#hope netflix won't cancel it after one season

[theongp]

I'm super on board with joining the ship of these two dead boys

Until i saw them kissing other characters...

I'M EVEN MORE ON BOARD

Pfft what's canon anyway lol

P/s: I just have a little research and known that Edwin just realized his feeling for his mate in the recent issue of the comic. But we can't guarantee that the show will have more than one season, it's Netflix yk...*shrug* Still, i'm soooo excited and i think Payneland will become my new hyperfixation soon

#dead boy detectives #the sandman universe #neil gaiman #edwin payne #charles rowland #why they always have to look at each other while standing so close like that 😭 #hope netflix won't cancel it after one season #payneland is that the name of this ship?

[bithablu]

I'm really trying to not be a shithead about Dead Boy Detectives. I really am. I hope their show goes well for them. I hope the fans enjoy it. I hope they get as many seasons as the story needs. I won't be watching it; but that's a personal choice and not a call for a boycott or whatever. I simply don't want to get invested in another show only to have it cancelled for no good fucking reason (like Netflix do).

What I am having a problem with is the amount of advertising Netflix is doing to promote the show. Ads keep popping up. There's an "Ask the Cast Questions!" banner at the top of my Tumblr. New videos arrive every day. Honestly, with the exception of that fucking clown, it's almost as prolific as the One Piece bombardment.

How difficult would it have been to do even an eighth of that level of promotion for Lockwood and Co? There was some in the UK but I didn't see a damn thing in the US. Longtime fans of the book series didn't even know about the show until long after it was canceled.

It's just very frustrating that such an incredible show was cut short for no apparent reason. It had an amazing foundation with the phenomenal book series, a production company that clearly cared about the story, and an exceptionally talented cast. There was a clear ending to the story so no worries about series that go on too long. Mostly, though, (selfishly) I desperately want to see The Hollow Boy adapted. It would have been utterly fantastic.

Netflix could have had both shows. Fans of one show could have been easily tempted to watch the other and both their audiences would have grown. Unfortunately, Netflix continues to choose to cut short excellent series and leave their customers bitter and pessimistic. People stop giving new shows a chance because there's too much risk caring about a story if it's going to be abandoned. The focus on immediate gratification and social media numbers will be the downfall of good storytelling and it is depressing to watch- especially when I'm paying more each month to see it happen.

#lockwood and co #lockwood & co #fuck netflix #dead boy detectives

[pehmokoira]

I think we could all use a morale booster after 2 weeks in the gravy basket, so I decided to write a few reasons why I believe Our Flag Means Death can still be saved!

Please note that I know literally nothing about how the industry actually works, I'm just clowning and these are opinions based on articles I've read etc. 🤡

Arrested Development was saved by Netflix after Fox cancelled it because of low ratings and viewership. Now, we can't know the numbers for OFMD for certain, but the ratings and reviews have been preeetty good, and season 2 even has a higher Tomatometer score than season 1. (96% vs. 93%) So in that sense, the chances are good. Everything was pointing towards renewal until January 9th!

Which gets me to my next point. If the cancellation really was one person's decision (DZ better watch his fucking step), then that means the show was as good as renewed and it HAD the numbers and the viewership and everything it needed to continue.

Each cancellation case is unique. It's kind of pointless to compare OFMD with any other cancelled show, because the chances of any show getting picked up after cancellation depend on so many things. Production costs, show quality, the potential of the show, viewership, probably also connections/relationships in the industry, etc. But it all boils down to money in the end.

Max is covering up the real reason for the cancellation by lying, which means they've completely fucked up by cancelling this show. Max is the one that looks bad right now, not OFMD. This is bad PR for Max.

David Jenkins has not told us to stop with our renewal efforts, which means there's hope. He knows more than we do. In Jenkins I trust. I won't give up until he tells us it's over.

It's only been 2 weeks and 1 day. It would've been something of a miracle if the show had been picked up in that short a time. Lucifer was saved by Netflix a month after the cancellation.

And lastly, the pros for OFMD:

The show hasn't been on a widely available international streaming service so far. Big potential for new audiences on a different platform.

The marketing for the show has been abysmal, but it's become a flagship series for Max despite that.

The fanbase is loud and passionate, and we've shouted about wanting to buy merch on X. We won't shut up about the show and that's a beautiful and important thing.

Max's lies about the cancellation are so transparent almost anyone can see through them. The people in the industry have probably noticed Max's pattern of cancelling shows about marginalized groups.

The representation in the show is something you don't find in any other show, and while that could be its downfall, it's also the greatest strength of the show. Bigger streaming services aren't as scared of queers as Max is.

The story that the show tells is quite unique.

These are just a few things that came to mind right now. Feel free to reblog and list more reasons if you can think of any!

Edit: I wrote another post about this too! That one's about ✨the numbers✨!

#ofmd #our flag means death #renew as a crew #save ofmd

[therubyreader]

My theory about a possible Lockwood and Co. Renewal

I've noticed that fans of the series are getting antsy about its renewal status across all platforms especially since Netflix has been pretty quiet about it after its release. I've also noticed a lot of negativity surrounding people's predictions about the series renewal with Netflix's history of canceling shows and I personally have a more positive outlook.

There's been some people saying that the timeline of a renewal announcement would be similar to that of Shadow and Bone which took two months after its release to be renewed. So if we're going by that timeline then we should get an announcement on whether or not there'll be a second season at the end of this month (this won't stop me from checking everyday like a mad man).

Based on positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the show being number one on Netflix after its release and maintaining a top ten spot for a while afterwords, coupled with positive fan reactions I think that Netflix would be stupid to not renew the show. Plus they themselves are releasing Lockwood and Co. content on their social medias which they wouldn't go through the trouble of doing all of that if they didn't see the potential in renewing the show.

That being said, my prediction is that we will be getting a second season and depending on the cast schedules they could potentially start filming sometime this year. In the most ideal timeline filming would begin sometime this summer and season two would start streaming sometime in fall 2024. That is assuming the best circumstances which involves Netflix putting more money into production to speed up the timeline but more realistically we would have season two early 2025. Either way I am hopeful the show is getting renewed and if I am wrong I will cry about it.

#I'm going to save this to show all of you for when I'm right #lockwood and co

[willowmosby]

Honestly the fact 1899 is cancelled is bullshit. Like it was such an incredible first season, and I am almost always of the opinion the a shows first season is it's weakest, and yet they still cancelled it. I think it's super odd considering that as much as Dark is one of my personal favorites I don't think it was nearly as successful in it's first season as 1899 ( I mean that's mostly based on people I know in real life not real stats so take that as you will). I saw 1899 on the top ten list for weeks and yet.

I'd also like to take a moment to talk about why I personally ( I'm not a tv critic or a pop culture expert) think that the Netflix mode of cancelation is so flawed. Controversially I don't really care that shows like Emily and Paris are getting renewed they have there demographic and entertainment doesn't always need to be revolutionary. And I naively believe that people one fandom shouldn't have to disrespect another for their own gain. The problem comes when they cancel shows in between seasons. I know this sounds weird but I honestly think that if they gave the creators of shows like 1899, Warrior nun, or even Julie and the phantoms half a season heads up that the creators could put together a satisfying ending instead of being left hanging with no resolution. I know that's not ideal, we'd all prefer the creators get how many seasons they plan for or at least get a whole season to make a final season, but its a situation that most network tv has learned to deal with. I mean how many network tv shows can you think of where the creators weren't at least aware of likely hood of their next season.

I think a large part of people's anger is the the show didn't have a satisfying ending, you can claim it's about the creators all you like but I just don't think that's the biggest reason. I worry about that , not because I disagree just that I worry in the world of modern streaming that creators will do away with cliffhanger endings to appease the new format just as 22 episode seasons and "filler" episodes have slowly begun to decline. That fear that a show may end early has always impacted tv but when you can't watch you ratings until long after the show has wrapped every show could suffer from the fear that each season finale will be their last.

I know that was long and kind of incoherent but I hope some people get it and I really am deeply sad that we won't have another season of 1899.

#1899 netflix #netflix #dark netflix #emily in paris #julie and the phantoms #jtp #warrior nun #netflix cancellation #television #streaming #1899

[rose-sophia-isabella-rogers]

Shadow and Bone

My dear friends.

I'm sure you've already heard the sad, sad, sad news. Netflix has cancelled the 3 season of our beloved Shadow and Bone and I'm devastated. As I'm sure you are, too, but I needed to share my feelings with people who will understand my sadness.

It's a great show and while I see now the 2 season is different than the books, mostly because it combines events from the second and the third parts in the trilogy, but it was still good and a pleasure to watch. It saddens me, and maybe even angers a bit, that Netflix has decided to stop creating this show. I'm even more heartbroken after I read Leigh Bardugo's tweet after the announcement. 💔😔

I don't believe the show should be cancelled, just because the second season wasn't as popular as the first one (or whatever the reason was). Many people loved it and it brought them joy. I'm an optimist and, despite what Aleksander said in one episode, I don't believe hope is a weakness. In my heart I hope that they will reconsider and bring it back. But that only can happen if they hear our displeasure.

