Fear Itself — An early look
From The Twilight Zone to Amazing Stories, anthologies have always tried to find a home on television. But where once they were embraced and even lauded, now they struggle to find viewers and usually only eke out a season or so. Last summer brought us Masters of Science Fiction, which itself was a variation on the pay cable Masters of Horror, which proved the more successful of the pair. Horror has always had a special place in our hearts.
And so it is not tremendously surprising that NBC is back in the game, this time with Fear Itself, an hour-long horror anthology. The series premieres Thursday, June 5 at 10pm ET, and I’m going to tell you now to try not to judge it by the first episode. I got a chance to preview the first three episodes, and for me it got better with each installment. Maybe it’s a bias against the fairly typical “monster of the week” storytelling that has weakened episodes of such otherwise good shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Supernatural.
I’ve always enjoyed those horror and sci-fi stories that reached a little beyond the shock factor or the hack and slash mentality. “Sacrifice,” which introduces the show to the audience, falls into the latter category in a way that concerns me for the show’s retention rate. Either the second episode, “Spooked” or the excellent third, “Family Man,” would have been a much better way to introduce the potential of the series. Both of those latter two stories featured some twists on the genre and a much more cerebral experience. The horror was as much internal as it was external for our protagonists. Point blank: the stories were just better.
So why start with a fairly surface level “monster of the week” episode? Well, if I recall correctly Masters of Horror on Showtime did something similar with the deer-woman-monster-weirdness of their pilot installment. The only thing that correlates between the two is the promise of sex in the episode and the hotness factor of the female leads. I’d like to think that television executives aren’t so shallow as to think that we need to see Mircea Monroe’s voluptuous cleavage in order to want to keep watching the series, but this is television and America we’re talking about. Ass and boobs are what it’s all about, right? Throw in some guts, gore and at least one ugly vampire and we’re all happy.
The second episode features Eric Roberts and Lost’s Cynthia Watros in a unique angle on a haunted house story. It was nice seeing Watros back at it on the small screen, as I thought both she and Hurley’s character got the big shaft when they booted her off the island via a quick murder (I don’t care what they say it was because of her troubles with the local law). This one read and felt more like a typical horror short story. The effects of the hauntings were very well done and they did an excellent job of establishing the proper mood and tone throughout. Roberts grew into his character by the end.
But as much as I thought “Spooked” was an improvement over “Sacrifice,” I was blown away by just how damned good “Family Man” was. It was a treat seeing Eureka’s Colin Ferguson really put through the emotional wringer in this one. As it was written by Daniel Knauf, who created one of the most under-appreciated shows in the history of television, Carnivale (I still want to know how it ends, dammit!), I had a lot of high-hopes that it would be filled with his trademark mysteries, twists and turns and he really delivered. I don’t even want to say too much about it except to tell you that even in the rough cut that I received, this was far and away one of the strongest installments of any of the recent anthology series; a wonderful idea wonderfully executed.
Anthology series are a tough sell during a typical summer season, but if NBC is willing to truly think about a summer slate of non-reality original programming, I could see Fear Itself as an excellent addition to that family. They can catch all the television actors during hiatuses to film various installments, thus giving fans of those shows an opportunity to see their favorite TV stars during the summer, and it can help those stars, like the aforementioned Hurley (Jorge Garcia) try to avoid becoming hopelessly typecast as their beloved recurring characters; Ferguson certainly stepped well out of his role as Sheriff Carter.
I’d like to think this has a real chance of making it the whole run, but summer audiences can be so fickle and still seem resistant to original scripted programming. Maybe post-strike America is a different viewing beast. Maybe going so long without scripted programming during the regular season has made us more anxious to consider trying something new. And with anthology series you don’t have to worry about the plug being pulled before you get any resolution on any storylines, unless your cat is playing behind the entertainment center and accidentally pulls the plug. What the hell are you doing back there, anyway?
Sex and the City…and the iPod
HBO was right: It's not TV. If it were, it'd be a little cheaper.
The cable net has announced plans to make available its small-screen offerings on an even smaller screen as HBO programming finally makes its way to iTunes, albeit at a slightly higher premium.
