her writing though 2014. She said the show doesn’t really affect her writing. She can keep them separate.

Eric seems more sensitive this year, in season 2. They said you can’t play the same emotional note for 2 years and that change is necessary.

Though it’s not been officially announced yet, Alan Ball is excited about season 3, We’ll be seeing werewolves for the first time. They’ll be delving into Russell Edgington and the Mississippi vampires. And Ball said we won’t be seeing Elvis. Even if Elvis helps out Sookie in the books, it would basically be an impersonation and that takes away from the quality of the show.

In the preview, a panel attendee noticed someone behind Sookie in a quick scene that was personal in nature and it was asked if that was Eric? Ball said I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Anna likes that Sookie speaks her mind… no matter what she’s in the middle of.

How much of a handful will Jessica be for Bill. Deborah Ann Woll said as much as they let me.

Lafayyete is scared of Eric, while Eric has plans for Lafayette in the future.

On their fangs: They said the older hard fangs stay in where they’re supposed to while the newer rubber ones fly out if you talk too fast. The rubber ones were made because the hard ones were fairly hard and sharp. Paquin coyly chimed in with a smirk saying, “Yes… they are.”

Ball said that there should be evolution and change in the characters in time but it will be a natural evolution of characters.

Charlaine Harris was asked what her inspiration was. She said the tabloids, but in all honesty she doesn’t trust the word inspiration. Writing is work and you wouldn’t want to be around her when she’s trying to make words or ideas come to her. She says when you’re under contract, you have deadlines and inpsiration doesn’t seem to work well with deadlines.

Instead, Charlaine just turns on her word program and asks herself, “Who’s coming to Sookies house today?”

Ball said this show has been the most fun he’s ever had in a job.

The difference between V and real blood is that V is older blood. Direct from the source is a much better experience.

Now the question remains, if Eric does snag Sookie away, what will Bill do about it? Stephen said he might just take more drastic measures if that were the case.

That’s all I have for everyone from the True Blood panel. It was fun, loud and a lot of people waited a long time in line to see this panel. Skarsgard was quite the popular personality here today and they had a few exclusive bits of info to let us know about.

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True Blood Season 2 Brings More Alexander Skarsgård

Rob Keyes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:14:39 +0000

One of the shows I was pleasantly surprised by last year was True Blood. The series joined the vampire craze with a heavily adult-oriented take on the genre and stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer among many others of its strong cast.

One notable cast member and a fan-favorite of the series is Alexander Skarsgård who’s been making plenty of headlines over the last few months for having been in the running for the role of Thor in the upcoming Marvel Studios film of the same name.

In season one of True Blood, he played a relatively minor background character, not appearing in all of the episodes. This season, he’s back with a much bigger role!

The good folks over at IESB had a chance to talk with young Skarsgård about the second season and the role he plays and I’ve pulled some parts of it for you to see.

One of the first questions posed was about his change to play a bigger role in the second season of the hit vampire series:

“Yeah, I love it. Eric didn’t do anything in Season 1. You can sense that he is violent, strong and powerful, but he didn’t have to show it, at all, in Season 1. I think the audience wants to see a little example of that, and we give it to them.”

I guess that means we’ll see much more Eric and Bill dialogue and some interesting dynamic added to their relationship stemming from their different perspectives.

“…Eric sees Bill as pathetic. He’s a kid. He’s not even 200 years old, and he’s naive. Eric is much more jaded and he’s seen so much more than Bill has. Bill is old school and he believes in humanity, in a way that Eric doesn’t anymore.”

Again, Alex played a relatively minor role in the first film but the fans definitely picked up on him and I thought he was a cool character, good enough to make me a supporter of him getting the Thor role. IESB asked Alex what it was like to get that much support from a relatively minor role in the show:

“…I was shocked. I’m pretty much a glorified extra in Season 1. I didn’t do much. I didn’t expect anything, and I was overwhelmed when it started airing and I got all the reactions. It was very flattering, of course.”

Most importantly, how does he feel about the show and his gig?

“I enjoy everything. Every single part of it is great — just going to work, every day, and working on this show. It’s HBO and it’s Alan Ball. Just look at the cast, and the writing is phenomenal. I couldn’t ask for a better job. I’m so happy to have the job. And, it was challenging, definitely in the beginning, when I was trying to find the character. I was reading the books and trying to figure out who this guy was, and also trying to find that balance of making him likeable, but menacing. I wanted people to be intimidated by him, but intrigued, at the same time.”

To check out the full interview which includes questions about the cast and his role, head on over to IESB.

I love this guy’s attitude and his appreciation for what he does and the fans that follow.