A way to make that happen is a petition I found already a day after the announcement. Maybe it won't change anything and the show is not going to return. But I'm not going to sit down and just accept it. I've signed this petition and I'm going to hope Netflix will see that Shadow and Bone has a special place in the hearts of many people and we brings it back for us, the fans.

If you want to join me and sign this petition if you haven't had done that already, here's the link:

Let our voices be heard!

And I'm going to end this post on a positive note. I hope to post another fanfiction about Aleksander KiriganxReader before Christmas (maybe even earlier but shh! let's not jinx it). I already have an idea and I'm excited to share this with you. I hope you're patient with me and are going to read it, even though my last fanfiction was already some time ago.

Thank you for reading this post! Stay happy and don't lose hope!

#leigh bardugo #shadow and bone #shadow and bone cancelled #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone s3 #grishaverse #let's bring back shadow and bone #petition #protest #don't lose hope #give me more aleksander kirigan #rant post #sad and angry #how do i tag this

[inkwell-intrigues]

TSTS Annoucement

I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Like, I always knew it could happen -I remember seeing this happen to a bunch of fanfiction writers when I was a kid- but it really sucks.

So, I'm crazy burnt out from writing AND Cuphead has stopped being my current hyperfixation. (I'm also on different medications now- which probably doesn't help.)

Even the thought of Cuphead right now gives me pretty bad stress, because of how far behind I've fallen in writing The Strength and The Sight.

I know I made a post literally a few weeks ago saying that I was back and all that stuff, but... After I sat down and started trying to write I began to realize that not only was I badly burnt out, but also The Strength and The Sight's plot/focus/etc has changed multiple times during the process of me writing it. This has led to a LOT of inconsistencies in terms of the plot, character arcs, and in general, the pacing ended up being all over the place because of it. 

For instance, Chalice is supposed to be one of the main characters, but her role in the story has changed a bunch AND I ended up focusing on her a lot less than characters who were supposed to be side characters- like Ginette. (I love Gin, I swear, but she wasn't supposed to be as big of a focus as she ended up being. -That mainly came about from me getting super obsessed with her character and forgetting my other characters- In multiple chapters, she even overshadows the brothers. Oops. xD)

This all has led me to realize: Even if I wasn't burnt out- I simply cannot continue writing a story that I know has inconsistencies. 

So, does this mean that The Strength and The Sight is over? No. No, it does not.

This post is me announcing that I will NOT be taking a break or canceling the story in the traditional "burnt-out fanfic writer" sense. Instead, I will be REWRITING the entire story- starting with outlining the plot from the beginning in lots of detail and sticking to the plot I set.

This rewritten version will be filled with full-color illustrations, more focused, and A LOT shorter. While mulling over the idea of a rewrite, I realized just how needlessly long TSTS has become. Like, the book which I use as a reference and inspiration, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, is only 102k words, while mine- which is not even halfway done- is 114K. (There are a lot more examples of my word count v.s. other books, but I won't bore you all with those numbers.)

BUT, I don't want to leave you guys in the dark while I begin this intense process of rewriting TSTS. So, instead, I want to continue posting on this current fic as a sort of "journal" of my progress. I know a lot of you guys are writers yourselves, so this could be a super cool opportunity for you guys to see my process and learn some tips and tricks along the way.

My long-term goal is to post a probably 100% finished redone version of The Strength and The Sight when The Cuphead Show is renewed and the new season releases on Netflix. (I'm manifesting so hard, IT WILL BE RENEWED I KNOW IT) Or I'll try and release it if/when Studio MDHR releases another Cuphead thing/game. Whatever comes first.

Until then, I'll be using this as my progress journal. I'll be posting rough sketches (because I'll also be doing updated illustrations!), rough outlines (with redacted spoilers, lol), and more! 

I know this is probably really disappointing. I'm kicking myself quite a bit here and wishing I'd been able to finish TSTS before I got burnt out, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. My hope is that TSTS will be a much better and higher-quality novel because of this rewrite.

Thank you for your patience and I'm truly sorry for all the delays. I promise that I'll do everything I can to make The Strength and The Sight worth the wait.

-- Your Friend, Inkwell Intrigues

#tsts #the strength and the sight

[popculturebuffet]

Top 20 Animated Episodes of 2022 Part 1: 20-11

Happy new year all you happy people! It's that time of the year again for my top 20 episodes of the year list!

For those new, which is likely a lot of you as these things tend to blow up, every year I take 5 episodes max from every show I watched, as given both this blog's busy schedule and my habit of putting things off I don't get to everything i'd like to (Personal apologizes to Dead End Paranormal Park, The Cuphead Show, Transformers Earthspark, Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead apart from one episode, and Primal), and pick the best. As for why not just do a top 10 , or as I tend to do 12, there's a few simple reasons.

1) Since this blog started with just single episode reviews of shows and it continues to be the blogs backbone, it honors what I do, and is a nice way to really single out the episodes that really hit the high points for a season.

2) Even when i'm hitting a LOT of shows in a year, I still don't usually reach 20, and even if I did it wouldn't feel like enough to make a proper list and 5 seems too few.

3) It's something few other people do , especially for animation, so it stands out more while still allowing me to reflect on the year in animation

Now that's settled, before we get to the list under the cut let's talk about 2022.. but first just let me.. mentally prepare myself

Okay now ii'm mildly prepared 2022..

On the one hand we got a lot of good content. In addition to those fine, critically raved about shows I mentiond I didn't get to I got to PLENTY of good animation this year: While Owl House got screwed over last year, it started going down swinging with it's best run of episodes followed by a special that's just shy of breaking 5 million views on youtube and made disney realize they fucked up real good. So with a new regime hopefully it won't bow forever next year. Amphibia did bow out with an utterly heartstopping finale, The Great North has reached it's peak, while they sadly bowed out Tuca and Bertie and Close Enough still had great seasons to close out on as they left us wanting more, and we got two utterly record smashing debuts; Smiling Friends which is still a sensation even now and is easily one of the best adult comedies in recent times, which is not the easy feat it once was, and Legend of Vox Machina not only continued Amazon Prime's hot streak, but proved to be a hilarious yet deeply integlent and compelling fantasy.. that still had a song about tugging a gnome's motherfucking beads, a goliath nakedly diving into acid, and one or four heroes going through a tragic arc that included an accidental pact with a vengeance demon complaning that his love intrest just yah'd him like a horse while running away from demons. There was a lot of fantastic stuff. And that's not even getting into the films I haven't got to or the one I have with PUss in Boots.

Behind the scenes though?

Yeah, let's start with the appitizers first; Disney continued it's slow march towards death, putting Turning Red on Disney+… depsite the fact that unlike the previous two straight to D+ orders, which were undrestandable.. they simply coudl've delayed it by a few weeks or delayed lightyear.. which in contrast bombed HORRIBLY in theaters. It also came out Disney gladly funded various florida senate members who ended up passing the contriversal don't say gay bill, which is beyond standard disney fuckups into a level of vile. Thankfully Old New Boss bob iger stepped in at the end of the year, so their might be hope.

Netflix also seems in flux: on the one hand they still put out lots of critcally aclaimed animation.. and on the other they keep canceling things, not knowing what their doing, so their fine.

Ironically though what caused me the most stress this year to the point I spiraled into depression in anxiety wondering if anything I did mattered.. was Warner Bros Discovery. After champinoing Cartoon Network and HBO MAx as a safe haven for animatoin, a great place, and generally great.. the celeing cave in, the floor gave out and what was left got set on fire, covered in spiders and some sort of hobgoblin who hates animation , diversity and sometimes it feels me specifically took hold.

That hobgoblin.. was Dave Zaslav, head of discovery, new head of warner brothers and absolute human nightmare. In the span of just a few months he canned two full movies, Batgirl and Scoob 2 and made it so they can never be finished or released, and that… just something so disrepectful to it's crew, moneywasting and pr headachey that it still lingers to this day (Mostly batgirl but even not carring about Scoob 2 what the fuck).. was him JUST GETTING STARTED. Over several months he took a fucking chainsaw to hbo max, cutting content left and right and leaving many shows that were either streaming only like Close Enough or hadn't got a dvd release like Victor and Valentino, Mao Mao and FAR TOO DAMN MANY to list, effectively homeless, the most galling to me being completely digitally delisting final space, TAKING AWAY PEOPLE'S ALRAEDY BOUGHT DIGITAL COPIES, and generally destroying the franchise… to make 5 bucks. I know he likely got more than that but come the fuck on. It is not an exageration nor slandar to say David Zaslav cares less about the company functioning.. and more about making money to the point he's just.. liscneding shows they had the rights to to other streamers. Which is good as at least htey wont be cast into the void, but it's galling to have someone so greedy even something as simple and to some actors VITAL as residuals makes him wince. He has done exactly ONE THING right in making James Gunn head of the DCEU and I still don't trust him not to step in and fuck tha tup for James, the viewing public and good taste because his track record is if it costs money

I wasn't REMOTELY joking about that anxiety attack. When someone disrespects your medium THIS BADLY , it makes you quefstion everything your doing. I came around realizing I can keep these things alive and keep him acountable, but it still hasn't been easy constantly wondering what he's going to do next to fuck things up, to fuck up possible retrospectivges or just generally make animation worse. He has been a waking nightamre and has single handeledly made the year harder. It was hard enough with Elon Musk's takeover of twitter (Which i'm on more now, you can find me HERE), republican garbage still rising up and making LBGTQ+ peoples lives hell, JK ROwling somehow getting even worse and way too many gutpunch celebrity deaths… but this year will be SO MUCH EASIER if Zaslav finally goes down. Please… WB get rid of him before he eats you from the inside. And you reading please.. dont' harass him. It won't help. You can call for his resignation, but please do so respectfully. We do not want to be ignorant yowling jackasses. Just be good people.

