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	<title>TheTorchOnline.com &#187; TV</title>
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	<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:47:29 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Interview: Lucifer Has a Point, Says Mark Pellegrino, Who Played Him on SUPERNATURAL</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/interview-lucifer-has-a-point-says-mark-pellegrino-who-played-him-on-supernatural/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/interview-lucifer-has-a-point-says-mark-pellegrino-who-played-him-on-supernatural/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:45:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Interviews]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Being Human]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Mark Pellegrino]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Supernatural]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21264</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We talk to the actor who plays Lucifer on "Supernatural," Jacob on "Lost," and Bishop on "Being Human."]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Finterview-lucifer-has-a-point-says-mark-pellegrino-who-played-him-on-supernatural%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/markpellegrino2.jpg" alt="" width="282" height="400" />In person, <strong>Mark Pellegrino</strong> has both devils&#8217; horns and vampire fangs.</p>
<p>Okay, not really. But you&#8217;ll forgive me for expecting them, given how incredibly effective he&#8217;s been in his roles as Lucifer&#8217;s vessel on <strong><em>Supernatural</em></strong> and Bishop, the leader of the vampires on Syfy&#8217;s <strong><em>Being Human</em></strong> &#8212; and also the mysterious Jacob on <em><strong>Lost</strong></em>.</p>
<p>(As much as I loved him in <em>Supernatural</em>, I didn&#8217;t think the producers gave the character of Lucifer nearly enough to do last year!)</p>
<p>The 45-year-old actor has been finding steady TV and film work for years, often as thugs and other meanies (in the cult film<strong><em> The Big Lebowski</em></strong>, he was the guy who stuffs <strong>Jeff Bridge</strong>&#8217;s head down the toilet).</p>
<p>But with break-out appearances on high-profile shows like <em>Supernatura</em>l and <em>Lost</em>, and his bigger role on <em>Being Human</em>, Pellegrino&#8217;s career is currently hotter than ever.</p>
<p>Recently, I had a chance to sit down with him and chat about how he got so very good at playing bad:</p>
<p><strong>TheTorchOnline: You&#8217;re so good at playing evil. Do you worry about being typecast?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Mark Pellegrino:</strong> I don&#8217;t because I feel like I let the audience judge who&#8217;s evil, and I try to play everybody, at least so far, as good. To me, Lucifer was somebody who had a real beef. He&#8217;d been betrayed by his father and his brother for lesser beings, and was angry about it and wanted to get revenge. I think anybody could to relate to that. So to me, that&#8217;s not necessarily a bad guy. That&#8217;s a good guy who&#8217;s been betrayed, who has a sense of justice, who&#8217;s been bamboozled.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: What I absolutely loved about that Satan is that he was the one character who always told the truth. The Prince of Lies never lied!</strong></p>
<p><strong>MP:</strong> Regardless of how one religious one is, I think an amazingly coherent case can be made against God, so one needs to just tell the truth. And that&#8217;s what Lucifer did, to his credit. He was an angel of light before to the fall.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: Was this a pre-existing belief you had or did you find it for the character?</strong></p>
<p>MP: I was lucky in the sense that I&#8217;ve experimented was various beliefs all my life, so when I did that show, I had already probably read The Bible four times, studied it from a philosophical perspective. So I think my sensibility was already there. They did give me a book called <strong><em>The Book of Enoch</em></strong> [an ancient Jewish document] and I read that,but it didn&#8217;t inform me.</p>
<p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 303px"><img style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/markpellegrino1.jpg" alt="" width="293" height="420" /><p class="wp-caption-text">&quot;Being Human&quot;&#39;s Sam Witwer (left) and Pellegrino</p></div></p>
<p><strong>TTO: Any chance we&#8217;ll see Lucifer again?</strong></p>
<p>MP: Not that I know of. I think Lucifer used up that vessel. But it <em>is</em> the supernatural, so anything is possible.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: So how is being the leader of the vampires in <em>Being Human</em> the same as playing Lucifer, and how is it different?</strong></p>
<p>MP: Well, it&#8217;s the same in the sense that I have a cause. It&#8217;s a same in the sense that I&#8217;m dealing with issues of deep betrayal and a family split.</p>
<p>But rather than trying to destroy and annihilate like Lucifer did, Bishop is trying to bring the elements back together again. He&#8217;s trying to be a uniting force. So he sees a little bit further than his desire for revenge. And I think that&#8217;s motivated by a real love and connection with Aiden, the main character, that I don&#8217;t think Lucifer would&#8217;ve allowed himself.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: When you play these roles, do you find that the darkness stays with you? Is it ever difficult to shake off?</strong></p>