He showed a similar positive attitude in response to not getting the role of Thor for which he was widely speculated to be a lead contender for some time.

If you’ve not seen it already, check out the neat teaser poster for season 2 of the show.

I’m excited for this season of True Blood and to see much more of Alexander’s character on screen playing a more integral role.

What do you think of the show and Skarsgård’s character?

True Blood Season 2 is currently airing on HBO. Check it out!

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Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 18, 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:52:44 +0000

Welcome to Thursday’s Weekly TV Wrap Up. Today we have a chunk of news to chat about.

I want to touch a bit on the television broadcast digital conversion and how well it went, or maybe not so well for some. Then we’ll touch on some True Blood ratings news, Heroes casting info, Bones renewal info and some Lie To Me news. We’ll then toss in some info on Patrick Swayze’s The Beast, My Name Is Earl and some Law And Order: SVU cast news.

Of course, I wrap it up with TV and cable ratings from last week.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Digital Transition Not So Smooth

As the television world went digital last Friday, for many it was a flawless event. For some, not so flawless.

One experience noted was that of a consumer who bought a digital TV, and later, a “digital” antenna to prepare for the transition – yet when the switch happened, they lost their local ABC and CBS stations.

They had issues because when the digital switch happened, stations went from the UHF to the VHF band and the antenna this consumer bought was designed only for digital UHF stations. So much for the digital sales pitch on the product. Hence, consumer beware.

There are digital receivers on the market that receive both bands. Be aware of that.

Nearly all stations that changed were using the UHF band until the change last Friday and now they’re almost all on VHF.

If perchance you or someone you know are still having problems, try this:

Force the converter box or digital TV to rescan for channels that moved to the new frequencies on Friday.

If that doesn’t work, try a technique called double rescanning.

What that entails is disconnecting the antenna from your TV or digital converter box. Then rescan again. Turn off your TV or box. Then turn it / them back on. Connect the antenna and scan one more time.

This procedure helps clear saved channels from your TV or box memory.

Source: DTV.gov, DTV.gov

True Blood Explodes On Cable

With the 2nd season premiere of True Blood kicking in at HBO, the ratings reflected viewers approval of the show.

The episode averaged 3.7 million viewers, which made it the most watched episode in two years for HBO, since The Sopranos.

source: EW

Heroes Might Be Adding A Cylon

Rick Worthy, who played the Simon model Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, is in negotiations to join the cast of Heroes.

The role will be a recurring role as Matt Parkman’s (Greg Grunberg) new partner.

Worthy brings a wealth of experience with him. He’s been in various shows prior to BSG like CSI, Fallen and Enterprise just to name a few.

They’re talking about this as if it’s a done deal but they did note they are still in negotiations. Do you think he’ll be added to the list of new Heroes cast, along with Robert Knepper and Madelina Zima?

Source: Superhero Hype

Click to continue reading our ‘Weekly TV Wrap Up’

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The Latest HBO True Blood Trailer

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:21:14 +0000

HBO’s True Blood has its second season coming up pretty soon. June 14th to be exact.

True Blood will again be starring Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Sam Trammel as Sam Merlotte, Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse and Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton. Additional casting includes Evan Rachel Wood as the Louisiana vampire Queen, Sophie-Ann.

Video is after the break.

We previously showed you a preview of True Blood’s season two, but a new sneak peek preview video came out Friday night. It includes Bob Dylan’s new single, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ and we’re all over it.

Keep in mind that season one is coming at us in all the different media on May 19th

The previews are getting more interesting, don’t you think?

Source: Sci Fi WIre

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Weekly TV Update – April 23rd, 2009

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:40:15 +0000

It is Thursday yet again. How’s your week been so far? We’re doing good here at Screen Rant.

Today we’re chatting a little about CBS’s season finales, also A Game Of Thrones, Supernatural, Fringe, Burn Notice, BSG, Dexter, Kings, and a bit on Ugly Betty. We’ve also got a video preview of True Blood season two, and a few other bits and pieces. Oh, and of course, I touch on some ratings from the week that was.

Game Of Thrones

The HBO pilot for George R. R. Martin’s A Game Of Thrones will begin filming in Northern Ireland in the 3rd quarter of 2009.

Economically speaking, Northern Ireland is excited about the production coming their way. Emotionally speaking, this is great news for the fans of the book series.

The First Minister Peter D. Robinson said: “This is the first time that a TV production of such vast size and scale has been filmed in Northern Ireland.”