So this year was highs, lows and not so creamy middles.. but what shows rose to the top? What shows were the best? Or at least almost the best but not quite? Find out bellow as I count down The first 10, Numbers 20-11, of my top 20 animated episodes of 2022!:

20. X-Mas with the Skanks Adventure (The Great North)

"It isn't a Lone Moose White Elephant without someone running off into the night to cast something in the lake"

The Great North is as show I liked a lot last year and that has only improved with age, to the point I really wish more people talked about this wonderfully charming, bonkers little show. It has great characters, even greater voice acting and some of the most hilariously weird plots i've seen in a sitcom while still being grounded in the characters themselves. And season 3 is the show hitting it's stride, as while season 2 was pretty good (and we'll see an episode form that later) Season 3 has been the show's consitently best season, with such plots as the tobins minus beef getting addicted to an outback stakehouse style restraunt Beef dosen't want them to go to, a disaster drill that's dinosaur themed, beef inviting all his love intrests to a dance and all of them being fine with it once the misunderstanding is cleared up, the town deciding to have a man who carves wives for sailors cave a really , really handsome man to win a local yachting compettion, having to cart the local millionare to an island while the kids all go overboard on being rich for a change, and the tobins all turning on each other over beef's obession with the movie Enough Said. It's all great stuff, though what ultimately won was a premise smaller in scope but no less dumb, and just in time for christmas.

While the show's last Christmas episode was great, X-Mas takes it to a new level with a very simple, realistic but still hilarous idea: It's the annual Lone Moose White Elephant, which while bringing in tons of the towns great character from the easily impresssed Santiago Carpachio, the aptly titled Drama John, deadpan death lover and my adopted daughter Bethany, and the calm soft spoken Mayor Peepers, it also opens old wounds: As the Tobin kids tell Honeybee, several christmases ago the kids got one of those singing anamatronic dealies, you know your singing fish, bears, etc, the kind that annoy the heck out of parents if overused and the kind i'm sure most children have had at a least one point. I had a singing fish and thus deeply related to the episode of Big City Greens where Cricket bonded with his while trying to resolve his repeated attempted murders.

Skanky is no exception, a very weird x-mas tree that sings a christmas version of Mambo #5, shakes it's various balls that are supposed to be sex oragans mut make no sense as such and delighting the kids.. and slowly driving beef mad to the point he finally got rid of it last year. And given the Tobins turns had all passed, they coudln't get him back and due to a recall coudln't find one online. Granted i've never seen that stop someone from selling something online but still point is they were skankless.

Part of what makes this so funny is that normally the Tobins aren't at each other's throats: their one of the most loving supportive families you can see. As Honeybee evne points out this episode Beef would normally give his kids the shirt off his back "I've seen you do it multiple times when Wolf forgot to get dressed. " So seeing him both so throughly against something that makes the kids happy, while seeing them all so against their dad is a nice contrast, and is also nicely petty. I do love the close knit family we have here but sometimes i'ts fun to see the stupdiest things turn them against one another while still being plausable.

You can probably see where this is going as Londra, their boat neighbor friend and happily married lesbian, has returned Skanky from whence he came, as he's started to haunt her and with her partner gone, she had a chance. This leads to a bloodthristy game of chess as the Tobins try to out manuver beef, as well as various townsfolk who want Skanky, not helped by Honeybee understandably switching sides as Skanky is awful. Hilarous but I woudln't want him in my house. We also get a neat subplot about Moon and a pregnant reindeer that bonds him with his new friend and love intrest introduced this season so dat's nice. But the main draw is this hilariously stupid conflict. And while it does get a nice emotinal tie, Beef also ties Skanky to the fact he was all he could afford and ashame of him, it never looses the core with beef being ready to cast it into a lake at one point, and being quitely infurated as the kids get a twerking snowman as a replacement. This episode scraped onto the list barely beeting out vampire keanu reeves but it's townwide fun and the sheer werid specificity of this feud while still somehow being relatable got me.

19. Charlie Dies and Dosen't Come Back (Smiling Friends)

"Grandma what are you doing here?" "Oh I cursed and said DAMN in 1958 when your grandpa was shot by that ROTTEN burgalar!" "… well that seems unresonable I don't think you should be in hell for that."

Smiling Friends had one heck of a pilot last year, a hilariously dark tale of two colorful cartoon characters trying convince a man not to kill himself.. while said man has a gun casually pointed at his head the whole time. It shoudl not have worked as well as it did, but man it did helped by the bizzare quest of Alan to get his cheese back from some rodents.. and also find out why some guy is living in his wall but cheese first.

It's no shock then that when Adult Swim dropped the first season all at once early last year, it blew the internet in half, became a huge sensation and is easily one of the best comedies in Adult Swim's storied history. It can be weird as hell but unlike some adult sitcoms dosen't just throw weird shit at you, but uses it to craft jokes, to create contrast in general just to be great. And this episode is a great showcase as to why while also being a shocking bit of character development in a show that mostly sticks to just living episode by episode.

In this one, yet ANOTHER christmas episode (likely because the show was originally scheduled for late 2021), the smiling friends head out to get a tree and Charlie's lack of enthusastim for getting his job or damn near everything finally grates on Pim, who meekly but firmly approaches it. Charlie, being kind of an ass, explodes on him over this, makes a scene.. and then dies for his hubris.

He arrives in hell with his hellish bed, hellish tv and jeremy his helish source of entertainment, aka one of the best running gags in human history.

Just.. the animation there as the wind goes out of him… beautiful. Getting help from his grandma whose in hell for, as detailed in the quote, not the fairest reasons, and watching her deepthroat a lollypop whiel laughing manically, Charlie journey's through hell and finds Satan. This gag.. is fine. Like Satan being mad over a doordash is hilaroius, I won't lie but him just being an introverted gamer on his computer is thek ind of gag tha'ts just been done neough. You can do more with the devil being funny, just look at the Cuphead show this year or Futurama in the past. That said him deciding to just.. not help charlie after he makes him smile and jeremy getting his revenge helps.. as does the literally deus ex machina that saves him GOD VOICED BY GILBERT GODFREY, which is not only just.. brilliant casting but took on a LOT of extra meaning after his untimely passing not long after. He got to go out of his long, distinguished voice acting career playing god. You coudln't ask for a better sendoff.. nor a better ending as Charlie ends up on earth a bit less cynical and a lot less naked. He probably won't change, this isn't that kind of show.. but what this show is is deeply hilarious, creative and weird and i'm happy to get at least one more season of it.

18. Grandma Smugglers (Craig of the Creek)

"Your dad is an utter smokeshow and I say that with the utmost respect" One of my greatest regrets on this list was not putting Capture the Flag on here last year. It's why I took off the regulation that I had to watch every or almost every episode of a show to qualify. The special was a grand finale to the shows longest arc that also tapped into it's continuity so deeply it made me want to see what the nods I didn't recognize were about and got me to catch up.

That was well worth it as Season 4 may be Craig of the Creek's best yet. With the kingdom disolved, there's now more to explore, omar is now around full time and the show continues to be a nice comforting bit of greatness to dig into every few months when Cartoon Network releases a batch of episodes.

This episode in paticular takes advantage of things now that the other side is free by focusing on Raj, one half of the honesuckle rangers aka the show just casually having a gay couple that starts out as bumbling antagonists subserviant to a cruel dictator then quickly has them become some of our heroes most steadfast alllies.. who were weirdly absent from the final battle but hey the capture the flag game had a LOT of moving parts.

This time we see Raj's home life and it's honestly nice. He has a loving dad who JP can't help but comment is a total smokeshow (with all respect). Which..

He's also voiced by Danny Pudi who i'm delighted to see post-ducktales and I was happy to find out has a major role in earthspark.