<p>MP: I think things like that can [stay with you]. I think that&#8217;s more an issue with younger actors. It was definitely an issue with me for a few years. But after a while, you begin to understand the difference between what you&#8217;re doing on the set and life.</p>
<p>It can infect you a little bit if the emotions that you&#8217;re feeling are negative enough. But you can tend to shake it off. You learn how to supplement yourself with other stuff.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: In your personal life, do you find that you&#8217;re drawn to these sci-fi/fantasy/horror roles?</strong></p>
<p>MP: I&#8217;ve always been a big fan of science fiction and horror. It&#8217;s been sort of an accident that I&#8217;ve stumbled into my favorite genre. I&#8217;m glad about it. I think science fiction has been a place for people to explore taboo subjects in a safe atmosphere, because it&#8217;s fantasy. So they can really push the envelope in a lot of ways.</p>
<p>And horror is just great, because really well-done horror is really the realm of the heroic. The stories are deep. I&#8217;m not a big fan of the slasher flick. I like the &#8220;story&#8221; horror &#8212; <strong><em>The Exorcist</em></strong>, the story of a man losing his faith and regaining it. And <strong><em>Rosemary&#8217;s Baby</em></strong>, things like that.</p>
<p>And I think we touch that [in <strong><em>Being Human</em></strong>], in that way of telling a real story about souls.</p>
<p><strong>TTO: When you were a kid and playing with your friends, did you play the bad guy then?</strong></p>
<p>MP: I think we all kind of switched up! We did the natural acting thing. I spent a lot of years in acting class trying to regain the things we did when we were five.</p>
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		<title>Ask the Oracle: Why Did Jane Badler REALLY Join V? How Did SPARTACUS Avoid the &#8220;Prequel Blues&#8221;?</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/ask-the-oracle-why-did-jane-badler-join-v-how-did-spartacus-avoid-the-prequel-blues/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/ask-the-oracle-why-did-jane-badler-join-v-how-did-spartacus-avoid-the-prequel-blues/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:32:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Ask the Oracle]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Jane Badler]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Scott Rosenbaum]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus: Gods of the Arena]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Steven DeKnight]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[V]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21242</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Fantasy-related questions from readers are answered.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Fask-the-oracle-why-did-jane-badler-join-v-how-did-spartacus-avoid-the-prequel-blues%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p><em>Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to <strong><a href="mailto://thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com" target="_blank">thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com</a></strong> and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.</em></p>
<p><strong>Q: I&#8217;m curious how Jane Badler, who played Diana in the original <em>V</em>, came to be involved with the <em>V</em> remake. It seems like such obvious stunt casting (although she&#8217;s terrific so far). Was it planned from the start &#8212; or did they bring her in once the ratings started to flag? &#8212; <em>MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada</em></strong></p>
<p><em>The Oracle Speaks: </em></p>
<p>Neither, according to <strong><em>V</em></strong> producer and showrunner <strong>Scott Rosenbaum</strong>. Despite some reports to the contrary, Rosenbaum tells TheTorchOnline.com that the new character of &#8220;Diana,&#8221; Anna&#8217;s mother, was conceived without <strong>Jane Badler</strong> in mind.</p>
<p><div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 330px"><img class=" " src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/threewomen.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="240" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Mother, daughter, grandmother</p></div></p>
<p>&#8220;I had this idea at the end of last season about what season two was going to be, and I thought it would be interesting to do a little back-story of the Visitors,&#8221; Rosenbaum says. &#8220;I started with Anna, and I thought, &#8216;Does she have a mother?&#8217; I spent some time figuring out who that mother was, why there was conflict between them.&#8221;</p>
<p>At this point, Rosenbaum says he still hadn&#8217;t even considered Jane Balder for the role, but that he got a message that she was in town and wanted to meet him. &#8220;But we hadn&#8217;t even started casting yet,&#8221; Rosenbaum says. &#8220;She didn&#8217;t even know there was a role.&#8221;</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t until they were actually chatting that Rosenbaum put two and two together. &#8220;She was talking about her kid in Australia, and I was completely zoning out, thinking, &#8216;She could be Diana!&#8217;&#8221;</p>