Source: Northern Ireland Executive

Supernatural

Supernatural is all new this week. With the new set of episodes comes the much-heralded meeting between Dean, Sam and their younger brother! Yep. The younger winchester brother I hinted at way back in February, will be played by Jake Abel (Threshold).

And for one more detail to keep in mind, the season finale of Supernatural takes place on May 14th!

Fringe

Everyone is presuming that Fringe will be getting a second season even though it hasn’t been officially announced yet. With that second season will come an interesting move of filming locations.

Fringe has been filming in New York City, but due to something or other about poor tax breaks for television productions, they’re moving to Vancouver.

So the big question is, can they make Vancouver look anything like Boston? I presume so. I’m betting if they actually said they were in New York City, things might have been different, being how cities love to be talked about. They claim it draws tourism.

Source: TV Guide

Prison Break

Prison Break kicked it back in gear last week. Was it me, or did it just not pull you in? I guess it could be that it’s been so long since Fox actually gave up on showed it that I forgot everything. It pulled me back in at about the halfway mark.

But that still doesn’t detract from the 32% ratings drop in viewers on… oh, wait, another show slapped into Friday night! I’m shocked. The show pulled in only 3.3 million viewers. Fox must not care since it’s ending in a few weeks.

The finale is scheduled for a double-episode that airs on May 8th. As far as that stand-alone, 2-hour episode that’s been filmed, no one knows what Fox plans to do with it yet. If it doesn’t air, it better be on the DVD.

The 2-hour movie takes place in a 4-year flash-forward.

Source: TV Guide, TV Guide

Burn Notice

Here’s a confusing note: Burn Notice is going to have a guest star in a season 3 episode.

The actor guest starring will be Michael Weston, from House and Six Feet Under. Weston (The actor) will play a character named Spencer who’s a little imbalanced.

He’s an MIT grad who uncovers a plan to sell the names of spies. Aside from the seriousness of the issue, he believes aliens are behind it. Hmm, they do say imbalanced.

Source: EW.com

Battlestar Galactica

If you’ve been waiting for the chance to purchase season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica on DVD or Blu-ray, it became available for pre-order. It will be shipping on July 28th.

Source: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Dexter

Since I’m chatting up DVD’s, let’s talk Dexter. Season 3 of Dexter is available for pre-order, but oddly, no date has been set yet for its delivery. Thought you’d like to know.

Kings

We were asked by a reader if we knew anything about NBC’s Kings. Well, of course we do!

Kings had started out to what NBC considered to be dismal ratings, despite the hoopla they tried to generate about the show. Of course, being originally scheduled for Thursdays, then airing on Sunday’s didn’t help. Then moving it to Saturday, where in theory it was going to do better amongst the world of repeats on Saturday’s, it still didn’t seem to take with the hoped-for audience.

If you were wondering what’s up about the season being finished out, NBC is going to do just that. They’re looking to finish the rest of the season of Kings Starting Saturday, June 13th and running on through to July 25th.

Source: THR

True Blood

For the upcoming second season of HBO’s True Blood, Evan Rachel Wood has been cast as the Louisiana vampire Queen, Sophie-Ann. She’ll be in two episodes near the end of season two and if they go to a third season, she should have a more prevalent role.

Below is a preview of the upcoming 2nd season of True Blood. We already talked a little bit about True Blood’s 2nd season, now let’s show you something about it.

Source: EW.com

CBS Season Finales

The following are season finale dates announced by CBS

Sunday, May 10	The Amazing Race
Sunday, May 3 & 10	Cold Case (Two parter)
Sunday, May 10	The Unit
Thursday, May 14	CSI
Friday, May 15	Ghost Whisperer
Friday, May 15	Numb3rs
Sunday, May 17	Survivor Tocantis
Monday, May 18	CSI Miami
Tuesday, May 19	NCIS
Tuesday, May 19	The Mentalist
Tuesday, May 19	Without A Trace
Wednesday, May 20	Criminal Minds
Wednesday, May 20	CSI NY

Ugly Betty

The season finale of Ugly Betty is due to air on May 21st. Guest stars lined up are Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. They’ll be playing themselves, as View hosts when Daniel is a guest of the show (in the show, not for real. I think I just hurt my brain). I’m sure you’ve heard of the View. It’s the show where the hostess’s get into big rip roaring arguments every 3 to 4 weeks to generate media, and try to pump up their ratings.

One other note: Ugly Betty is coming back on April 30th. That’s one week earlier than it was originally scheduled.

