Looking back on 2008, it was the first year that actually seemed like the 21st century—since November 4, anyway. (How many times did you get the email that said,” We didn't get forty acres and a mule but now we got fifty states and a White House"?) The government finally admitted that we are in a recession and there is such a thing as "global warming"—and that was the good news.As in every year, we said goodbye to those who had entertained us—Isaac Hayes (Escape from New York), Bernie Mac (Transformers, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa), Eartha Kitt (the only Catwoman who could really purr), Paul Newman (Five), Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), Stan Winston (the Terminator films, Aliens, Predator), Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood’s End), Forrest J. Ackerman (Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and coiner of the term “sci‑fi”), Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green) and Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Christine Chapel in Star Trek series and movies, Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the Computer Voice in all Star Trek TV and films, including the upcoming movie).Entertainment-wise, there were no surprises this year, really: things that I thought I'd like, I liked, some a whole lot, and the ones that I thought would suck, did. The closest thing to a surprise was how much I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk. The filmmakers wisely chose to pretty much ignore the first film and avoid the lowered expectations that come when doing sequels to movies that were not well received. (E.g.: you do Inspector Gadget with Matthew Broderick and slash the budget on Inspector Gadget 2 and bring in French Stewart.) This was the movie the first one should have been: fast, fun, and lots of things getting smashed. (I thought it was interesting part the climactic battle between Hulk and the Abomination took place in Harlem: there hasn't been a genre movie with anything in a black neighborhood since that helicopter crashed in Watts in Blue Thunder. Only questions were (1) wasn't that a lot of while people hanging around Harlem at night and (2) what do you suppose the response time was on those 911 calls?)911: What is the nature of your emergency?
Caller: Hulk and somebody even uglier than him fightin' in front of the Apollo.
911: You're calling from Harlem, right?
Caller: Yeah.
911: Please hold...
The biggest disappointment, I suppose is that the networks, I feel, didn't give new genre series a chance to find an audience; with the current ratings criteria, series like Cheers or Seinfeld never would have made it past their initial runs today. So we say goodbye to Pushing Daisies, My Own Worst Enemy, Eli Stone, and probably Life on Mars. (But American Idol is back on January 13!)
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