Media Mentions: Giving The Devil His Due

[kathyk]

Where do you live? I'm in Massachusetts and we've had snow for the past three days.

[Blue Sunflower]

Portland, OR. We've had snow for the last week. I went outside and it's so freaking much it's covered the steps. I stepped down thinking it was the last one. It wasn't. I tried to get pics but they didn't come out. I'll try again tomorrow.

[Blue Sunflower]

Ahh...Nice trip down memory lane.

[Blue Sunflower]

Dec 21, 2008 23:53:44 GMT -5 Blue Sunflower said:

Dec 20, 2008 4:48:46 GMT -5 Blue Sunflower said:

They're still filming! Cool the guy's been called back again. I hope he gets more screen time too!

I made a comment on his blog too. I thought maybe they're filming late to make up for the short time they lost due to Bret's injury.

Oh man, look at the snow! It's just as bad as my place.

Warning: very slight spoiler at the end.

Final report! It's really cool, brrr. There are no spoilers in it, and lots of outside set pics! Once again I think we might have an odd season where we'll be watching in June episodes that are clearly set during winter - like when we saw Christmas last March.

It was very nice of Alan to give us so much detail. I made a comment thanking him.

[wdpender]

Has anyone ever attempted to examine the 4210 Phillips address on Google Earth? I've been trying to do that; to see if I could figure which of the buildings in the satellite photo were the Work Bench, etc., but haven't had any luck. Maybe some of you could take a look to see if you can recognize anything?

[pacejunkie]

Nice plug for the DVD set and season two here.

[pacejunkie]

New interview with Bret for J-14 magazine that promotes the DVD and season two nicely. Warning for some spoilers.

[Blue Sunflower]

Dec 25, 2008 12:10:55 GMT -5 pacejunkie said:

Warning for some spoilers.

Is that for real??? And lemme say I'm not a bit surprised his favorite vessels are the ones he can use to mess people up with.

And ha! I got my question answered. Sorta.

[cko]

That was a pretty good interview, different information than we've seen before. He seemed really charming, and enthusiastic about the show. Aaaand, the "spoiler" is a little more than we've heard. Heh, he likes The Cop. I'll resist reposting Blue's "Competent!Sam" quote.

[pacejunkie]

Kristin's Christmas Gifts to television:

To bubble shows that rock, namely Life, Privileged, Friday Night Lights and Reaper, we give new-season pickups. (This gift is on back order and will not be available until upfronts in May.)

What a thoughtful gift!

[Blue Sunflower]

Nothing much, but this blogger mentions they know the locations manager for Reaper.

[Blue Sunflower]

If I ran the networks: CW

5) Don’t Give Up on “Reaper”: Unless CW somehow gets Joss Whedon back, “Reaper” is the network’s best chance at another “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The show is funny, well-acted, and basically can be described as “Buffy” for men. The ratings were very solid in its first year and for some reason, its repeats over the summer got some of The CW’s highest ratings at the time. The show should have been on the fall schedule but since it wasn’t, The CW better go all out advertising its return.

[Blue Sunflower]

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! Tears, people!

[cko]

Blue that parody is hilarious. And, I'm considering this a major shout-out to us. I'll spoiler tag just because it's funnier to read it in the original context. Just wish there was a way to contact the person who posted that!

SPOILER: Click to show

DAWN O.
I really like that we show Model twice a week. And Tyra owns my soul, so...bump that Devil show...

MINION #1
Reaper?

DAWN O.
Right. That. Move it to midseason or something.

MINION #1
I'm not sure that's a good idea considering the fanbase...

[pacejunkie]

That's pretty awesome. Great find.

[pacejunkie]

Great news from Tyler at the Facebook group. *snip*

Moved to season two forum

[Blue Sunflower]

Author Chandra Rooney lists Reaper as one of her inspirations for writing.

[Blue Sunflower]

Buffy vs. Reaper.

[onyourmark]

Blogger with a, ah, grim outlook on Reaper's chances of getting a third season (but at least he's a fan!).

[cko]

I decided to put this here, related to pod135's cool find as posted in the Season One Pilot thread.

Kevin Smith Podcasts about Reaper
SModcast 8: The Entirely Too Over-Long Episode--April 2. 2007
(also at iTunes)

A ramble about directing the Reaper pilot, just after it was completed. Runs between 19:00 – 58:00 (approximately), but he does go off on tangents (surprise!). Very funny, sweary of course, but in case you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, summary below. Mostly about how different it is to do TV vs. movies, and directing someone else’s stuff rather than his own. Also:
--He was mad at CW because he wanted Kyle Gass of Tenacious D to play a recurring demon character and the studio nixed it. The part was eventually cut and aspects of the role were combined with The Devil.
--He has high praise especially for Tyler.
--The stunts were scary, and he references Jon Landis (who directed a film where actors were killed on set by a helicopter).
--Best line, about him having experience about what works and what doesn’t: “You want to say ‘Don’t Jersey Girl this motherfucker.”
--Toward the end (see below) he references a debate with the producers about the hockey rink scene; see if you can guess what he means.