Sex and the City, whose download debut not so coincidentally comes just in time for it to cash in on the film's buzz, will be available for the traditional $1.99 per episode fee, as will Flight of the Conchords and The Wire. But HBO has upped the ante for The Sopranos, Deadwood and Rome, charging their fans $2.99 an episode.
Guess not all shows are createdor pricedequal.
The shows debut online today, and in addition to HBO's bucking of Apple's otherwise uniform price policy, they will also break from tradition in terms of when the shows are made available for download to avoid undermining their pay cable service.
Unlike other broadcast and cable networks, HBO will not release individual episodes for iTunes download the day after they air. Their customers will have to wait until a given series' entire season is made available on DVD.
SAG Cozies Up to Cable, Too
Okay, I think we get the message. Everyone loves cable this year.
The nominations for the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced bright and early this morning in West Hollywood, and here’s what may be most surprising: AMC’s Mad Men and TNT’s The Closer beat out House, Lost and 24 to enter the Best Ensemble in a Drama for Television category. (Get all the deets in our news story.)
Pretty amazing, no? Just as we saw with the Golden Globe nominations one week ago, the SAG voters trended toward more pay-cable and basic-cable nods this year, especially in the drama categories.
Along with Mad Men (clearly the little awesome show that could) and The Closer’s ensemble nods, Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Glenn Close (FX’s Damages) ousted previous SAG shoo-ins like Patricia Arquette, Mariska Hargitay and the Grey’s girls, while Jon Hamm (Mad Men) smacked down both the Lost lads and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
Call it another thumbtack in the coffin of network TV…
On the comedy side, however, network shows fared better, with nods to newcomers like 30 Rock’s ensemble and Tina Fey (thank you, Jesus!), Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, which is so not getting canceled any time soon) and Vanessa Williams of Ugly Betty. And I gotta say, the ensemble nomination for The Office also saved me from having an early-morning meltdown—on camera. Thanks, SAG!
Anyway, I’m curious to know what you all think. Are the SAG and Globes voters right on the money that cable had a better year than network TV when it came to drama? Or is it just not right that shows like Lost, House and 24 are shut out?
Let us hear your thoughts in the Comments below—and weigh in on what other snubs irked you.
Krista Allen Biography
Possessed of a ravishing beauty and one of the most bodacious bodies in Hollywood, it’s not surprising that raven-haired Krista Allen was able to make her mark in several sexpot roles. What is more surprising, however, is Allen’s natural ease as an actress, projecting a convincing warmth and vulnerability that often supercedes her upfront sexuality.
Encouraged by her parents to try modeling to counteract her shy personality, as a teen Allen became a Budweiser Girl, appearing on countless posters, calendars, magazine ads, etc. After graduating from the University of Texas with a major in education, she was briefly a school teacher before she decided to pursue an acting career in California. After arriving in Los Angeles, she quickly landed a role on the CBS daytime soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
However, Allen had also made a career decision that might have ultimately derailed the serious ambitions of another actress when she agreed to star in a serialized erotic revival of French novelist Emmanuelle Arsan’s sexually uninhibited character Emmanuelle. Allen played the lead role in 1994’s “Emmanuelle In Space,” which amounted to little more than an unending series of soft-core sex vignettes strung together by an absurd storyline in which Emmanuelle teaches space aliens the joys of sex and love. The actress appeared frequently in the nude and displayed all of her natural (and possible unnatural endowments) and yet even in this unrepentant tripe she projected an unexpected likeability and sincerity that, when the series eventually surfaced on U.S. pay-cable and home video, won her legions of admirers well after her career took a more “legitimate” turn.
Allen made her first major impact as an actress in 1996 when she joined the cast of the daytime serial “Days of Our Lives” assuming the role of the ever-troubled Billie Reed (first played by Lisa Rinna), where Allen’s emotional work proved all the more impressive given her overtly sensual looks. Proving as popular with female viewers as male, she remained on the soap until 1999, making sporadic-but-memorable appearances in motion pictures such as the comedy “Liar, Liar” (1997), in which she plays the buxom girl in the elevator to whom Jim Carrey can’t help but tell the truth, no matter how lascivious.