Source: EW.com

Last Week’s Ratings:

I hate repeating myself, so I won’t. When you get to the chart, you’ll see who dominated the top 2 spots. CSI moved into 4th with their Science Fiction Convention-based episode, where we saw some guest appearances by several Battlestar Galactica alumni. Did you catch everyone that was on the show? There were more than just Moore…

From Last Week

CSI had fewer viewers, but moved up from 7th to 4th. Mathematically, that confuses me. Fringe moves up 1 spot to 21st, while the ratings got murdered on Harper’s Island, and it tumbled from 20th to 34th on the list. Meanwhile, Heroes pushed up from 48th to 43rd as it approached its season finale. I included Miss USA 2009… having to be as thorough as I can, and, um, checking the quality of the programming content for our viewers. Yeah, that’s it. Coming in 64th on the list isn’t surprising considering how mundane = the outline they presently have is. Of course, this year, Ms. California seems to have generated the most notoriety I’ve ever seen for a runner-up (1st loser). Dudette, move on already.

We had one premiere, Sit Down Shut up, on Fox that debuted in 60th. Meanwhile, repeat episodes like the perennial performer NCIS still kept the top-20 mixed up. NCIS just hits all the right buttons. The appeal of the police drama, combined with the mystery of the top-secret world of the military and the mix of cast / characters is just the perfect hit for viewers. Good job CBS.

Best Performing Show For Each Network

Fox had American Idol as their bread winner, while ABC’s Dancing with the Stars was their best hit of the week. Considering the eye-candy, I’m not surprised. (I’ve been told one of the dancers, LT’s partner, Edyta Sliwinska, looks like my wife.) CBS hit 4th on the chart with their best performing show, CSI. NBC’s best hit, (on this list) is Southland, hitting 25th on the charts. The CW shows up near the bottom with their best performer, America’s Next Top Model.

Considering how much we love Smallville and Supernatural, I’m surprised at the numbers of these shows. Thank god they’re on the CW. Fox would have taken out their shovel and put them on Friday nights and buried them. Oops, did I just say that? Damn keyboard malfunctions all the time.

Rank – Show (Network) -Viewers In The Millions

1 - American Idol on Tues (FOX) – 24.378

2 - American Idol on Wed (FOX) – 24.114

3 - Dancing With The Stars (ABC) – 19.463

4 - CSI (CBS) – 15.717

5 - Dancing W With The Stars Results (ABC) – 15.239

6 - Two And A Half Men (CBS) – 15.027

7 - Desperate Housewives (ABC) – 13.851

8 - NCIS (CBS) – 13.559 (Repeat)

9 - CSI Miami (CBS) – 13.385

10 – Without A Trace (CBS) – 13.227

11 – House (FOX) – 12.19

12 – The Mentalist (CBS) – 12.183 (Repeat)

13 – CSI NY (CBS) – 12.141

15 – Survivor Tocantins (CBS) – 11.644

17 – Bones (FOX) – 11.006

18 – 24 (FOX ) – 10.864

19 – Criminal Minds (CBS) – 10.577 (Repeat)

20 – Amazing Race 14 (CBS) – 10.305

21 – Fringe (FOX) – 10.15

24 – Surviving Suburbia (ABC) – 9.711

25 – Southland (NBC) – 9.606

26 – How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – 9.596

27 – Brothers & Sisters (ABC) – 9.458

28 – Lost (ABC) – 9.234

29 – Biggest Loser 7 (NBC) – 9.111

31 – Apprentice 8 (NBC) – 8.411

32 – Office (NBC) – 8.37

34 – Harper’s Island (CBS) – 7.818

35 – Medium (NBC) – 7.65

39 – 30 Rock (NBC) – 7.324

40 – Castle (ABC) – 7.279

43 – Heroes (NBC) – 6.828

44 – Numb3rs (CBS ) – 6.754 (Repeat)

45 – Simpsons (FOX) – 6.58

46 – Ghost Whisperer R (CBS) – 6.525 (Repeat)

47 – Law And Order SVU (NBC) – 6.494 (Repeat)

48 – Flashpoint (CBS ) – 6.358 (Repeat)

49 – Chuck (NBC) – 6.212

51 – Parks And Recreation (NBC) – 6.015

52 – The Unusuals (ABC) – 6.013

53 – NASCAR Sprint Cup (FOX) – 5.984

54 – Law And Order (NBC) – 5.975 (Repeat)

57 – My Name Is Earl (NBC) – 5.355

60 – Sit Down Shut Up (FOX) – 5.188 (PREMIERE)

62 – Scrubs on Wed 8pm (ABC) – 5.06

63 – Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 5.059 (Repeat)

64 – Miss Usa 2009 (NBC) – 4.997

66 – Better Off Ted (ABC) – 4.624

67 – In The Motherhood (ABC) – 4.618

70 – NASCAR Pre-Race Show (FOX) – 4.176

72 – America’s Next Top Model – 6 (CW) – 3.776

76 – Prison Break (FOX) – 3.335

80 – 90210 (CW) – 2.133

81 – Reaper (CW) – 2.052

82 – Supernatural (CW) – 1.85 (Repeat)

83 – Smallville (CW) – 1.786 (Repeat)

85 – The Game (CW) – 1.245 (Repeat)

88 – One Tree Hill (CW) – 0.91 (Repeat)

89 – Gossip Girl (CW) – 0.904 (Repeat)

This is a selected 60 out 92 shows rated.