<p>Rosenbaum says Badler auditioned for the role &#8212; something <strong><a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/cult/s82/v-the-series/news/a276392/jane-badler-had-to-audition-for-v-role.html" target="_blank">Badler confirms</a>. </strong></p>
<p>&#8220;There were sixty or seventy very well-known actors who auditioned for that role,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I was shocked by the names that came in. I didn&#8217;t think we&#8217;d have such a pool of recognizable actors &#8212; some who&#8217;d had B+ TV roles. But I chose [Jane] because she was the best. I didn&#8217;t do it at all because she was from the original.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rosenbaum acknowledges that it turned out to be something of a publicity coup for the show.  &#8220;But I didn&#8217;t do it because I thought the fans would be excited,&#8221; he says. &#8220;The thing is, they could&#8217;ve reacted the opposite way. You have to just pick the best person.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rosenbaum&#8217;s story strains credibility a bit &#8212; I&#8217;m assuming the character wasn&#8217;t really named &#8220;Diana&#8221; from the beginning &#8212; but he seemed sincere to me. And he did take over as showrunner partway through the first season, so it&#8217;s possible that previous producers were working on casting Jane as well, and Rosenbaum simply wasn&#8217;t aware.</p>
<p>Incidentally, why did Rosenbaum decide to make the next series story-arc about three women &#8212; <strong>Anna, Diana, and Lisa</strong> &#8212; in conflict?</p>
<p>&#8220;I felt like there needed to be more pressure on Anna,&#8221; Rosenbaum says. &#8220;And there&#8217;s an expression I heard years ago that stuck with me. The reason why grandparents and grandchildren get along is because they share a common enemy: the mother! That&#8217;s all you need to know about this three-women dynamic.&#8221;</p>
<p><img class="alignleft" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/godslucyjohn.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="279" /><strong>Q: I agree with y<a href="http://thetorchonline.com/latest/spartacus-episode-review-pre-1-on-being-thrust-back-into-the-past/" target="_blank">our opinion</a> that prequels are really, really hard to pull off (e.g. <em>Star Wars</em>). So is <em>Spartacus</em> going to do it? How? &#8212; <em>E.J., Lake Hope, OH</em><br />
</strong></p>
<p><em>The Oracle Speaks:</em><strong><br />
</strong><br />
I&#8217;ve only seen the first episode, so I can&#8217;t say <em>how </em>they&#8217;ll do it. But the <a href="http://thetorchonline.com/latest/we-cut-out-all-the-boring-parts-say-the-producers-of-spartacus-gods-of-the-arena/" target="_blank"><strong>producers have talked about</strong></a> what they learned from the first season, acknowledging that their storytelling grew stronger as the season went on. Maybe it&#8217;s just spin, but what they say is so in sync with how I perceived the first season to be that they&#8217;ve convinced me that they really do know what they&#8217;re doing.</p>
<p>&#8220;From the first episode on, we ratchet up  the tension and the stakes,&#8221; writer-producer <strong>Steven DeKnight</strong> tells us in an exclusive interview. &#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of<span> </span>things that  happen in the prequel that inform season one. You don’t have to have  seen season one to know what happens, but in true <strong><em>Spartacus</em></strong> fashion, a  lot of characters won’t see in the end of the prequel.&#8221;</p>
<p>What does DeKnight think of the finished product?</p>
<p>&#8220;Honestly, it turned out better than I had ever hoped,&#8221; he says. &#8220;We really got a chance to go back and flesh out so many of the  characters and tell a story that I don’t think we ever would’ve ever  been able to tell otherwise.&#8221;</p>
<p>In fact, DeKnight says that the existence of the first season, the events of which still lie ahead in the time-line, gave them the major theme of the prequel.</p>
<p>&#8220;Your actions will decide your fate,&#8221; he says. &#8220;It’s  something that <strong>Batiatus</strong>’s father will warn him of, and we draw directly  between what happens in the prequel and where it leads him in season  one.&#8221;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><em>Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to <a href="mailto://thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com" target="_blank">thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com</a> and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><strong><em>Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)?<strong> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AUHOM?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=brentsbrain-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B0000AUHOM">Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.</a></strong><img style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=brentsbrain-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0000AUHOM" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></em></strong></strong></p>
