Posts by Michael Passman
Predicting ‘The Wire’ series finale
By Michael Passman, written on Mar. 7, 2008
The 90-minute series finale of “The Wire” will air this Sunday at 9 p.m., putting to rest arguably the best drama in television history. While I’m saving my thoughts on season five and the series as a whole for an upcoming column, a lot of story lines need to be tied up in the finale, and I think I have some idea how David Simon and Co. are going to end things. If you haven’t watched the first nine episodes of season five and are planning on doing so, don’t read after the jump. Otherwise, here’s where I see each main character ending up once the credits role Sunday night.
Other non-Sudoku uses for our paper
By Michael Passman, written on Dec. 10, 2007
Our office is made entirely of these.
Lil’ Prop Joe also made moves
By Michael Passman, written on Dec. 6, 2007
The fifth and final season of “The Wire” premiers in 31 days (Jan. 6), and HBO doesn’t want you to forget this.
A few Season 5 previews have sprouted up over the last few months, and today the network released three prequel shorts highlighting younger versions of Omar, Prop Joe and McNulty/Bunk. The network actually convinced show creator David Simon to produce these shorts, which is a little surprising coming from Simon, who would be the first guy to turn down this kind of promotional short.
It was also announced that with the exception of the series finale, all Season 5 episodes will premier On Demand a week before their scheduled broadcast dates.
Check out the other two shorts after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bodymore Murdaland doesn’t like your fancy packaging
By Michael Passman, written on Dec. 3, 2007
The fourth season DVD box set of HBO’s “The Wire” just showed up at the Daily, and I’m a little disappointed.
Regardless of the fact that I just got $59.99 worth of DVDs I would have otherwise bought — and before its actual street date — I’m still a little pissed about what just showed up. I regret to inform you, loyal readers and “Wire” enthusiasts, but HBO has defaced its gem.
They fucked with the packaging.
No, seriously. One of the great features of HBO’s overpriced DVDs is the unique box that is native to each series. The first three seasons of “The Wire” are offered in mildly unpractical foldout boxes (see below) but they’re odly amusing and somewhat validate the coin you just dropped on a show that can be seen On Demand half the year.
But for some reason, the show’s fourth season is offered in four mini-Amray cases, similar to the “Family Guy” DVDs. Sure it has no effect on the actual content, but its just got less character.
R.I.P. HBO Video: 12/3/2007
Canada: Protecting you from your employer — one PSA at a time
By Michael Passman, written on Nov. 26, 2007
At this point everyone’s seen their fair share of strange foreign ads through either YouTube or some crappy clip show hosted by William Shatner on a Saturday night. The spots typically involve some sexual innuendos that the American censors would never tolerate and end up being a commercial for oatmeal or something equally awesome. But rarely are we presented with the opportunity to see one of these gems on live TV in their natural state.
Thankfully, I was blessed with such an experience this past Saturday. While finishing some work in my Metro-Detroit home with the second game of CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” doubleheader on the background, I came across what may be the greatest public service ad ever. I didn’t quite catch the ad during its initial run-through, but I knew something was up, and through the magic of TiVo I went back and saw this:
A few things of note:
1. Check out her face during the post-burn close-up… Yeah.
2. I was convinced this was some kind of parody after hearing the guy yell “there’s been an accident!”
3. You have to hand it to Canada. While our PSA’s are concerned with fighting trivial problems like drug use and teen pregnancy, Canada is targeting society’s real deviants: people who allow workplace accidents to happen.
With my interest piqued, I scoured YouTube and found a few other spots from the heroes at prevent-it.ca. Most of them can’t touch the severe facial burn spot, but this one was pretty good too:
I bet you’ll think twice about the quality of your safety harnesses the next time you send a construction crew 10 stories up to build shit because of this. Go Canada.
Fans of ‘Werewolf Bar Mitzvah’ unite!
By Michael Passman, written on Nov. 19, 2007
With only four episodes of “30 Rock” remaining before the show hits an indefinite hiatus, it’s time for the stars of television’s best comedy to get a little more attention. Tina Fey’s gem boasts arguably the best ensemble on network TV, but one under-appreciated cast member is consistently a cut above his peers: drunk driving extraordinaire Tracy Morgan.
Morgan’s work has always been a tad under appreciated, from his stint on SNL to minor roles in a bunch of crappy movies (see: “Head of State” — well, don’t see it but you get the point), still he’s really come into his own playing a slightly crazier version of himself on “30 Rock.”
So with just a few weeks left before Hulk Hogan’s “American Gladiators” starts bumping legitimate shows out of NBC’s lineup, we’re instituting a new “Tracy Morgan Moment of the Week” feature on The Filter. Thanks to the magic of Hulu and its crude cropping options, we’re posting the best 20+ second Morgan clip after each new episode. Since I couldn’t narrow it down to just one and because last week’s episode might have been the series’s best, we’re going with two this week.
I promise it won’t be as disappointing as Colonial Williamsburg.
Hulu public beta launches tonight
By Michael Passman, written on Oct. 29, 2007
The Internet TV landscape has changed significantly in the last few months, and it’s about to look a lot different within a relatively short amount of time.
Hulu, a new streaming video provider, launched its first private beta tonight and is stocked with streaming TV shows and full-length films from NBC, Fox, Universal and Sony among others. As of now, the beta is only available to a select group of applicants who applied for a login before the beta’s launch. Hulu is still accepting applicants for the beta site and will continue to release logins over the next few weeks before its public beta launches sometime in the near future.
The initial launch lineup is scheduled to include episodes of “24,” “30 Rock,” “Arrested Development,” “Cops,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The Office,” “SNL,” and “The Simpsons,” among others.