19:00: He was given the chance to direct Good Will Hunting!
--The idea of directing something for tv never occurred to me, but I liked the script and said let’s give it a shot! I’d never do it again.
--Liked Mark Gordon Productions and the movies they’d made (A Simple Plan, Speed). Already knew he got along with all the people in the prod company.
--“Doing a pilot, you’re gonna establish the look and tone if the show goes to series.”

--“All the people were good, the studio was good (Touchstone)--they stayed out of your way. But the network, CW? Those cats, I can’t understand their process. Like you’re hiring me, so … is it just for the name? I’m not being braggy-- I despise myself most days, not in love with myself, but you gotta acknowledge that even if you hate me .. there’s an audience for what I do and I have a reputation, and that brought a lot of people in to read for it.

--So some cool people came thru the door to be in the show. Kyle Gass (from Tenacious D) wants to play a demon character. Now that is a common-sense score…because that dude will bring an audience. Hiring him for the demographic for the show, would lean toward the audience you want for the show. The demo you want for the show, not necessarily traditional for the network.
--They’d cast 2 dudes for the show (Bret and Tyler), good actors, totally funny, but they don’t necessarily bring an audience-- right now, no name recognition.
--Felt that later, Kyle could bring in Jack Black as a g-uest star. Thought it was obvious they should cast Kyle as a recurring character. “Did they? No.”
--Mark Gordon Productions liked him, studio good. Sitting with CW execs, and they’re all “ I don’t get it.” Smith: “I think you’re retarded if you don’t hire this guy”
--At that point I wanted to quit. Not b.c I didn’t get my way ... because it’s not my show and I knew my job was to execute someone else’s vision.
--“But my mind is boggled that the CW doesn’t want to hire a name person, and it’s not even for a lead role? So you’re getting a good price, has an audience, it’s a no brainer and they say no. It’s working in bizarro world.” It makes no sense. Everyone else has worked in tv so they’re all “it’s just how this is” and I’m going “Is everyone taking crazy pills?”

--Now being on the inside I can it’s insane how much it takes just to have one script picked up for one pilot. It’s insane. The odds are astronomical. So now when you see a show on TV, even if it’s the worst show you’ve ever seen, give it props for making it through.
--The great irony…the character got dropped altogether. It became too hard to cast the role, and they wound up giving his elements to the Devil character.
39:00: So the Devil character becomes more prominent, and b/c of that, accidentally the network makes the show better. Ray Wise gets more screentime and the story got better.

42:00: The cast were really good, Ray Wise was wonderful; Bret Harrison plays the lead was really good. This dude Tyler Labine, who plays Sock n the show is fucking genius and just f-ing funny--a dude who intuitively knows story, timing, and comic sensibility. He should have a much higher profile than he does, hopefully the show will really take off and he’ll just get launched from it. Dude named Rick Gonzalez, he was good. The whole cast was really fun to work with.

43:00—New experience working with so many stunts and special effects. The crew blew shit up, with lines of fire going down the street, all practical stuff (not CGI). Explodes shit. Created a massive f-ing fireball. A few times on the show I felt I was in Jon Landis country, like bring that helicopter lower, putting people in harm’s way. I haven’t done that many dangerous stunts in the flicks. So this was like, “on action, everybody goes, and you’re going to feel the heat.”

--It confirmed for me what I always suspected, that I should only direct what I write. On this show a few times I kinda butted heads with the writers, and I had the benefit of knowing that some shit works on the page don’t work on the stage.

47:00 There was a moment where a gag in a hockey rink--there was like one throwaway shot that I felt made the scene make sense And the girls felt the scene gave some power to a character they didn’t want to give at this point. It was a clear stalemate. And finally I said, Look, I get it. This shot makes the pilot better. You don’t want it because it affects the series. But right now there’s no guarantee there is a series. So make the pilot make sense. And if you have to retcon when it goes to series, deal with it then.

52:00--I just kept remembering “it’s the women’s [girls', chicks'] show and how often do women get to own something, this biz is very men-oriented, so I wanted to see it succeed. They’d been working on it for like 8 years and finally seeing it coming to be. They were all really really cool people to work with. It was very worthwhile; I’d never do it again though.” 58:00

[stinger97]

In Entertainment Weekly's current issue there's a "Winter TV Preview" that mentions Reaper:

Where It Left Off: Sam (Bret Harrison) now believes he's the son of the Devil (Ray Wise), while his earthly "adoptive" father turned out to be more involved in the hellish conspiracy than anyone thought.

What's Coming Up: You'll get no easy answers about Dad, says co-creator Michele Fazekas. What's worse, the demon rebellion has Sam in its sights, and his soul-claiming duties are creating tension with girlfriend Andi (Missy Peregrym). Look for Michael Ian Black and Ken Marino to return as neighborly demons, and Ben (Rich Gonzalez) to fall in love with a demon assassin. Eriko Tamura (who Fazekas calls "the Japanese Britney Spears") joins as a hot stepsister for Sock (Tyler Labine), and Armie Hammer plays Morgan, the Devil's favorite son. Plus: exciting new vessels, like the boxing gloves Sam uses to catch a fighter. Says Fazekas, "It goes about as well as you'd think."