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		<title>Facebook Recap: MERLIN 3.03 &#8220;Goblin&#8217;s Gold&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-303-goblins-gold/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-303-goblins-gold/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:17:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Heather Hogan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[In our latest "Facebook recap" (told via the characters' Facebook postings), Gaius is possessed, Arthur is an ass, and Sir Leon speaks! ]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><strong><em>Follow us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheTorchOnlinecom/257371105879" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/TheTorchOnline" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. </em></strong></strong></p>
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		<title>SPARTACUS Episode Review (Pre-1): On Being Thrust Back Into the Past</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/spartacus-episode-review-pre-1-on-being-thrust-back-into-the-past/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:20:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

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		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus: Gods of the Arena]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I'll be the first to say it: I think parts of "Spartacus" are actually very subtle.]]></description>
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Four Torches (Out of Five)</strong></p>
<p><em>Warning: This review contains minor spoilers for the &#8220;Past Transgressions&#8221; episode of </em>Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.</p>
<p>The wait is over!<strong> <em>Spartacus</em></strong> is back, for the six-episode &#8220;prequel&#8221; series <em><strong>Spartacus: Gods of the Arena</strong></em> at least.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll offer my bias up front: in general, I think prequels are a terrible idea, or at least they&#8217;re very difficult to pull off. We all know how the story ends and we all <em>think</em> we know how we get there, so the trick is to take us to that ending, but in such a way that we&#8217;re completely surprised &#8212; so much so that we have a whole new insight on the the established events that follow, giving them a completely new relevance.</p>
<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/godslucyjohn.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="279" />Needless to say, <strong>George Lucas</strong> didn&#8217;t do this at all in his <strong><em>Star Wars</em></strong> prequels. He showed us exactly what we expected, nothing more (and maybe even less).</p>
<p>Will the producers of <em>Spartacus: Gods of the Arena</em> pull their prequel off?</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve seen the first episode and &#8230; so far, so good.</p>
<p>The episode begins with a montage of some of the most pivotal (and literally, the most violent) moments in <em>Spartacus: Blood and Sand</em>, culminating with the death of Batiatus. In other words, his life is passing before his eyes.</p>
<p>But in his dying breath, we see a glint in his eyes, and we&#8217;re transported back five years into the past.</p>
<p>We soon join many of our favorite characters<strong>: Lucretia, Batiatus, Doctore, Crixus, Ashur, Barca, Naevia.</strong> But they&#8217;re definitely not the characters we remember. They obviously haven&#8217;t <em>become </em>those characters yet &#8212; Lucretia, for example, says, &#8220;I&#8217;ve never been with any man but my husband&#8221; and that the idea of sex with a gladiator is &#8220;disgusting.&#8221;</p>
<p>Expect them all to change a lot in the weeks and months ahead. But Batiatus, of course, is the one character who won&#8217;t change at all: he&#8217;s his exact same arrogant, insecure, morally cowardly self.</p>
<p><strong></strong>We also meet some new characters, including <strong><em>Gaia</em></strong> (<strong><em>Dexter</em>&#8217;s Jaime Murray</strong>), rising gladiator-star <strong>Gannicus </strong>(<strong>Dustin Clare</strong>), who is the character the action of the prequel mostly centers around.</p>
<p>One thing seems different from <strong><em>Blood and Sand</em></strong>: it&#8217;s even more graphic.</p>
<p>I know: it doesn&#8217;t seem like that&#8217;s possible, does it? But it is. Of course, the graphic nature doesn&#8217;t just have to do with violence (and sex). There&#8217;s a scene in a Roman toilet that I can only assume is fact-based, and it&#8217;s both shocking and really interesting. And the melding of sex and violence here is even more pronounced than before.</p>
<p>My only real problem with this first episode is that it gets a little talky at times: there&#8217;s a lot of exposition. The episode also doesn&#8217;t do the best job of setting up the overall conflict of the series &#8212; things are hinted at, but nothing is quite clear.</p>
<p>Then again, as with <em>Blood and Sand,</em> it could be that they&#8217;re taking a more subtle approach.</p>
<p>Yes, I said it: I think the writers of <em>Spartacus </em>are &#8220;subtle.&#8221; Okay, maybe not with the sex and violence, and the themes are larger than life too, almost Shakespearean. But the other storytelling elements are always surprisingly character-driven and nicely nuanced.</p>