Raj also has a grandma, a kind woman who moved here when there was no one to take care of her in her native india, and whose son is overprotective of her. He clearly loves her and the warmth between them just.. melts my heart and reminds me of my own grandmas. What's unique though is tackling the immigrant experince, growing older and generally a lot of things you don't see in a kids cartoon but Craig of the Creek does it's best to be represenative as hell, often showing off unique part sof the various kids cultures.

The core of this episode is also heartwarming as Raj wants to sneak his grandma out, hence the title.. but to see a waterfall in the creek that's similar to one she grew up with. It's a simple goal with Kelsey, JP and Mortimor filling in for her.. and failing badly turning it into a race to get there.. and allowing Raj's father to see that maybe he needs to ease up on his mom, still take good care of her, but let her enjoy her life. It's a simple, sweet story, the kind Craig of the Creek really excels at and in a list full of hard choices, this one was well… simple

.

17. The Core and the King (Amphibia)

"Don't you think it's time to say goodbye to those childhood friends of yours, son?"

Amphibia Season 3b.. was a mixed bag. On the one hand it was necessary to set up the finale, helped further Sasha's character growth and the post apocalyptic amphibi was kinda neat… but mostly it just felt like the series spinning it's wheels and ocasionally doing something to help set up the final conflict.. then making all of this near pointless by having the gathered army just.. give up in the third to last episode. As you can probably tell as much as I love the show.. it's one of it's weaker periods. So there weren't a ton of episodes from this that made the list but the two (technically four, and just with that you can probably guess which one made it to the next part of the list), that made it are some of the series best.

Core and the King gives us Andrias' hinted at backstory, why he talks about friends so much that even not knowing it.. both Anne and Marcy figured something was up seperatley in Marcy's Journal.

What could've been a simple tale of Andrias being evil and his friends having to turn on him.. we see it wasn't that simple. Turns out while Andrias people were indeed conquerers it was widely accepted. That was a shock to me, if not a suprising one: if you grow up your whole life thinking ransacking entire worlds, leaving them lifeless and hollow and keeping some of the surivviors just to study and make new advancments to conquer the next place is fine just fine, it'd be hard to question until something pushes it. Both Steven Universe and She Ra have detailed the deprogramming that'd take.

Andrias was indeed happy and had two friends, Leif and Barrel. Yes the same guy what made that neat hammer grime uses. Also Leif is very clearly a plantar, to the point Anne also called that along with us, and the finale confirms it. Not the most vital takeaway here but they were not subtle.

Things are fine though Andrias' abusive dad Aldrich, played phenominally by William Houston who apparnetly played a similar character in dark souls, encourages him to drop his friends. As it turns out being absorbed into the core was a tradition.

Things take their turn, and thankfully save the world from early ruin, when Leif holds the calamity box.. and gets a vision of the world ending. When she can't swaw Aldrich because fuck if he cares he'll just find another world to ravage and start over, she's forced to take drastic measures. And this is what makes the betrayal suprisingly layered and what makes this work so much for me: while we know Leif did the right thing, she still had to steal from her best friend, plunged the kingdom into darkness, and forced Barrel to make the hard decision to let her go. She did the hard thing.. but it didn't come without consequences, lost her everything and everyone she knew, forced her into hiding, and ruined her life for a while. She did recover eventually.. but as we saw in the finale it took a LONG time for that to happen. It's a soul crushing decission as no one wins and we knew no one would… we just didn't know it'd be this sad or not nearly as straightfoward. Sure Andrias is doing the wrong thing.. but he's a kid abused into beliving this is all okay, with no real choice to pivot from what his dad once who then had said dad and every other horrible ancestor he has scremaing in his head for the rest of his life. While it dosen't make what Andrais did REMOTELY okay, it makes him far more sympathetic than I thought possible, someone who really had no chice but ot become the monster he did and how simply not backing his friend up, for the understandable reason of not seeing her dreams, screwed him up badly. It's a truly harrowing well built episode that nicely sets up the finale.. I really wish there were more like it leading up to it but i'll take what I got.

16. Say It Again, Ham, Adventure (The Great North)

"I didn't want Drama. I guess I just kept coming out because I wanted one single perfect moment"

So back to the GREATTTTT NORRTTTTH and like the above episode, i've covered this one. See back in June Kev pitched me "Queer as a Fox".. which I sometimes put as gay as a fox because my brain is very tired. Point is it was a look at Fox's animated queer content over the years… with Simpsons mostly getting it right, Family Guy having either gay sterotypes or a transphobic diatribe that will likely be the worst thing i've reviewed for the rest of my career, and American Dad just being sorta

But for the finale I picked out the Great North, both to give us an even four and because it was the first one of these Fox Sitcoms to just come out, pun intended, and have a queer character in the main cast from day one and not have them be a sterotype or it be their whole personality. It's just there. Hence Ham, a loveable odd ball with a flair for baking whose always a moment behind everyone else and who comes out in the first episode.. for what's clearly the 80th time. While the crew could've just left the joke at that… they later decided in the back half of season 2 to explore this; Why HAD Ham come out so much?

So while watching a movie with his monotone but loving and kind if also frequently slow on the uptake boyfriend Crispin, about a racecar driver having to come out as gay, and also in a way that nicely lampoons various queer media that's just about screaming

Over and over. Ham assumes this kind of coming out isn't usual and while Crispin's wasn't that bad and his parents, while taking a second accepted they did light fireworks and have to pay massive damages over said fireworks. It then , while also giving us LOTS Of Fun ham coming outs (From using it as a suggestion during one of Judy's improv gigs, to Mayor Peepers annual silly wig party which has Ham in a sailor moon wig, to white water rafting), reframes it as Ham wanting more from his coming out. His family was simply kind, loving and supportive and while he liked that for such an important moment in his life.. he wanted a tad of gravitas.

And being a nice, supportive loving family (Even if Beef was going through some stuff in the pilot he still told him "And we love you just the way you are dammit!"), the Tobins gladly agree to help Moon stage a second more dramatic coming out by having come out to Beef's Cousin Danica. Danica.. is the worst in the most hilarious way possible, having not heard from the tobins since she Moon was a baby and she wrote on the back of his birth announcment "Please stop". She also has an entirley beige house and upon meeting her for this plan, which Beef while going along with is ready to pull his son out of if she's too hurt, tells Judy she looks like a floozy (Something Judy finds entertaingly insulting. )

Things quickly esclate though as it turns out Danica was hiding some thefts and holds the tobins hostage, minus Wolf and Honeybee who are trying to do a true crime podcast, and soon have to contend with Danica's basement, trying to escape, and the fact danica only has tvoed episodes of fraiser with commentary on them.

We also get two hilarious Chief's, Chief's Edna and Elba (one voiced by the wonderful kat dennigs) who are delightful as they are enept, and barely manage to actually pull off arresting her. Ham also has the revelation he dosen't need a dramatic coming out and it's a good thing his family is like this.. not everyone GETS to have a safe, sedate coming out and it's nice of the show to acknowledge that not every coming out has to be dramatic or traumatic for the person doing so and it'd be a nicer world if we had more soft acceptance like the tobins give. but also gets to have one safely with his family acting it out. It's a truly sweet moment with a very nice hug at the end. Overall an excellent episode

15. Clouds on the Horizon/ King's Tide (The Owl House)

"Watcha Playin?"

I originally had just kings tide but I realized these two.. are basically a two parter, similar to the end of the previous season. While the final quarter of season 2 is just one long narrative roller coaster it's these that bring it to it's end.. and prepare us to board the NEXT ONE for season 3, and overlap, even if both have diffrnet goals.

Our first half sets up Eda and the CATS plan to sabotage the day of unity, while Luz's , while first just seeming to be a sidequest to rescue her sweetie with her nerdy best friends who used to alwasy be beside her but had thigns to adress elsewhere but are now back beside her.. ends up being important.

On a character level after a season of putting up with Odalia's shit, her entire family rebels against her: THe twins actively try to help Amity sabotage her, and Alador is revealed to be badly domestically abused, working because Odalia threatned the kids otherwise, and stands up to his soon to be ex wife. We get the aawesome battle sequence you'd expect from that, as well as Kiki slipping further.. and slipping that the emperoror has a spy in the CATS and thus knows about the plan, leading to luz ducking away. It's an intense, fun episode with one big heartwarming moment, the second most cathartic divorce of 2022, and a hell of a cliffhanger.. to be resovled righ tnow.

I combined the epis because raelly they flow right into one another, being one big climax to the season and EVERYTHING it's built up, the first half finishing Amity's subplot, and tying in Kiki's slow fall.. and the next one containing every damn thing else paying off.

The first horrifying thing is that despite our heroes best efforts and another neat fight scene… Belos WINS. At least for a few minutes: Even as the rest of our heroes airship their way to be big damn heroes, Luz deals with Belos personally as with his genocide already on autopilot, and Terra and the other collabeerators thinking their getting paradise much like odalia finishign the job for him only to realize he lied and they'll die, he tosses the Collector into the bottom of his super villian lair and prepares to go off ot earth dellusional that it'll all be great.