[Blue Sunflower]

39:00: So the Devil character becomes more prominent, and b/c of that, accidentally the network makes the show better. Ray Wise gets more screentime and the story got better.

Can't say as I'm upset about the trade off with Kyle Gass then.

47:00 There was a moment where a gag in a hockey rink--there was like one throwaway shot that I felt made the scene make sense And the girls felt the scene gave some power to a character they didn’t want to give at this point. It was a clear stalemate. And finally I said, Look, I get it. This shot makes the pilot better. You don’t want it because it affects the series. But right now there’s no guarantee there is a series. So make the pilot make sense. And if you have to retcon when it goes to series, deal with it then.

Hmm. At first I thought it was the throwaway shot of the blood across the ice rink, but with the "you have to retcon" later line, now I'm not so sure. It's got to do with the Devil, since only he had the power at the time.

Jan 19, 2009 3:36:32 GMT -5 stinger97 said:

In Entertainment Weekly's current issue there's a "Winter TV Preview" that mentions Reaper:

Where It Left Off: Sam (Bret Harrison) now believes he's the son of the Devil (Ray Wise), while his earthly "adoptive" father turned out to be more involved in the hellish conspiracy than anyone thought.

What's Coming Up: You'll get no easy answers about Dad, says co-creator Michele Fazekas. What's worse, the demon rebellion has Sam in its sights, and his soul-claiming duties are creating tension with girlfriend Andi (Missy Peregrym). Look for Michael Ian Black and Ken Marino to return as neighborly demons, and Ben (Rich Gonzalez) to fall in love with a demon assassin. Eriko Tamura (who Fazekas calls "the Japanese Britney Spears") joins as a hot stepsister for Sock (Tyler Labine), and Armie Hammer plays Morgan, the Devil's favorite son. Plus: exciting new vessels, like the boxing gloves Sam uses to catch a fighter. Says Fazekas, "It goes about as well as you'd think."

Thanks, stinger! I'm gonna copy the info and put my comments over in the Spoilers No More thread in order to continue the discussion.

[pending]

What's Coming Up: You'll get no easy answers about Dad, says co-creator Michele Fazekas.

Party foul; weren't we promised not too long ago that we'd get answers in season 2? I'm almost positive it came up in another interview, and we all sighed in relief because it meant that if there was no season 3 (knock wood) we wouldn't spend the rest of our lives wondering. And just how long do they really think they can keep the suspense up?

[cko]

47:00 There was a moment where a gag in a hockey rink--there was like one throwaway shot that I felt made the scene make sense And the girls felt the scene gave some power to a character they didn’t want to give at this point. It was a clear stalemate. And finally I said, Look, I get it. This shot makes the pilot better. You don’t want it because it affects the series. But right now there’s no guarantee there is a series. So make the pilot make sense. And if you have to retcon when it goes to series, deal with it then.

Hmm. At first I thought it was the throwaway shot of the blood across the ice rink, but with the "you have to retcon" later line, now I'm not so sure. It's got to do with the Devil, since only he had the power at the time.

Blue and I rewatched this and can't figure this out. What would be a "throwaway" but "make the scene make sense" but maybe need to be "retconned" later? So, our theory is that they DID remove the bit, and it had something to do with Sam. Anyone have ideas for how we could bug K. Smith, Michelle, or Tara to find out more? And, if anyone wants to listen to the actual podcast, there might be more info there, since my transcribing was patchy.

And...how much do I love that show writers, producers and directors actually do plan to retcon?

[pending]

I'm pretty stumped on that too; the Hockey Rink scene is one of my favorite 1st season scenes, partly because it's so tightly done-- there are no throwaway shots, as far as I can tell.

I think you and Blue are right, and that 'the girls' took it out when Reaper was picked up for a whole season. Which just makes it SO UNFAIR that it isn't in the season 1 deleted scenes.

[cko]

I know, this makes me even more disappointed at the scanty deleted scenes on the DVD. Regarding the tightness of the scene, there is a somewhat loose transition at the end, when the camera pulls back and Sam is just sitting there....

Party foul

Speaking of: off-topic for here, but I have to wonder what you were doing on NYE with beer and poker chips but no playing cards?

[stinger97]

Not sure if this has anything much to do with Reaper per se, but according to Zap2It.com, ABC Studios which produces the show, has combined with ABC the network. That means that the studio will now fall under the eye of Stephen McPherson, who is the president of ABC.

Again, how this will affect Reaper, if at all, I have no idea.

[Blue Sunflower]

Please, please, please don't put Reaper on ABC. Not only will ABC kill it, but I don't want to be subjected to the friggin' self-righteous and never-ending promos of Lost.

[Blue Sunflower]

Nice little poll for Reaper.

[pacejunkie]

Reaper would do fine on ABC Family though. Better and better quality shows are finding new life on smaller cable networks these days where you can be a long term hit with less than two million viewers (see BSG). Seriously, I'd prefer it on ABC Family to the CW. Anything is better than the treatment it is getting at this idiotic network.