Television proved to be fertile ground for Allen, and she snared guest spots on many series, including “Married With Children,” “Pacific Blue,” “Arli$$,” “Friends,” “Spin City,” “Charmed,” “Smallville,” “Frasier,” “Two and Half Men” and a brief recurring role on “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation.” The actress increased her fan base dramatically with a guest shot on a 2000 episode of the cult favorite “The X-Files” titled “First Person Shooter,” where she played Maitreya, a buxom Lara Croft-style computer-generated video vixen who comes to life, as well as the sultry actress the CGI bombshell was based on. She also turned a recurring guest spot on “Baywatch Hawaii” into a regular role as Jenna Avid, the troublemaking lifeguard-turned-lawmaker in the tight yellow swimsuit (2000-2001).
Allen finally got her big break in a major motion picture when George Clooney cast her in a brief but important role in his directorial debut “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” In the film she plays a beautiful, seemingly sexually available woman swimming in the pool at the Playboy Mansion who shocks game show producer Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) by blisteringly articulating all the things he hates about his role in the pop culture. Next up was a role opposite two more Hollywood heavy hitters, Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler, in the dark comedy “Anger Management” (2003), followed by a turn as a holographic woman in the John Woo directed thriller “Paycheck” (2003) and a string of lower profile films in 2004.
In 2005 Allen proved to be the revelation of the Steven Soderbergh-George Clooney-produced HBO series “Unscripted” which drew heavily on her real-life persona, including using her actual name, career details and her life as a single mother (her son Jake Morritt appeared with her on the show) struggling to evolve out of sexpot roles and emerge as an actress of serious craft. Not surprisngly, the series provided the proof of the actual Allen’s depth and talent.
Allen enjoyed a sideline as a clothing designer: to express her political opposition to President George W. Bush, she designed a line of panties that read “No More Bush” which proved solid sellers in the trendy L.A. boutique Kitson. She followed up with a t-shirt line titled SexBrand, with tops emblazoned with messages like “You Were Never My Boyfriend,” “On the Wrong Side of 30″ and “My Mom Says I’m a Catch.”
- Also Credited As:
Krista Allen, Krista Allen-Moritt - Born:
on 04/05/72 in Ventura, California - Job Titles:
Actress, Model, Teacher
Family
- Son: Jacob Nolan Moritt. born July 12, 1997; father Justin Moritt
- : parents divorced; both eventually remarried
Significant Others
- Husband: Justin Moritt. married September 14, 1996; divorced 1999; father of Jacob
- Lover: George Clooney. rumored to be dating during production of “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”
- Companion: Michael Rosenbaum. rumored to be dating c. fall 2002
Education
- University of Texas, Houston, Texas, education
Milestones
- 1994 Cast as Emmanuelle in the 7-part movie series based on the exotic character of the same name
- 1996 Cast as Billie Reed in “Days Of Our Lives”
- 1996 Appeared in the independent action comedy “Rolling Thunder”
- 1997 Small but noticeable role as the busty girl in the elevator opposite Jim Carrey in “Liar, Liar”
- 1999 Cast in “Baywatch Hawaii” as troublemaker Jenna Avid
- 2000 Got much notice on an episode of “The X-Files” titled “First Person Shooter” playing a scantily-clad video game vixen come to life
- 2001 Co-starred with Scott Baio in the feature “Face Value”
- 2001 Played the lead in the indie comedy “Totally Blonde”
- 2002 Breakout feature role in George Clooney’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”
- 2003 Cast opposite Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson in “Anger Management”
- 2004 Played herself in HBO’s “Unscripted,” produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney
- 2005 Joined the cast of FOX’s crazy-lawyers pilot; will play the estranged wife of Chris O’Donnell’s character (lensed 2005)
- Acting debut on the daytime soap opera “The Bold And The Beautiful”
- Became the “World Gym” spokesmodel while working as an aerobics instructor.
- Had a recurring role on several episodes of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”
- Was crowned Miss Texas