The episode has a nice air of hopelessness as Luz DEAPERATELY tries to stave things off by sigil stamping belos, a clever big of using his own racisim and ego against him by playing up his need for a guide.. then has to fight a blob monster. It's an episode where, much like for most of the season.. our heroes are loosing. Their doing their best and without sigils aside from hunter (Who being basically human can fight it off easier I guess), and we get a great fight.. and a truly sad moment when Belos gaslights hunter again, but it's ultimately a loosing one: our heroes are good and we get to see just how far they've come across the series and season, with Luz using a truly awesome looking pheonix-esque x made of fire to kick thigns off.. but ti also shows how outmatched they always were: they keep growing, evolving getting better as people and as witches.. but their up against someone whose been getting worse as a person but even better as a witch for a century and who even without his magic has freakys hapeshifting powers and hulk strength.

The desperation makes King's decision to free the collector.. make sense: there was no other option: his mom was dying (even if rahne manages to cut eda's arm off before she completely dies), his friends and sister were dying.. this was his only option. And it shows that just because i'ts not belos.. dosen't mean the Collector isn't any more dangeorus showing that he's still a child in mind and body.. and using that to be twilight zone level's of terrifying.

The simple image of a child in wha'ts basically pajamas, holding belos attack with one finger and simply asking "whatcha playin".. is as aweosme.. as it is terrifying. This is a being who just had our heroes all but beat and has been behind everything.. and he gets swatted away with just two fingers like it was NOTHING and makes the collector approaching our heroes right after that much more terrifying.. as is their escape with our heroes BARELY regrouping ot earth.. and king once again making a massive sacrifice. While the collector stopped the spell.. the isles are at his mercy and our heroes are even more lost than before… with the very foe they just lost.. not as gone as they think. It's a tense thrill ride of a two parter that somehow manages to fliip the table again just in time for it to all come crashing down and I coudln't wait ot see how it goes.. and still can't wait to see how it all ends… still wish we had ore episodes what the fuck disney. But what we got.. holy shit will it stay with me for years to come.

14. Enchanted Forest (Smiling Friends)

"Which hand of the Witch hand will it be? Gahahahahaha!" "This is the most obnoxious thing i've seen in my life. "

Look sometimes the things that make it on these lists are terrifying showdowns with abusive genocidal assholes or god children. And sometimes i'ts an optimist and a lazy pesimist wondering through a fantasy forest that just happens to be in their town for some reason while acompanied by a rotoscopped hobit who wants them to deliver an IED to his Stalking Victim. Sometimes I just want goblins and refrences to my childhood. I'm a simple man. Okay that's a lie i'm a man who has about 80 intrests that fight for my head, an obession with keith david and who constantly refrences a comic strip more people need to hear of

But I do love this episode which takes a simple stock plot, Charlie dosen't want to do something (Something being quest in the fantasy forest their in), Pim wants to, Charlie ends up being better at it… and somehow weaves in comic gold like the hand witch (and her excellent chopping skills), goblins (one of my faviorite things and I do like how this paticular goblin shows up a decent amount. ) , and of course Mip, a direct rotoscoped parody of the Bakshi versions of Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Do I love seeing this refrenced in modern day? Absolutely. Do I love that Mip has weird sexual tension with charlie, dosen't raelly break character and turns out to be an elaborate homage to Bjork's stalker?… yes and no respectively. Mip is really what makes the episode, though having charlie save some aliens and the suddenly grim ending dosne't hurt either. Not the most complex episode.. but sometimes an episode just needs to be funny and the fact they went to the trouble of rotoscoping a character just to get the refrence right shows Smiling Friend's craft: the animatoin is simple but can speed up in complexity, change styles or what have you just ot sell the joke or moment better. That and goblins. Always goblins.

13. Fate's Journey (The Legend of Vox Machina

"Faster Percy Yah Yah!" "I'm going as fast as I can, this carriage isn't built for speed and did you just Yah me?!"

Legend of Vox Machina was one of the nicest suprises i've ever had in animation. I had no real idea the adaptation of Critical Roll's first campagin was coming, and was only vaugely aware critical roll existed because Your Turn To Roll showed up in my spotify recomendations (And it slaps). So finding out that in the wake of invincible Amazonw as rolling out ANOTHER animated adult action show that looked like if James Gunn did a fantasy show.. I was intrigued. And after the first three episodes, as Amazon releases the show in batches of three, I was HOOKED. While it took me far too long to get to actually watching Critical Roll itself I fell in love with this show and while only having heard of two of it's voice actors before this (Ashley Johnson and Sam Rigel, Tulip/Lake and Donetello respectively), I became a huge fan of all of them after. Vox Machina takes a dungeon and dragons campaign and condensed it into 12 joyous episodes that still have the spirit of chaos of a campaign, while also telling a deeply compelling story of revenge, friendship, and scanlan's crotch. The series deftly ballances the tragic vengeful story of Percy as he edges closer to literallya nd figuratevely selling his soul for revenge with great character moments for all involved, and PLENTY of hyjinks from team bard Scalan pulling a distractoin by singing a song on tugging on his motherfucking beads while wearing a sparkly codpiece (One DIRECTLY MODELED on one of VA Sam Rigel's own costumes)

A planning scene where brusier Grog's plan is kill everyone including the guy their rescuing while Scalans is "Down a bunch of mystery poitions and hope I live, and Scalan's attempt to translate a book they got from their enemies devolvling into him and Vax giving each other two handed middle fingers. And of course the majestic game of ball tag, which starts at the breakfast table and escalates to Vax elbowing Grog in front of an offical for a 3 pointer. The series is a nice ballance of hilarious , heartfelt and generally horrifying, and it is awesome.

And while it's a bit of a thrill ride, having to pack over 50 hours of campagin into 10 episodes (the first two based on a pre-stream adventure that ends up being VITAL to the plot Season 2 adaps), it dosen't mean our team dosen't take time to stop and breathe and it's why Fate's Journey has stuck with me so much.

After a disasterous first encounger with the Briarwoods, the vampire and necromancer power coupled that slaughtered Percy's family and took over his hometown of whitestone and succesfuly enthraled the soverign of the land, our heroes are on the run out of town, minus their Cleric Pike (Whose reaffring her connection to her patron the everlight) and on the way to Whitestone to settle things. As a result we get a lot of nice character moments. Scanlan , despite normally being the extra horny extra hammy comic relief, tries to translate a book they stole from them, Grog, who sees pike as a sister, is morose over her being gone and convides in Vax and Vex, Vax's sister, tries to get Percy to open up and stop having a resting bitchface. We see both who our heroes are for a second, and see them truly bonding as more than just the only people who will loosely put up with one another.

We also get one of the seasons funniest scenes as during a relaxing campfire, the party recounts their weirdest kills: We get some badass ones with Vex casually killing Hotis which toally won't come back to bite him, Grog ripping a monsters jaw in half.. and some hilarious ones as Keyleth pushes an ogre into lava.. and then pushes him down while telling him to go to sleep panicked because he's not dead yet while everyone else looks on and horror and of course Scalan's.. is having a sex partner turn into a monster.. and still finishing.

That.. image aside, we also get a thrilling chase with Scalan getting kidnapped and sucking on a monster tentacle because of course, Grog being certain he wont survivie but heartwarmingly sad about it, and of course the greatst and funniest bit of ship tease in human history as Vex yahs percy as a horse and he undrestndably dosen't take it well. It's a relaxed episode that turns thrilling and leaves our heroes without any of their weapons.

The ending is also masterful.. in the most horrifying way possible. Earlier we see the briarwoods meet with some pesants seemingly doing some pr for their evil overlordship.. and at the end we find out WHY they, including a CHILD were invited…. as we see their bodies all hung on the sun tree in center of town dressed as Vox Machina. It's truly chilling, horrifying and I did not see it coming but man does it cut the bone even thinking of it now. I.. really don't have anything to follow that, fantastic episode.. next?

12. Any Sport In A Storm (The Owl House)

"Then there won't be any delay in branding you with Coven sigils and taking you away from your friends and family forever! Hooray!"

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME HUNTLOWWWWWW?

Yeah look I haven't hidden I ship this. I"m not a subtle person. It's why this guy is one of my spirit animals

So it's not a huge shock this one got on here, but it didn't just because a ship I started shipping before this went from "Maybe canon" to

In the span of one episode. This episode is a great character piece and thankfully spotlights both halfs of Huntlow well. After Willow spent most of season 2a gone, likely because Tati Gabrille is far busier than I could've possibly imagined, she gets one heck of a spotlight here that moves both her and Hunter's arcs forward, moves them together, and gives us a subplot with some Lumity that's.. fine. It's a nice little riff on fan theorizing and the azura thing, and it's ncie to see the two get a moment together that dosen't come with a lot of crap attached first. Just the two hanging out and being dorks.