It’s unclear how much content will be uploaded for each show — I’m not expecting 400+ episodes of “The Simpsons” — but streaming episodes of “Arrested,” “The Office” and “The Simpsons” on a single site is something to be excited about regardless of how much content is available.
We haven’t been able to access the private beta yet, but a teaser episode of “The Office” was posted on Hulu’s blog and demonstrates how the site will allow users to embed either entire episodes or segments of episodes onto their own personal sites. As you can see from the linked episode below, the video quality on the site is only decent, but the load times are insignificant. Although this episode doesn’t have any embedded ads, the other episodes on the server will.
Stay tuned for future updates on Hulu once we gain access.
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I hear good things about the Irrigation Room
By Michael Passman, written on Oct. 22, 2007
NBC is doing its best to bash “The Office” into our skulls, and I don’t really mind. The four-week, hour-long episode experiment is over for now, and although most of the episodes were a little bloated, it wasn’t nearly as bad as some people made it out to be. Even on its weaker days, the show is still better than 98% of everything else on TV.
But just because the show is slipping back to its half-hour format this Thursday, doesn’t mean you can’t get your “Office” fill elsewhere. The “Office” Convention runs from Oct. 26-28 in Scranton, PA, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Plus, you can apply to work at Dunder Mifflin’s Toledo branch through Dunder Mifflin Infinity, and now Schrute Farms even has its own TripAdvisor page.
It’s kind of strange, acutally. A little while ago the network was debating whether or not to can the show, and now its turned into one of their most valued properties.
Coming Soon: Miniature Easton Bats and TaylorMade Drivers!
By Michael Passman, written on Oct. 1, 2007
Since the Nintendo Wii’s launch last fall, third-party hardware manufacturers have been all over “Wii Sports.” Tons of stupid little kids have apparently bought up loads of miniature, hollowed out golf clubs and tennis rackets, so they can feal like they’re really golfing — or something.
This much is not really a surprise. Videogames have always lent themselves to crappy third-party add-ons, and the Wii lends itself to stupid, little kids, so why not market third-party pieces of plastic to stupid, little kids. But it is slightly surprising to see a legitimate sporting goods company jumping in on the “Wii Sports” bandwagon; Although, maybe it shouldn’t be.
Prince, one of the leading producers of real tennis rackets has splattered its name on an upcoming line of “Wii Sports” accessories. Prince won’t be manufacturing the rackets; instead, they’ll be stamping their name on a product from accessory maker Qualtech Global, which is slightly disappointing. The idea of a respectable engineer at Prince being given the assignment of “hollowed out, miniature Nintendo accessory” is kind of amusing.
It remains to be seen if Prince’s move will become a trend in the industry, but the arraignment appears to be beneficial for Prince and whoever else decides to follow them into the accessory marketplace. Prince isn’t actually making the product; they’re just putting their name on it. As Linda Glassel, the VP of marketing for Prince alluded to in a CNBC.com article, junior Nintendoheads will soon become familiar with the brand, and Prince will bring in some revenue from accessory sales.
Unfortunately for everyone else, the prospect of being hassled by a Gamestop clerk to pre-order a “Wii Sports”-compatible Brunswick bowling ball is now somewhat legitimate.
“Who Watches the Watchmen”?
By Michael Passman, written on Oct. 1, 2007
By Dave Reap
For the Daily
With production of “Watchmen” jumpstarting in Vancouver last month, Zack Snyder has become the latest film director to deal with famed graphic novelist and Hollywood-hater Alan Moore. Previously, Snyder was responsible for authentically transforming Frank Miller’s “300” into a visually stunning film. Miller worked with Snyder on “300” as an executive producer, and the two maintained a happy working relationship throughout the process of making the film. Now, however, Snyder must recreate Moore’s “Watchmen,” without its author’s collaboration or blessing.
Snyder’s task is great: “Watchmen” is included in TIME’s All-TIME 100 Novels and is arguably the most infamous graphic novel of all-time. Moore’s story focuses on a group of aging superheroes as they attempt to save the world from nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. While his concept is unique — adding the super-human element to the political strategy involved in the Cold War — the depth of his characters is what is truly remarkable. His heroes are not what one would expect — they include rapists, lesbians and Nazi-sympathizers. Moore’s superheroes are constantly struggling with their own humanness, and even in the climactic ending to the graphic novel there are no actions of bravery or morality. What does develop, however, is a deeply psychological story that explores humanity’s most terrifying fears.
Moore’s previous experiences in Hollywood seem to have turned him away from the studio system altogether. Ever since Moore was accused of plagiarizing by a screenwriter of “The League of Extraordinary Men” — a comic Moore had written himself several years prior to the lawsuit — he has followed a strict policy of isolating himself from Hollywood. The experience scarred Moore so much that he did not want his name to appear anywhere in “Constantine,” a film based upon a character he created for DC Comics. In fact, Moore did not want any compensation either. He told Nicholas Barber in an interview with the Independent that, “if the artists want a film to go ahead then fine, but I will just have my name taken off it and the artists can have my share of the money.” Similarly, Moore requested that his name not be associated with the Wachowski Brothers’ “V for Vendetta,” another of Moore’s creations. Although he distanced himself from the Wachowski Brothers during the films production, he corrected the brothers when they commented that he was excited about the film’s release. Moore seems to detest Hollywood, and there is no indication that he will be changing his perspective anytime soon.
While Snyder shouldn’t be concerned with pleasing “Watchmen’s” author, he should be worried about keeping the Watchmen’s loyal following happy. The problems of converting a heavily narrated story to film, with a cast containing only a few notable stars, while juggling all of Moore’s side plots will ensure that Snyder’s hands are full.
