Writer’s Strike: Heroes Prepares Early Season Finale
A couple days ago we reported that NBC was delaying (read: canceling) the Heroes spin-off Heroes: Origins, likely due to the upcoming Writes Guild Strike.
Now that the WGA have officially announced that a strike will begin this Monday, we have more bad news for fans of the superhero television series. TV Guide is reporting that the second season of Heroes may be end much sooner than expected. Apparently, sources claim that the show is shooting an alternative ending which could serve as the season finale on the December 3rd episode. Originally the episode was to serve as the conclusion of the current “Generations” story arc.
IGN writes:
“This gave the show a better place than most to prematurely end the season, as it least was intended as the culmination of several current plotlines. While more episodes have been shot beyond that, they would likely simply be held for whenever the show goes back into production, so that the next storyline doesn’t have to be interrupted in the middle.”
If the Writers Guild Strike is somehow averted, the alternative footage will not air, and the series will continue into the next “volume” (aka story arc).
Tribeca Movie Review: The Tree
The following movie was reviewed at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
The Tree (El Árbol)
World Documentary Competition
2006, Argentina
Dir: Gustavo Fontán
Can memories of an entire lifetime be harnessed within one single object of affection? Can moments long ago experienced be recalled and relived with the help of a familiar companion? What happens when a family has to make a decision that could alter them forever? Writer-turned-filmmaker Gustavo Fontán attempts to carefully and lovingly answer these questions in his impressive and poetic film essay The Tree.
More a sketch of an idyllic moment in time than a documentary, the film experiments in painting the story of a family forced to come to grips with their own reality, and ultimately, their own mortality. Fontán returns to his homeland of Argentina where his parents, María and Julio, continue to live in the same house that has been in their family for generations. There, the parents ask themselves what to do about the decaying tree out in the front yard, while Fontán himself is there to capture it all.
Slowly detailed and intensely moving, the film chronicles the debate between María and Julio, without having the camera seem as though it’s intruding upon their lives. María is convinced that the tree on the front lawn is dried and that soon it will fall over, while Julio still believes that it is alive and beating. She urges him to cut it down before it collapses and hurts anyone, while he is totally against this and adamant in his stance. He planted it when his first son was born, and does not want to erase the significance of the tree. As a representation of the start of their lives as parents, the tree acts as a silent bond between María and Julio.
An ode to the ordinary, the film shows María and Julio in their waking moments, going along with their life, calmly enjoying their golden years. They recall friends and family members that are no longer with them and relive cherished moments during intimate dinner conversations, of which we hear only fragments. Rain falls upon them and the garden is watered constantly. We see the waves of time rush over, trying to take with them all signs and traces of remembrance, memory, and connection.
The tree holds in it pieces of the family’s consciousness, and to knock it down would be to knock down a piece of their own existence. At one point María, when speaking of a hole in the tree, says, “Remember that hole where the girls used to put love letters for Carlos? Now, there are no more letters, just slugs.”
Delicately, Fontán shows us the fallen tree and how sadly Julio approaches it. He understands what he must do, even though he does not approve. Dejectedly, we see Julio take the tree down. The film has come full circle.
A phenomenal piece of filmmaking.
J Lo Brings Her Flavor To Spice Girls Reunion
J Lo Brings Her Flavor To Spice Girls Reunion
With the Spice Girls comeback tour preparations in full swing, producers of the show have announced that Jennifer Lopez has signed on to be the support act for all of the US dates.
And you can chalk it up to “Girl Power.” The “Waiting for Tonight” diva revealed that even before she knew the British babes, she admired them. Lopez told press, “Even before we were friends, (Victoria) was always my favorite.”
Earlier this summer, the “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” songstress hinted that the Spice Girls’ reunion tour was on her brain. “I’d love to get back out there on tour and I’d really like to perform on the same stage as the Spice Girls.”
Reportedly the tour producers are putting a lot of thought into who they ask to open the shows. “The girls want to appeal to all generations and produce a show that will go down in history. They have a hit-list of people they want and so far everyone is saying yes. They even joked about asking (Geri Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm’s ex-boyfriend) Robbie Williams to join them.”
And to tide you over until they hit your town, the Girls are planning to release a newly recorded single this November.
More Post-Strike ‘Heroes’ News
The ever-so talented Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide has just confirmed something I heard a rumor about yesterday.
In the unlucky event that some sort of agreement is made very soon between the WGA and AMPTP, totally disregard what I’m about to say next. However, if not, expect Heroes to end this season a lot sooner than expected.
Rather than suffer the fate of a half-finished season, inside sources say that the show is going back to shoot an alternative ending to the episode that is airing on December 3rd. The episode itself was said to be the end of the ‘Generations’ arc that we are currently in the midst of. If this new alternate ending IS used, it would allow the episode to be used as a season FINALE.
Yes, you read that correctly. Season. Finale.
That means Heroes would be ending in December after only 11 episodes.
This sucks.
- Jeff Heimbuch