But their not the dorks we're here for, nor why this episode is on this list. No it's the green and the gold for this one as Willow brings up a hithero unknown intrest in flyer derby.. basically a broom flying sport where you try to steal flags and beat the crap out of each other. You know for kids, and is forming her own team. At the same time in order to get the respect of an adult who hates him for something that isn't his fault because Hunter's life is a constant stream of abuse, brainwashing and doing sick flips, Hunter inflitrates the school.. and it goes how you'd expect

So when Hunter finds Willow, he finds a powerful prospect for the coven.. and someone who has the confidence, freedom and affablility he lacks, while she just.. straight up kidnaps her future boyfriend because she needs him for the team and while getting better at socializing still hasn't grapsed kidnapping isn't okay. Unless it is on the boiling isles but given Amity's reaction to being kidnapped and spit out by a giant owl, i'm wagering it isn't.

Either way we get adorable chemistry, a new power team/couple in viney and skara, and puddles the griffin.

We also get Hunter.. not understanding he was horribly abused and nearly consinging his friends to a horrible fate, standing up for them finally earning said adults respect… which like.. Darius man you really need to apologize for a.. .lot of things, and some good hunter blushing. All in all a good day for all. Horay!

11. Hellspital (Close Enough)

"It's a known fact doctors have killed more people than Genghis Khan and Chaka Kahn combined!"

Sadly this is Close Enoughs final time on this list as it was one of MANY casulaties of "David Zaslav wanted 8 more dollars", though it's for now thankfully avaliable to buy on youtube if nothing else. Why JG Quintel wasn't absolutely devistated I don't know, but it went out on a high with season 3 being fairly good. It also, while keeping a mixed ballance, fixed the one issue I had with season 2: there wasn't enough Alex. And Even then I got they simply needed to spread things out more evenly, so I wans't mad but boy oh boy did my boy get a great season, ending with getting Bridgette back but involving having his soul stolen by George RR MArtin, dating an alien tentacle monster instructor and of course going to hell.

The road to hell is paved with Childhood Trauma as Alex , after a golf course injury and on an all chili diet because of course he is, refuses to see a doctor after his dad went to the hosptial and got a terrible diagoniss when alex was a teen. Our heroes do everything in their power to not let his dumb ass die, but he ends up running away and bonking his head, but not before tons of jokes including him being tricked into their trap of a viking timelord marathoon (the season does manage his sudden obession with vikings that cropped up in season 2 after one joke about him writing a viking novel ins eason 1 work a LOT better without dominating his character this go round), despite having alerts for such an event, and nothing about it making sense only figuring out midway. Which is still good fo rhim

After hitting his head he end sup in a HELLSPITAL…. which is nightmarish as you'd expect, and well done at that, but gets heartwarming when Alex's dad decesnds from heaven, played by Henry Motherfucking Winkler who thanks to being in the upcoming season of Vox Machina has a VERY good chance of making this list two years in a row, and we get Alex having some heartwarming father son bonding with axes.. as well as the reveal his dad was sick a long time but simply didn't want to know he was.. and by the time he did it was too late. It teaches alex a hard lesson: that ignoring a medical problem because of bad news.. won't make it go away and the people who love you need you. it does so with time axes, demons and jabs at our awful healthcare system, but also with love. And gas which is what alex has. Chilli and all that

#the legend of vox machina #the great north #the owl house #amphibia #smiling friends #close enough #craig of the creek #Youtube

[gra-sonas]

Michael Vlamis said he hopes his beloved, but recently canceled space-alien western, Roswell, N.M., will be remembered not only for its laughter, tears and romance, but also for the intelligent and heartfelt messages it imparted.

"A legacy comes down to what a show has to say and I think our show had a lot to say, whether it was about feeling like an outsider or being afraid to accept love or understanding what home really means and where you belong," Vlamis told UPI in a recent phone interview.

The show will find an afterlife of people who didn't watch it, didn't know about it prior. It will be found again and [new viewers] will relate to all these themes," he added. "The themes and what we explore are relatable and told in an exciting way."

Roswell was one of the nine CW shows WarnerMedia canceled this spring as it changes its business model to focus more on its streaming properties.

"I don't think it was personal," Vlamis said of how Roswell won't be getting a fifth season on the cable network.

"A lot of people nowadays are really putting value into the audience that they are finding on streamers. Well, Roswell did a good job in both deals [with repeats streaming on Netflix]. But sometimes it's not enough," the actor explained.

"At the end of the day, I think our show definitely could have kept going."

Roswell follows space aliens Michael Guerin (Vlamis), Max Evans (Nathan Dean) and Isobel Evans (Lily Cowles), who crash-land in the titular southwestern town when they are children and have been pretending to be ordinary humans ever since.

The fourth and final season is now airing on The CW Monday nights.

In Season 3, the brilliant, but troubled Guerin and his on-off beau, U.S. Air Force veteran Alex Manes (Tyler Blackburn), got a fairytale ending when they went on their official first public date after saving Earth from a villain from their home planet that looked exactly like Max and was actually Guerin's biological father.

"It was so fun and freeing," Vlamis said of Guerin and Alex's adorable night out.

"All the scenes that we had over the years that were so traumatic, to be in front of the Manes statue in town holding hands in front of him and just walking off, that was so satisfying."

The statue honored Alex's late father Jess (Trevor St. John), a military hero who beat Alex and broke guitarist Michael's hand when he learned of their teen romance years earlier.

"The writers do a great job of callbacks. The fact that I put my hand into his hand, Episode 1 of Season 4, that's no coincidence!" Vlamis said. "It is truthful and it's earned."

Season 4 opens with commitment-phobic Michael moving out of his trailer and into open-hearted Alex's house.

It will take a little more self-acceptance before Guerin truly believes he deserves love and happiness, though.

"By the end of the season, Guerin gets there and he gets there in a very beautiful way with all of the characters in the show," Vlamis promised.

"It's such an answer no one wants to hear, but when you are going through things in life, it really is just time," he added. "Guerin is willing to do the work. Deep down, he wants happiness, he wants love, he wants family, he wants a home and he is realizing that he has found that in Alex and it was there all along."

Vlamis thinks the character's struggles to find purpose, be a good man, forgive himself for past mistakes and trust those who matter most to him make Guerin one of the show's most relatable characters.

"Everyone deserves love," Vlamis emphasized.

"You can repent, you can learn, you can grow, you can put the work in and I think people are very complicated and they see that in Guerin. In earlier seasons, Guerin said, 'Hope is a dangerous thing,' but hope is also a beautiful thing. I think everybody should be hopeful."

As Roswell comes to a close, Vlamis is working on the next chapter of his career. He is on the hunt for another steady acting job, but also recently wrote and directed his first feature film, a psychological thriller called Crossword.

"We just wrapped," he said. "We just hired our editor, which I am really excited about and so our editor is now getting to work and I'll have a first cut in the second week of July and I will dive into all of my notes and shaping the movie so we can get it finished by the end of the year for festivals."

Oh Vlammy 🥹🥹🥹

#malex #alex manes #michael guerin #michael vlamis #mgv interviews #rnm spoilers #roswell new mexico s4

[theliterarywolf]

Oh if you're still in the mood to rant around books (more specifically the mess it's been tangled in for a long time tbh)

So I was at a bookstore the other day with a friend feeling nostalgic about some old YA reads. Some aged well, others not so much. I would argue Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games fit into that first category. But I remember my library getting waves of what felt like "off brand" versions of popular books like those

Now, similar premises don't necessarily mean it's just a cash grab BUT some felt like soulless husks of "here's the check list for how to make a best seller."

I really feel for authors who are chasing their passion and have to deal with publishing houses refusing to take risks on anything they think won't be best sellers.

As an artist, I'm painfully aware that sometimes you do have to be thinking about what will sell vs the exact vision for your work. But even as someone who is not the most business minded, I have to wonder: not everything can even be the biggest baddest best seller so why do companies act like *decent profit* isn't good enough?

When I worked retail, the higher ups acted like when we weren't making above and beyond expectations (that grew every year) we were *losing money* instead of just not making as much profit.

Anyways, I guess my main point is it's not like I'm rooting for big publishers to make more money BUT I'm rooting for authors to earn what they deserve so I'm hoping big publishers grasp that niche markets are worth pursuing. Or at the very least, TAKE A COUPLE RISKS.

But risks are scaaaaary and they don't guarantee movie adaptations or Netflix shows they can cancel after one season~!

In all seriousness, though, I know full well and personal about literary agents and publishing houses not wanting to take risks on anything that isn't 100% manufactured guaranteed to be as marketable, licensable, and adaptable as possible.

It's admittedly been a long while since this part of my life but, back before I understood the dying beast of the market and the strive for Independently-Produced Content, I myself was shopping my first novel around to dozens of literary agents and publishing houses. Of course, the bulk of what I got were either 'It's just... not what we're looking for at this time' or complete radio silence or rejections based on a publishing house deciding to, out of the blue, go in a new 'diverse direction focusing on the voices and stories of women' when that hadn't been mentioned at all during the times I researched them

(Disclaimer: Yes, obviously I am a woman, but I've always felt more comfortable creating stories with men as the core cast; sue me)

However, one particular rejection letter to this day has always stuck with me.