<p>The point is, <em>Spartacus</em> is back, and at least based on my viewing of the first episode, if you liked the last season, I&#8217;m almost certain you&#8217;ll like this prequel season too.</p>
<p><em></em></p>
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		<title>&#8220;We Cut Out All the Boring Parts,&#8221; Say the Producers of SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/we-cut-out-all-the-boring-parts-say-the-producers-of-spartacus-gods-of-the-arena/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:19:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
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		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus: Gods of the Arena]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Steven DeKnight]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Lucy Lawless and the producers of the new six-episode "Spartacus" prequel talk about what we can expect.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Fwe-cut-out-all-the-boring-parts-say-the-producers-of-spartacus-gods-of-the-arena%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/godsofarena.jpg" alt="" width="303" height="298" />Five years.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the amount of time that the new six-episode <strong><em>Spartacus</em></strong> &#8220;prequel&#8221; goes back, in order to tell the story of what happened <em>before</em> Spartacus arrived at <strong>Batiatus&#8217;</strong> ludus.</p>
<p><strong><em>Spartacus: Gods of the Arena</em></strong> premieres this Friday at 10 PM on Starz.</p>
<p>At a presentation last week at the <strong>Television Critics Association conference</strong> in Pasadena, the producers and stars of the show talked about the production, which was originally planned to give star <strong>Andy Whitfield </strong>time for cancer treatments (he did not respond well, and <strong><a href="http://thetorchonline.com/latest/australian-actor-liam-mcintyre-chosen-as-new-spartacus/" target="_blank">the part was subsequently recast</a></strong> for season two).</p>
<p>&#8220;We basically cut out all the boring parts,&#8221; executive producer <strong>Steven DeKnight</strong> said, describing how they were able to tell a <em>Spartacus</em>-worthy story in a mere six episodes. &#8220;We hit the ground running.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeKnight admited that the first season of the show was rocky at first, but that those mistakes helped them this time around.</p>
<p>&#8220;When we started off [in season one], you know, we went straight to thirteen episodes with no pilot,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So it was a lot of research and development on the job &#8230; And if you look at the first episode of season one and the last episode of season one, you see how far we have come. It was a little bit of everything and the kitchen sink at first.  It was just a learning process.  And after a couple of episodes, we really found what worked and what didn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right when <em>Spartacus</em> really gelled in season one, we were able to start right there from the first episode of the prequel,&#8221; DeKnight said.</p>
<p>The prequel tells the story of a new gladiator, <strong>Gannicus</strong>, played by <strong>Dustin Clare</strong>, and the way in which he helps Batiatus first make a name for himself.</p>
<p>Many characters from the first season appear, including Batiatus&#8217; wife <strong>Lucretia</strong> (<strong>Lucy Lawless</strong>), <strong>Barca</strong>,<strong> Ashur</strong>, <strong>Naevia</strong>, and <strong>Peter Mensah</strong>&#8217;s <strong>Oenomaus</strong>, but in surprisingly different versions of themselves (Oenomaus is not yet <strong>Doctore</strong>, for example).</p>
<p>The prequel tells the story of how they came to be the people they are in the first season, for good or ill.</p>
<p><div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 331px"><img style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/gaialucretia.jpg" alt="" width="321" height="296" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Lawless (left) and Jamie Murray as Gaia</p></div></p>
<p>Asked if she liked playing a character younger than herself, Lucy Lawless said, &#8220;I love it!&#8221;</p>
<p>Whether it was difficult, Lawless said, &#8220;It was a rare pleasure actually.  That never happens, where you get to go back and fill in blanks and actually find out more about your own character.  It was a huge thrill for me.  And you get to see our characters when they are in the honeymoon phase of their lives.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;That was the honeymoon?&#8221; <strong>John Hannah,</strong> who plays Batiatus, deadpanned.</p>
<p>&#8220;That was it,&#8221; Lawless said. &#8220;That was all you get.  Hey, come on.  It was all right for you.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lawless also said that the actors&#8217; performances were &#8220;youthened&#8221; in editing. &#8220;They fix us in post,&#8221; she said. &#8220;That&#8217;s not a lie. But my character certainly was a bit more sort of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before her rotten college mate came back and taught her all these bad tricks, played by <strong>Jaime Murray</strong> who plays <strong>Gaia</strong>.  But my character did not abuse the servants in the beginning, and she was devoted to her husband.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeKnight promised that the special effects are even better than season one.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s some deaths that are so incredible, you just have to rewind to watch again because you can&#8217;t believe what you just saw,&#8221; he said. &#8220;[Co-creator] Rob [Tapert] and his team have definitely managed to up the ante.  And I was stunned by how great some of this stuff looks.&#8221;</p>