The “I Hope You Haven’t Eaten Yet” Section

I was entertaining the idea of adding ratings from cable networks to accent my basic network table, but after seeing what constituted the top-10 shows on the cable networks, I don’t think I want to irritate myself:

	Show	Net	Day	Viewers, (Millions)
1	WWE Entertainment	USA	Mon	6.0
2	SpongeBob	NICK	Fri	5.8
5	In Plain Sight	USA	Sun	5.1
6	Penguins Of Madagascar	NICK	Sat	5.9
9	Hannah Montana	DSNY	Sun	4.8

Just in case you really don’t know, WWE is “wrestling”. I’m not showing spots 3, 4, 7, 8 or 10 because they’re different episodes or air dates of the same things already noted. I’m not sure what to say about SpongeBob giving WWE a run for its money in spots 1-4. I can only root for the sea-faring sponge. Go Bob! Go! Huh, I’ve never rooted for a sponge before.

I think I will digress on the issue and not pursue this!

Personal Thought

I’m straying off the beaten path of my known realm of TV but I have to say that after I saw the short film that the upcoming Tim Burton-produced film, 9, is based on, I was moved at how much could be conveyed in a 10-minute, silent animated short. We are shown back story, present plight and future hopes all in 10 minutes.

I think 9 creator Shane Acker is abso-freakin-lutely genius and I can’t wait for more from him.

If you haven’t checked it out, this link will show you Kofi and Ross’s articles written about 9. Even if you don’t think that silent animated skits are your thing, maybe you can join the “Totally Surprised” section I’m sitting in right now.

I’m Done, I’m Shutting Up

If anyone has anything to add, help or have questions – you can leave a comment and we’ll do our best to answer them in the subsequent weekly article.

Thanks for coming by.

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Alexander Skarsgard No Longer In The Running For Thor?

Rob Keyes — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:37:32 +0000

Last month, news broke that Thor director Kenneth Branagh was seen meeting with True Blood actor, Alexander Skarsgård. This sparked rumors that the 6’4” son of veteran actor Stellan Skarsgård was in the running to wield the Mighty hammer, Mjolnir.

Those rumors may now be all for not as news broke this weekend that Alexander may no longer be contending for the lead role in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Thor, The Avengers and potential sequels.

In speaking with E! Online at the Paley Center for Media’s 25th Annual TV Festival last week, Skarsgård was asked about whether or not he’d be playing Thor and he replied with this:

“No, I don’t think so. I haven’t gotten the call, so…”

No call? If he was the lead contender or even a reasonable possibility, he’d be well in the loop and well-informed. So unless he’s just hiding something/dodging the question (very doubtful) it appears that Alexander will likely not be playing Thor in the upcoming Marvel epic.

I’m disappointed by this news – out of the candidates, I, like many others, felt strongly that Alexander was perfect for the role and I can’t think of a better choice.

Last month, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood reported on the six candidates apparently being considered for the role. In addition to Alexander Skarsgård, that list included Josh Hartnett, Liam Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam and Joel Kinnaman.

Hartnett is reportedly in the running to play Loki as well, and as I can’t see him at all portraying Thor, I find it hard to believe he’s actually a contender for that role in addition to Loki. As for the other four candidates, I can’t see any of them playing the part either so if Alexander’s out, I hope they have a new list of candidates. Better yet, I hope Alexander’s still in the running and that Branagh and co. have just been busy in recent times.

What do you think of Alexander Skarsgård possibly no long being a candidate for Thor?

Thor opens at its new later date of June 17, 2011.

Source: E! Online (via IGN)

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Tricky Teaser Poster For True Blood Season 2

Rob Keyes — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:27:51 +0000

For you fans of True Blood out there, we have a little teaser for you for the upcoming second season of the HBO hit vampire show.