The agent in question wrote something along the lines of 'You're obviously a very talented writer. I just wouldn't know how to market something like this'.

So, as you mentioned, hundreds of competent writers are getting rejected by the industry because of publishing houses refusing to publish anything that hasn't been manufactured to be a marketable/adaptable jackpot and agents who don't want to even bother.

Yes, it is all a business at the end of the day. But even major businesses need to identify shifting trends in marketshare and diversify their portfolios every once in a while.

#long post

[freshmoneyalmondathlete]

So... Fate The Winx Saga has been cancelled after two seasons .

I'm feeling very deflated and sad . I knew this was a very big possibility with how season 1 went story wise however with season 2 , it really started to gain momentum for me . It was starting to resemble a somewhat structured live action adaptation of one of my favourite childhood cartoon series .

And that's the thing it was an ADAPTATION. With adaptations you don't get word for word dialogue and arcs for arcs from the original to the new project . You don't solely just go copy and paste . You experiment and draw inspiration, you do it justice yes to very best of your ability but an adaptation isn't the original and nor should it be . It should resemble the original but not just be another copy.

Don't get me wrong the series had it's flaws but it also had it's highlights , Farah Dowling being of them .

Ftws has brought so many of us together on this platform and that is what I take most from this series .

Season 2 was an upgrade from season 1 and I was hoping by season 3 , it would have improved even more and find a stronger footing however we won't be getting a season 3 and I genuinely have to make peace with that which is hard to do rn because it was getting there as a series . Slowly but surely with each season it was getting there.

And with Netflix it really does come down to subscriptions . It really is how they make majority of their money and Netflix has been in trouble for a few years now and they cut whatever shows they can so they can save money for their highest earning. If something doesn't bring in more new subscriptions then it won't survive long .

Netflix may not believe in the show but we can still keep the fandom alive with fanfiction.

#ftws #fate the winx saga #season 3 #Netflix #ftws season 3 #farah dowling #silrah

[food4dogs]

WEEKEND CHAT :: 9 JANUARY 2023 :: TV DRAMA

Hello all,

I'm trialling a new home for my YouTube Weekend Chat longer writings - especially for TV/MOVIES/BOOKS - as Tumblr makes the writing & publishing process a lot easier. I hope you don't mind; do let me know if you have any problems accessing these posts here.

I'll catch up with three big Netflix TV productions today; before that, a quick bit of news:

The new show by the team who brought us DarK was .. not successful enough? 🤔

‘1899’ Canceled After One Season At Netflix

We don't know all the reasons of course (we DO know that Netflix is scrambling to cut costs) - but it looks like cost could be an important factor in this case.

On Reddit, there was a discussion about it:

The sad implication is that this type of decision does affect how people watch (and will watch in the future): They will become more cautious and not watch the first season any more but wait to see if a second season is greenlit.

We haven't watched 1899 yet, but I believe it ends on a big cliffhanger, so naturally people are upset.

As I've pointed out before, Netflix is not the only service struggling with decisions over expensive series and long-term planning (we've seen equally upsetting decisions by Amazon Prime, for example). But Netflix does seem to go through these issues more frequently (which indicates there's a problem with their streaming & financing model).

So, what does that mean for the future? It means with more cautious viewing behaviour, many shows (especially smaller, more niche, more unorthodox ones) will struggle even more to make an impact and get renewed. It doesn't bode well for fostering creativity in my opinion.

==========================

OK, on to our first Big Drama series: Alice in Borderland (adapted from the manga by Haro Aso) Season 2. (Note: If you haven't watched S2 yet, there will be a few unavoidable, but minor, spoilers in my discussion)

Netflix has an article about the actors and changes for season 2:

‘Alice in Borderland’ Levels Up in Season 2

Season 2 really felt very different to us: in terms of production value, cinematography, choreography of fight scenes and much more, this was a BIG step up. It really looked and felt superb. 👍🏻

Question for those of you who have watched S2 : did you have a strong "The Last of Us" impression, too, from the way the Tokyo Borderland city scenery was portrayed, all overgrown? I just couldn't shake it. And then ... SPOILER ALERT! ==>

... there was the ... scene with the elephants! My brain just wired "Giraffe"! 😁🦒

==> END SPOILER ALERT!

Is that just me?

We thought the second season was overall better than the first (the first had various issues with strange pacing, sometimes unimpressive acting, the story veering around at times) and we were truly hooked.

The big divide for most people will be over whether they found the ending (and therefore explanation of the true events) believable and satisfying.

If you feel the need to either 'study up' more, or don't want to watch Season 2 but want a summary of what happens, then Netflix obliges with this article: Game Cleared: ‘Alice in Borderland’ Season 2 Ending Explained

I won't discuss the ending too much, since many may not yet have seen it. But while it is obviously pretty 'out there' - what else could it be with a story like this, seriously? - we didn't think it was unbelievable. In terms of bringing closure, a death game story like this with an apocalyptic setting really has its work cut out. What matters is the journey, and the final episode had enough twists and turns to satisfy, we felt.

You could call it a bit of an easy 'cop out' kind of ending. But what kind of ending can you possibly have for a story like this? I haven't read the manga, but I assume from what I've read online that the adaptation sticks pretty close to the conclusion (?).

However - BIG HOWEVER - there are enough questions that remain, unresolved or without clear explanation, to warrant some probing. 'Alice in Borderland': 11 Unanswered Questions After Season 2

The really 'teasing' issue is of course the zoom in on the Joker card right at the end. Woah - is that an indication of more Alice in Borderland coming? It could be, couldn't it? (I believe Joker is actually a character in the manga, but doesn't appear in the TV series. Maybe this is a chance to propel the story even further?)

PoodlePa and I obviously talked about AiB for a long time afterwards, and something strange happened. PP quoted - off the top of his head - some lines from a TS Eliot poem (ya know, the guy who wrote famous poetry a hundred years ago, including The Wasteland).

---------------------

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - from "Prufrock, 1917"

Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

In a minute there is time

For decicions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

--------------------

If you remember the significance of the "one minute" in the AiB ending, then you'll see why I thought this was eerily hitting the mark!

Had enough of Death Games? 😯

Let's move on .. to more grisly deaths and murder mystery investigations!

I'll discuss The Pale Blue Eye next in Part 2!

#Netflix #Alice in Borderland #manga

[viscountessevie]

how you seen alergy wedding and lack of kathony ☠️☠️

Oh how I've missed asks but also need to reply to everyone from way back then. But baby steps we'll do this one tonight and I'll take on the old ones tomorrow!

Hi anon, thanks for the ask! Yeah so I was unwittingly following S3's production for a bit (thanks Twitter moots posting all over my TL). Honestly after a while, it just made me angry because my bar in hell about barely any Kathony in it and Allergy getting everything was turning out to be right. So I stopped paying attention for my sanity.

However, from a film graduate perspective and as someone who was trained as a producer, I will say it's VERY interesting for me to watch this car crash of a season production. Especially with them reshooting from the start - I may be wrong but this is the second time I've seen many scenes being filmed AGAIN when they were initially filmed months ago.

Sorry Anon I kind of got off track about how S3 is a money pit now and how there might not be an S4! Under the cut:

Anyways reshooting costs money, I mean we all can draw this conclusion. However with Bton's scale, each day is costing them AT LEAST an amount in the HIGH Thousands. So at this point, S3 is a money pit. It has definitely gone over budget and I will not be surprised if this eats into their S4 budget. Due to this, Netflix could potentially rescind S4's renewal.

The viewing numbers will be worse by the time the show rolls out. This is genuine biasness aside, numbers WILL drop because of Netflix's new password sharing rules. There will NO longer be the 80 million viewers/accounts by the time S3 comes out. Everyone is cancelling their accounts left and right. So the official numbers will dwindle and won't be up to the Bridgerton Standard - which is still more views than the usual shows but it may not be good enough for the Netflix executives.

Honestly after how Bton's production has shown itself to be completely unprofessional, it needs to die.

From the way they've treated their stars of colour (and it's telling how multiple cast members keep leaving), trash talking their characters of colour (see: The EPs like Tom Verica, Betsy Beers, Shonda talking about Kate and even Marina's writing) to showing blatant favouritism towards white leads while still championing itself as a "diverse ensemble show". And of course not to mention day drinking on set with heavy equipment (I have more to say on this but it's neither here nor there but feel free to ask in a follow up!)

If S4 is Philoise rumours are true, I do hope Netflix yanks back it's renewal. To be completely honest: no one else, other than the small group of yt fans, want to see two back to back white couples. The fact is most of the GA and a large portion of the fans within the fandom are people of colour who tuned in to see the diverse casting and characters of colour. The show was built on the promise of diversity. To have them negate on it now, is just very disappointing and not what a big portion of us signed up for.