<p>Did the events of the prequel change any of the events of season two, which was basically written when Whitfield was diagnosed with cancer?</p>
<p>&#8220;It was a very unfortunate circumstance,&#8221; DeKnight said. &#8220;But story-wise, the story [of the second season still is] basically what the story was.&#8221;</p>
<p>The actors and producers also responded to questions about whether the charactes of Batiatus and Lucretia will return in season two.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was just a flesh wound,&#8221; quipped Lawless of Batiatus&#8217; obviously fatal injuries, prompting John Hannah to joke, &#8220;I believe that Batiatus does actually have a twin brother who we get to meet later on.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lawless, meanwhile, confirmed that she will return in season two</p>
<p><em>The six-episode prequel series</em> Spartacus: Gods of the Arena <em>begins this Friday at 10 PM on Starz.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><strong><em>Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)?<strong> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AUHOM?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=brentsbrain-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B0000AUHOM">Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.</a></strong><img style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=brentsbrain-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0000AUHOM" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></em></strong></strong></p>
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<p><strong><strong><em></em></strong></strong></p>
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		<title>Australian Actor Liam McIntyre Chosen as New Spartacus</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/australian-actor-liam-mcintyre-chosen-as-new-spartacus/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/australian-actor-liam-mcintyre-chosen-as-new-spartacus/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:27:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Liam McIntyre]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21191</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The producers of "Spartacus" have chosen an actor to replace the ailing Andy Whitfield: a fellow Australian who, like Whitfield, has few American credits.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Faustralian-actor-liam-mcintyre-chosen-as-new-spartacus%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p><strong><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/6a00d8341c630a53ef0147e1ada9e8970b-800wi.jpg" alt="" width="126" height="179" />Liam McIntyre</strong>, who had long been rumored to be one of the leading contenders to replace the ailing <strong>Andy Whitfield</strong> as the lead in Starz&#8217; <strong><em>Spartacus </em></strong>TV series, has been officially given the part.</p>
<p>Like Whitfield, who he vaguely resembles, McIntyre is an Australian and mostly unknown to American audiences. His most prominent credit may be  a role in the TV mini-series <strong><em>The Pacific</em></strong>.</p>
<p>McIntyre has reportedly been in intense training for the role for weeks now, an indication that the decision was made some time ago, media reports to the contrary notwithstanding.</p>
<p><em></em></p>
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		<title>Review: Syfy&#8217;s BEING HUMAN Just Might Be Better Than the Original</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/review-syfys-being-human-just-might-be-better-than-the-original/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/review-syfys-being-human-just-might-be-better-than-the-original/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:56:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Being Human]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Syfy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The new Syfy show is a "reimagining" in the best sense: it's broader and more accessible than the original, but no less smart.]]></description>
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<strong>Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)</strong></p>
<p>I realize I might take some heat for this, but &#8230; I&#8217;m thinking that Syfy&#8217;s new remake of the UK show <strong><em>Being Human</em></strong> is better than the original.</p>
<p>I know, I know: anyone who reads this site regularly knows how down I am on the fact that so much coming out of Hollywood these days is either a remake,  a sequel, or a &#8220;reimagining.&#8221; Let&#8217;s have some original thinking, please!</p>
<p>But maybe the reason I think a US remake of<em> Being Human</em> isn&#8217;t such a terrible idea is that I also think the original wasn&#8217;t wholly successful to begin with.</p>