The teaser comes in the form of a new poster for the second season which of course features a blood spill pattern, the show’s trademark image. Pay special attention though as the poster is much more than that (hint: it’s designed from the Rubin’s Vase concept)

Take a look and see if you notice anything cool about this and I’ll explain after:

Look closely! At first glance you may just see the blood but if you focus in on the dark sections, you’ll see the silhouette of a vampire about to feed from some poor lady’s neck. This concept is based off the famous Rubin’s Face, a famous optical illusion that allows for two completely separate interpretations of the same image. Here’s the original Rubin’s face image so you can compare:

Is it a vase or a pair of faces?

If you haven’t seen True Blood, think of it as Twilight strictly for adults. I caught the entire first season a few months back and I really enjoyed it. What made it even better is that its cast includes Alexander Skarsgård who is my preferred candidate in the running to play the character Thor in Marvel’s upcoming slate of films.

The second season brings back the main cast of characters including Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Sam Trammel as Sam Merlotte, Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse and Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton.

What do you think of True Blood and are you excited for the second season?

The second season of True Blood begins June 14, 2009.

Source: THR

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Is True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard Thor?

Rob Keyes — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:26:33 +0000

Yesterday’s Marvel movie rumor was about a reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. Today’s is about a potential casting choice of the lead role in Thor.

A reader of Latino Review sent them some interesting information regarding the director of Thor, Kenneth Branagh and who he’s been spending some time with.

The reader witnessed first hand Branagh having dinner with Alexander Skarsgård, who you may know from his roles on True Blood or Generation Kill. Alexander, son of Stellan Skarsgård, is 6’4”, 32-years old and shares the same agency as Branagh. His character in True Blood sports the same hair as Thor. Skarsgård’s physique matches that of the casting call description sent out when Screen Rant discussed Kevin McKidd not playing the role of Thor.

The only thing that was confirmed is that Branagh was at the reported restaurant that afternoon. Other than that, all we have to go on is that he fits the description of Thor and that they met to discuss something.

I’ve not seen Generation Kill but he does play a pretty cool character in True Blood – I’m fine with this actor to play the role of Thor. I like the idea of them picking an unknown with quite a bit of acting experience. What they need to do is pick someone soon if they want to have this movie ready for next summer along with Iron Man 2 – I hope the movie’s production is not rushed though.

Let’s now pretend that Skarsgård were to be chosen – Can he sell this movie? They’d need an impressive supporting cast and I think they also need some awesome looking stylistic design for the movie and of Asgard to sell this as an epic visual spectacle similar to what Zack Snyder’s 300 was.

What do you think of this possibility – Can Mr. Skarsgard portray the God of Thunder and wield the Mighty hammer, Mjolnir?

Stay tuned for more Thor updates in the near future!

Thor is scheduled to release July 16, 2010.

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2008 Fall TV Schedule Preview

Bruce Simmons — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:50:15 +0000

The new 2008 Fall TV season is almost upon us, with the first new show of the season premiering on September 1st. Screen Rant has put together an extensive list of new and returning programs along with their premiere dates, along with descriptions and recommendations.

So what’s up this fall? What are we anticipating, what are we, well… not anticipating?

I know some of you have given up on network television. At times I don’t blame you. For those of you who still have a wee bit of faith, anticipation, or hope in network programming – or even plan on patiently waiting for shows to hit DVD, then this endeavor is for you. I gave a brief overview of the upcoming TV season a couple of months ago, but this right here is the big kahuna.

And yes, even I am looking forward to a few TV series…

Maybe I’ll stop my “rant” and get going. What you’ll see below is:

The name of the series, along with which season it will be for the show
A brief description
An opinion or two
The premiere date

Below the primary alphabetical listing section, I’ve also ordered the shows by date in case you have plans that you have to alter for your favorite TV show. We give season premiere dates, summaries and recommendations on everything from highly anticipated shows like Heroes, Smallville and The Sarah Connor Chronicles to new shows like Dollhouse, Fringe and My Own Worst Enemy.

If you want to skip right over to a favorite show, click on one of these links:

Crusoe, CSI, Damages, Dexter, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour and Fringe

Ghost Whisperer, Heroes, House, Knight Rider, Law and Order, Life on Mars, Lost and My Own Worst Enemy

NCIS, Numb3rs, Prison Break, Pushing Daisies, Raising the Bar, Sanctuary, Smallville and Sons of Anarchy

Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Mentalist, The Shield, True Blood, The Unit, Valentine Inc. and Without A Trace

Bruce says: Let’s get on with it!

24 on Fox (Season 7)

After a year long delay, season 7 of 24 kicks it into gear -
Starting on Mondays, in January 2009.

Bruce says: Don’t miss it! (Everyone, you have to read this with that gravely voice the movie voice over dude has! It makes it better!!)”