Now with so many more other diversity shows (I'm BEGGING yall to go watch Mr. Malcolm's List, Sandition and these two recced by Michaela @minim236 : Tom Jones and The Confessions of Frannie Langton), people are obviously going to gravitate to these shows. Ones that are made with heart with good storytelling, treat their stars and characters with respect and are just fun to watch!

I am getting off the Bridgerton train and definitely won't be watching S3 (maybe a Kathony cut online).

I will say, if yall can let Kathony go slowly like I did, jump ship and explore other shows/books similar to Kathony because this show will continue punishing us for liking them. They do not care about what the viewers want at all which is a shame, because these are the people they are ultimately profiting off.

After expanding my HR book tastes and finding new shows like the ones listed above, I've found there is so so much out there. Feel free to hit me up for recs (I will warn you it's limited variety rn) and also you can scroll through @hptriviachamp and @mermaidsirennikita's blogs for HR recs as well shoot them, @jeanvanjer and Michaela (linked above) asks!

#Bridgerton #Bridgerton Production #The Viscountess Answers

[sextonsharpwinhalstead]

Yeah, I was trying to say without saying and being more long-winded than I already was. That there are a lot of men in the Med writer's room. And that was the quickest thing they could do without completely damaging her character. But it was just enough that it would tack on to everything else they already had planned and I refuse to believe the writers and showrunners don't understand how negative storylines will also get a character trashed especially black and other nonblack poc characters. Because there's no way they thought their writing in 5 made sense. From her and Choi openly flirting in the ED for the first time in what 3 seasons. Then her random crush on Marcel, the kiss. Then her not exactly apologizing for it and being sort of callous when she's still working with CM and Ethans offended. And lord Ethan crying to Ms. Goodwin yeah that will really get to the fans, especially the anti-Chexton fans who want to make it clear they're not anti-the actress they're just so ToXiC. While forgetting that Halstead was a total asshat to Natalie in the beginning and they fought and broke up for dumb sxxt too. And all the people still crying over Ava and Rhodes all these years later as if it isn't weird that all Ava did was basically neg Connor and Robin in the beginning. How is that not toxic? And if April is a B like everyone claims then Choi needs to were an asshole hat too.

I search the tags when I can't sleep and the number of fans losing their shit here and on Twitter when April probably has been on the screen for longer than 30 minutes in the 2 episodes we've actually seen her face is insane. Many of them are mad because their fave isn't back, so that's one aspect. The others are laughing because her show was canceled and basically doing everything but calling her u---ty for daring to leave. And swearing that she's only back because of that when there is evidence to the contrary. We can't hold our breath but if the spoilers I've seen aren't OC trolling us with pictures from scrapped storylines, then these haters better prepare to be sick of me. Because I won't rest if Chexton gets the happy ending Brian wanted in 2020.

There are always too many men. That's it that's the thought lol. The way they play in our face like we don't notice is wild.

The more I thougut about it the more I think that they added Marcel because they remembered that April started the show with a fling with Kelly. Which meant that she was capable of that kind of fun hookup. The problem is they didn't do ANYTHING to further that in six seasons. Neither before or after Ethan. And they are capable of it because we've watched Will and Connor bone their way through Chicago. Like a common problem with One Chicago is they forget to write anyone who isn't white a love interest/personal lives. They forget that many fans find them desirable.

Back when they introduced the Marcel/April story and everyone was crying and whining in my f*cking inbox about poor Ethan I wanted to make a meme of Vicki sipping tea because ETHAN CHEATED ON HER WITH APRIL and NEVER came clean. It was just kiss for both of them but you'd think that April murdered his sister the way people act. Or that Ethan wasn't capable of the same. I guess because it was in service to Chexton no one cared. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I truly believe Chexton is going to get a hopeful ending. Yaya is on her way to joining the cast of The Lincoln Lawyer, it's Netflix which is about as bad as Fox so I hope it works out but I think Yaya was interested in giving her character the closure she deserved and Ethan too. I just like knowing April finished her program and works independently. Now she gets love too and folks can die mad about it.

You don't have to like Chexton but folks might wanna check why they are so bitter seeing these two characters happy in a farewell, KNOWING Ethan has grown is... telling.

And yes it's wild that ppl still bitch about Ava and Rhodes and Manst*ad. Those ships were toxic AF. You have to be an Ava apologist to pretend you didn't see how batshit she was the ENTIRE time, people are like "you ruined her" and I'm like, "Are yall okay?!" Natalie was snotty AF to Will and Will was misogynistic AF to Natalie. Everyone hated her and only cared about her in that ship. Mess.

#chicago med #april sexton #ethan choi #ask sextonsharpwinhalstead

[practicalmagicintuitions]

The Witcher Netflix was doomed from the start. The writing is horrendous, CGI looks cheap, the costumes are ugly and 80% of the actors are completely miscast. The showrunner is more focused on checking all the boxes on the political correctness list than telling a good story with interesting characters. Why even touch this if all you plan to do with this actually unique story is turn it into just another generic and boring fantasy series? Lauren deserves all the criticism she's getting and more. I hope they cancel it and spare us (fans of the books and games) from further disappointment.

I won't lie I hated the first episode. Without HC I wouldn't even watched it. But he was not enough to keep me around for S2 and so on. What is pisses me off that Lauren is still saying they are true to the books where there is no evidence for it. She thinks her audience is plain stupid. Lauren is a horrible writer and showrunner. The Defenders is abysmal.

"Why even touch this if..." For the paycheck.

They already announced S5 I don't think it will be cancelled. Unfortunatley... They cancelled 1899 after one season but we got 5 from the Wither.... Btw I cancelled my subscription a long time ago so they don't get my money :D

[eightfifteen]

I'm one of those people who won't believe Byler is going to be canon until I see it because this isn't my first rodeo and I know that just because it textually, subtextually, and narratively makes the most sense, doesn't mean it's going to happen.

My biggest concern was that even if the Duffers had planned a Byler canon all along, I doubted Netflix would allow their most popular show ever to be queer. And also because the GA loved midleven; they were iconic.

This is what makes it so strange that the Duffers were allowed to ruin them in season 4. And how Midleven is not being marketed AT ALL. If the reason for midleven being endgame is because it would be most profitable for Netflix,... then why aren't they cashing in??

And then I was watching this video essay by Verilybitchie on YT about Queer media which explains how oftentimes new companies (streaming platforms but also in the past just regular up-and-coming cable channels) would target minority groups because they're the ones most looking for new places to get content.

"In the 60s and 70s, when cable channels were first introduced, small new networks like Fox, and the CW, got their early success targeting niche audiences, specifically black audiences. (...) And streaming is following this exact same business strategy. They're churning out huge amounts of diverse content because they're building up a new business and they want to attract invested viewers who don't feel like they're getting enough content elsewhere. That includes people of colour, LGBT people, women, and young girls." - Verilybitchie

For example, one of Netflix' first shows Orange Is The New Black, is diverce as fuck. The main character is bi and in multiple queer relationships, and most side-characters are also queer one way or the other and ethnically and racially diverse. But it also targets women specifically; a huge demographic that isn't being catered to enough. This clearly helped build Netflix' userbase.

But now, with Netflix having become as popular as it is today, they want to target bigger, more lucrative audiences (aka predominantly cishet, white groups), which is why all of their shows are slowly becoming stale and mainstream or get canceled after one season.

But my point is that Stranger Things was given the green light in phase 1 - the phase where they were targeting minorities. This means that there's a higher chance for them to have been greenlit even if - or maybe even especially if - it was queer. And now with the panel saying "they were just amazed Netflix was letting them do this at all", I don't know it's just reminding me of all of this.

It's clear that Netflix is being very hands-off when it comes to ST, trusting them to deliver one way or another. Especially now re-watch value isn't as important in Hollywood anymore; they don't have to please the GA for it to remain popular, the GA will watch it either way until they figure out the queer endgame, and by then they've watched the whole show and ST will no longer be the reason for them to renew their subscription at the end of the month anyway.

If they hope to get a new audience for ST after the show is already over, so they can get a small boost of new subscribers, it would make more sense to once again target the queer audiences who wouldn't otherwise have watched it. Everyone who likes Sci-Fi Fantasy is already subscribed (or watching the show illegally) so they have to give it a new appeal if they want to get new fans; the queer userbase that will watch anything just because it's gay. In my opinion, it's their only way for getting new fans, especially once everyone knows how it ends and the suspense is taken away. And with shows like Sex Education, Young Royals, and Heartstopper doing as well as they're doing, they know there's a huge audience for this.

But more importantly; this brings more credibility to the Duffers having planned Byler all along, and with it being slowburn, and them only getting together in the final season, Netflix would have no reason to not allow the Duffers to continue doing whatever they want.

#idk rant #byler #stranger things #anyway check out the video essay it's really good