The Awesome List: Octochair

Comics

*Greg McElhatton reviews David B's The Littlest Pirate King. [Read About Comics]

*Marvel shared their April releases this week. Sigil #2 reveals that their new Crossgen mini-series aren't necessarily rebooting just the comic in their titles as the pirates of El Cazador also appear in this issue.

There's a new issue of Namor: The First Mutant of course. I've been wanting to try this out and just picked up the first issue of the new storyline after the opening X-Men-crossover storyline finished. I'll let you know what I think.

Dinosaurs are going to get plenty of attention in April too. Reptyl naturally appears in Avengers Academy #12, and Ka-Zar and the Savage Land appear prominently in both Skaar: King of the Savage Land #s 1 and 2 and Spider-Man #13.

*Dinosaurs are also big players in DC's April comics. Magic ones (summoned by Zatanna, for some reason) are featured in Power Girl #23 and Secret Six: The Reptile Brain collects a storyline in which Bane and some cohorts conduct a mission in dinosaur-filled Skartaris.

*Adventure! thought of another jungle girl they missed in their list last week: Tawana from Abbot and Costello Comics.

How was the Hawaii Five-O Pilot?

Well, I wasn't disappointed. How about you?

Probably some SPOILERS below.

I'd read that it started off too dark and I can see where that critic was coming from. It was jarring to go from the heavy emotion of the teaser sequence to the fun theme music. But that's one of only three glitches I found in the entire hour.

I loved the casting and not just the main stars. William Sadler (Die Hard 2) played McGarrett's dad, James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville) is the villain who kills him, and Jean Smart (Designing Women, Samantha Who?) is the governor who sets up a task force to bring Marsters (and others like him) to justice. Examined closely, the plot isn't anything special, but this wasn't a plot-driven episode. It was all about the characters and if the show stays that way, I'll be a happy viewer for a long long time.

Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin from The Shield and Moonlight) is appropriately gifted and cocky. A lot's been written about Jack Lord's real personality's spilling over to his version of the character, but that is what it is and McGarrett needs to be kind of a butthole now. But in this episode at least, there's a reason for his abrasiveness and O'Loughlin comes off as likable in spite of the darker aspects of his personality. It'll be interesting to see if he continues being so troubled or if - with the supposed resolution of the pilot (I didn't hear that they ever found the body, did you?) - he'll lighten up. Personally, I hope he stays troubled.

After the break: the rest of the cast and those glitches I mentioned.

TONIGHT!

Hawaii Five-Oh Premiere (among others)

Michael Ausiello's got the complete rundown of which Fall shows are premiering when. The one I'm looking forward to most though is the new Hawaii Five-Oh, debuting on Monday, September 20th.

TV News: Hawaii Five-OMG

The new Hawaii Five-O theme and trailer



I don't know whose job it was to tell me that Grace Park was also in this thing back when she was first cast, but man that person dropped the ball. This is now the best show in the history of the world. I don't like that they've shortened the theme, but that's almost made up for by using many of the same landmarks from the original theme sequence and even that same zoom-in shot of McGarrett on the balcony. And when I say "almost made up for," keep in mind that I'd be perfectly happy with the entire show being nothing but a video for an hour-long version of that theme. [Brother Cal]

Oh, and here's look at the show with quotes from some of the stars and some shots from the pilot. It does nothing to contradict my "best show in the history of the world" prediction. It'll be on Monday's at 10:00 (Eastern Time).



(Unless something's changed in Blogger's technology in the last day or so, I'm guessing that some of you can't see one or both of those videos above. Try reading the post without the page break and you should be okay.)

After the break: Katee Sackhoff, Nikita, Chuck sings, The Colorado Kid, Looney Tunes, and Keri Russell.

TV News: Islands, Spies, and Single Ladies

Hawaii Five-O Theme

For no other reason than that Cal reminded me about it, here's one of the five greatest TV show themes of all time. (For some reason, it doesn't show up on my browser when I'm looking at the blog's front page, but it does when you open the post itself. Just in case you can't see it either.)



For all its Daniel Dae Kimness, if the new version doesn't have some variation of this music, it will have utterly failed.

Off the Map picked up



This was probably a no-brainer, but ABC has agreed to air Shonda Rhimes' (Grey's Anatomy) new tropical-island-doctors show Off the Map starring one of my favorite actors, Jason George (Eli Stone, Eastwick, Grey's Anatomy). [The Ausiello Files]

No Handsome Man for Terra Nova



Well, I'm sure it'll have a handsome man in it, but it won't have the Handsome Man, Kyle Chandler. He's apparently passed. [Hollywood Insider]

Chuck, Undercovers, a buttload of other new shows, and Captain Jack dances for "all the single ladies" after the break.

TV News: Hawaii Five-O and White Collar casting; What's Getting Renewed?

Hawaii Five-O remake



Daniel Dae Kim has been cast for CBS' Hawaii Five-O remake series and my interest in it has just skyrocketed. Growing up, the best thing about that show was always the theme. Jack Lord was a cool man, but he overshadowed what could have been a great ensemble cast and he wasn't quite interesting enough to carry the whole show by himself. I'm hoping the new version (under the control of some Fringe and CSI:NY folks) will correct that.

Moonlight's Alex O’Loughlin will be playing McGarrett.

Marsha Thomason returns to White Collar



I've liked Marsha Thomason since Las Vegas, so it's always nice to see her pop up on shows like Lost and the pilot of White Collar. Oddly, she hasn't been back on White Collar since that first episode and - while I haven't been complaining about Natalie Morales' (The Middleman) apparently taking her place - I've kind of missed her. I'm guessing she made some other commitment after filming the pilot, but whatever it was, she must have fulfilled it because she's coming back.

I just hope there's room for her and Morales both. Morales doesn't get enough screen time on the show as it is.

What's (likely) getting renewed?

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has the skinny on which network shows are likely to get picked up for another season and which aren't.

As far as the shows I care about go, Cougar Town, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, and Glee have already been renewed. Ausiello calls Castle, Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist, House, and The Office "sure things," while Chuck is a "safe bet."

He says that The Human Target could go either way, which makes sense because it's still new and it's on FOX. You know how those guys love to cancel shows.

Scrubs, unfortunately, is a long shot. That's disappointing. I've really taken to the new cast.

He's updating the list as info comes in, so keep checking back.