On November 23, 2008, 24: Exile will air on Fox as a prequel to the seventh season, bridging the gap between the seasons.

Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi (Season 4.5)

In one devastating day, billions of human lives were consumed by nuclear fires and a very lucky few, less then 50,000, were fortunate to escape aboard a band of refugee starships and flee from the Cylone attack into deep space, led by the sole surviving Colonial warship, the battlestar Galactica. In the final season, they have found Earth, and it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Bruce says: OK, if you don’t know what I think about the show by now, what cave have you been in? For the new folk: I am really looking forward to the final part of season 4, regardless of how crappy the Sci-Fi Channel is handling it.

Starts in February of 2009, as leaked by Jamie Bamber back in late 2007!

Bones on Fox (Season 4)

A scientist who reads clues left behind in bones’ to solve cases teams up with an FBI Special Agent who mistrusts science and believes evidence should come from the living. (X-Files??)
It stars Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz and Michaela Conlin.

Bruce says: Actually I hear that if you’re a Boreanaz fan, you’d be happy. I’ve enjoyed all the commercials I’ve seen for it! I just haven’t had the time to watch it.

Premieres Wednesday, September 3rd.

Chuck on NBC (Season 2)

From executive producer Josh Schwartz and executive producer-director McG.
When Chuck opens an e-mail subliminally encoded with government secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now, the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy More Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he confronts assassins and international terrorists.

Bruce says: Catchy, quirky and an ongoing sense of developing characters. If you’re not careful, you could get hooked.

Premieres Monday, September 29th.

Cold Case on CBS (Season 6)

A drama about Lilly Rush (Played by Kathryn Morris), a dedicated female detective in the Philadelphia homicide squad, who finds her niche when she’s assigned to “cold cases”–crimes that have never been solved.

Bruce says: I really enjoy how they look at older cases, and how it’s portrayed in the screen. Flash backs to familiar era’s, then snapping back to the older characters in present day is done well. This one is a Bruce Fave.

Premieres Sunday, September 28th.

Cops on FOX (Season 21)

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha gonna dooo? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? (I hope you read that with the tune going off in your head!) And they’ve been coming for them for 21 seasons. Sheesh!

Bruce says: It’s a classic. When nothing else is on, I like tuning in to hear the excuses the half neked criminal ilk come up with. It’s almost a game!

Premieres Saturday, September 6th.

Criminal Minds on CBS (Season 4)

The BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) is an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again.

Bruce says: That’s TWISTED CRIMINAL MINDS. Not my mind. I really liked this show when Mandy Patinkin was on it. They’ve done OK with his replacement, Joe Mantegna and they took a different and interesting approach to showing the story in season three. This is still a Bruce Fave, even without Patinkin.

Premieres Wednesday, September 24th.

(Click here for Crusoe, CSI, Damages, Dexter, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour and Fringe)

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What Is True Blood From HBO?

Bruce Simmons — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:42:15 +0000

About True Blood from HBO:

Using a viral campaign aimed at many blog owners, True Blood on HBO was looking for some exposure via curiosity as they engaged the different web site owners with mystery envelopes and encrypted letters.

The show is based on a book series by Charlaine Harris, called Southern Vampire Mysteries. It takes an interesting twist on the idea of humans and vampires co-habitating in a small Louisiana town after the vampires have discovered a Japanese-made synthetic blood called TruBlood. This moves the vamps from predators to “fellow citizens.”

This obvious scenario creates an amount of tension that can be taken advantage of if done well. With religious leaders and world governments having chosen their sides, the jury is still out in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps.

The show is brought to us by Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball.

About the studio promotional support:

HBO has already started a community bulletin board. They’ve jumped on board the promotional comic book avenue. The comic opening panels is set in a private jet where one of the characters is pondering about “coming out”, in the vampire sense. The stewardess offers him a magazine, then some TruBlood. It seems interesting just from that unique set of comic panels.

The comic smartly incorporates some of the viral campaign components, with special envelopes, a website referenced, etc..

The viral advertising sure is thorough. At the bottom of the HBO True Blood home page are a series of informational links for the inquiring vampire mind. Links to real existing sites!

For the latest Vampire news check out BloodCopy. It has news articles based on the world of TrueBlood. The lead article starts out: “The paint on the American Vampire League office in Shreveport barely had time to dry before an angry mob gathered torches and stakes and charged the building. ”

Or if, you’re a lonely vampire, you can find eternal love at LoveBitten.net, which coins itself as “The Best Human/Vampire Dating Site”. It has a video of a potential date who was stamped “Rejected by Human Dating Sites!” Now the 211-year old Sebastion is hooked up with 26-year old human named Mindy and they’re very happy.

Or there’s even a link to buy some TruBlood! TruBeverage.com. With all flavor, no bite! There’s a video that shows a vampire coming upon a group of campers who happen to have some TruBlood with them and it becomes a kind of Budweiser-ish ad.

The HBO True Blood website has the tagline “Thou shall not crave thy neighbor.”

Some of the cast include Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten and Rutina Wesley.

The details of how they assembled this campaign are refreshing and my curiosity is piqued. On the down side, I don’t subscribe to HBO but some rumors here and there on the ‘net seem to indicate this isn’t as good as all the hype would lead me to believe. Yet other mainstream sources seem to be giving it some credit.

One perception of the preview clip from Comic-Con at San Diego comes from Time.com: The preview “struck fans of the series as sexier than the books, more violent than the books & more sensationalistic.”

Someone’s gonna have to tell me how it really is if you catch it on the tube.

Image source: LA Times

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Is This A New Movie Viral Campaign – SOLVED!

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:10:54 +0000

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!

This looks like it has something to do with the upcoming HBO vampire series True Blood. My bud Devin from CHUD.com has informed me there is an HBO series coming soon called True Blood and one of the plot points of the story is the creation of a synthetic blood called “tru blood” which allows vampires to reveal themselves to the world now that they no longer have to prey on humans.

This aligns with the quote I found buried on Revenant.com:

“Thank You For Answering The Call And Joining Us.
But What It Means To Us Is Almost Beyond Words.
Tru Blood can sustain us. The Bonds of Blood Will No Longer Hold Us Hostage.”

And it also aligns with the mysterious initials “T B” that are in the letter below.

Nothing remains a mystery long on the internet.

Original post follows…

Ok… now either this is the start of some new, clever viral marketing campaign for a movie that’s coming out soon – or I’m embarrasing myself by posting up something I received in the mail that’s totally unrelated to any movie at all.

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out just what the item I received today in a translucent envelope really is. The only vague clue is the inclusion of the initials T.B.

For more information and pictures of what I received, read on.

Below you’ll see everything I received today. It was addressed to me personally with no mention of Screen Rant and was postmarked New York. You can see the packaging is quite fancy (and I would say expensive) including a heavy black envelope that was sealed with red wax bearing the mysterious T.B. once again.

For any of you that may be good at decoding or cryptography here’s a detailed look at the “writing” and the odd symbol in the message that was inside the black envelope:

So… this is either:

A. Something really obvious related to some movie that I’m totally missing the boat on.

B. Something that’s actually tricky to figure out and related to some movie.

C. Something totally unrelated to any upcoming movie and I’ve just revealed some weird piece of mail from some unknown stalker, fan or lunatic to tens of thousands of people.

My first thought was that it might have something to do with the upcoming film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, based on the look of the symbols.

Update 1:
Ryan from ShockTilYouDrop.com found this website: Chishio.jp which has more and similar items and the same logo seen above. The last time there was a viral site with a Japanese domain it was courtesy of J.J. Abrams and had to do with Cloverfield…

Update 2:
Apparently the symbols above are Egyptian (a friend of Ryan’s received the same letter and had it analyzed by UCLA’s language department!) so it may be Mummy 3 related, but I’m also thinking it might have something to do with the Street Fighter movie? Of course that’s still nine months away from opening so the Mummy flick is more likely.

Update 3:
Other people/sites who have received similar letters:

JHutchins.net – The official site of novelist J.C. Hutchins

YesButNoBtyes.com – A self-described pop culture blog.

Cactus Pix – Describes itself as a “Motion Picture Company.”

The registry info says it was registered on March 27th of this year. It’s not owned by any studio.

Update 4:
Thanks to the decoding skills of some of the folks over at Unfiction.com the following website has been uncovered: RevenantOnes.com. There is a countdown timer on the site set to expire at 7PM Eastern Standard Time tonight.

The domain was registered on February 13th of this year but they’re using privacy to mask the ownership. “Revenant” means “a person who returns as a spirit after death” or a corpse that returns from the grave, aka: a zombie.

There is also a forum that is not yet accessible on the site called the Trublood Forum. And I was able to locate the following phrase:

Thank You For Answering The Call And Joining Us.
But What It Means To Us Is Almost Beyond Words.
Tru Blood can sustain us. The Bonds of Blood Will No Longer Hold Us Hostage.

I also discovered there will be the following areas:

Political
Leaders
Integration

And here’s an image buried on the site:

So what do YOU think?

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