<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/mv5bmtu1mjy0ndu0n15bml5banbnxkftztcwnjq5mtcyna__v1__sx459_sy600_.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="360" />Yes, I appreciated that they were willing to go &#8220;dark&#8221; (and blend &#8220;dark&#8221; and &#8220;funny&#8221; in interesting ways), and the cast was certainly appealing.</p>
<p>But the pacing was sometimes off in the original (a lot); I thought Annie was a crazy-sexist stereotype (at least at first); and I am so beyond-tired of &#8220;good&#8221; vampires struggling against their natures &#8212; not to mention wars between vampires, or between vampires and werewolves.</p>
<p>Syfy&#8217;s <em>Being Human</em> keeps the tired vampire elements, but the storytelling is simply stronger and more consistent here. And the character of Annie doesn&#8217;t take a whole season to stop being a whiny, passive stereotype &#8212; she&#8217;s confident and active right from the start (despite being a ghost with agoraphobia issues).</p>
<p>Weirdly, this actually turns out to be the perfect show for Syfy. It&#8217;s got that great &#8220;high-concept&#8221; premise to attract attention (a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf get an apartment together&#8230;). It&#8217;s also basically a one-location (the apartment), one-town, small-cast show &#8212; and it&#8217;s special effects-light &#8212; all of which means it can be produced at least semi-cheaply, but it doesn&#8217;t have to <em>look</em> cheap (like, um, the more &#8220;epic&#8221; <strong><em>Warehouse 13,</em></strong> with its incredibly cheesy &#8220;warehouse&#8221; effects and ridiculous &#8220;foreign&#8221; locations).</p>
<p>Syfy made the first three episodes of this new show available for preview by critics, and I was surprised how different it was from the original. I found it interesting that they took plot-elements  that they thought worked (the mystery involving Annie&#8217;s death, the big brother-little brother rapport between the werewolf &#8212; &#8220;Josh&#8221; here &#8212; and the vampire Aiden), and they completely jettisoned the stuff that doesn&#8217;t work (like Annie&#8217;s passiveness). In addition, Josh&#8217;s backstory seems stronger and more fleshed out, and the mechanics of the Annie&#8217;s afterlife are spelled out and grounded more quickly too.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also worth noting that can&#8217;t do much better than <strong>Mark Pellegrino</strong> (&#8221;Lucifer&#8221; on <strong><em>Supernatural</em></strong>) as the Vampire Ringleader.</p>
<p>Will Syfy&#8217;s<em> Being Human</em> be as &#8220;dark&#8221; as the UK version? At a panel last week at the Television Critics Association, the producers <strong><a href="http://thetorchonline.com/latest/syfys-being-human-pays-homage-to-the-uk-version-but-doesnt-imitate-it/">went to great lengths to emphasize</a></strong> that it will.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not so sure (but I&#8217;m also not so sure it matters). Sure, they may include some of the UK version&#8217;s particularly provocative plot-elements. But this is simply a different show &#8212; no less smart, but broader, more &#8220;mainstream,&#8221; and also more accessible. It&#8217;s a &#8220;reimagining&#8221; in a very real way &#8212; but in the good sense of the word.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not trying to start an argument with any fans of Syfy&#8217;s current and past programming. But with the notable exception of<strong><em> Battlestar Galactica</em></strong>, I think the channel&#8217;s programming so far has been mostly sub-par (I&#8217;m still holding a major grudge for the apparently script-free <strong><em>Haven</em></strong>!).</p>
<p><em>Being Human</em> is something different. This time, no allowances are necessary to see fantasy programming on television &#8212; this one plays in the big leagues.</p>
<p>Being Human<em> premieres Monday, January, 17th at 9 PM.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em><strong><em><strong><strong><em>Follow us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheTorchOnlinecom/257371105879" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/TheTorchOnline" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. </em></strong></strong></em></strong></em></p>
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		<title>Facebook Recap: MERLIN 3.02 “The Tears Of Uther Pendragon Part 2″</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-302-%e2%80%9cthe-tears-of-uther-pendragon-part-2%e2%80%b3/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-302-%e2%80%9cthe-tears-of-uther-pendragon-part-2%e2%80%b3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Heather Hogan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[facebook recaps]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Merlin]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=19087</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In our latest recap via Facebook postings, Merlin rides a dragon, Morgana summons an undead army, and Arthur swears an oath to never wear his shirt again. ]]></description>
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<p><strong>Heather Hogan is a freelance writer from Atlanta, GA. Follow her on <a href="http://twitter.com/hhoagie">Twitter</a> or check her out at <a href="http://theheatherhogan.com/">theheatherhogan.com</a>.</strong></p>
<p><em></em></p>
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		<title>Facebook Recap: MERLIN 3.01 &#8220;The Tears Of Uther Pendragon Part 1&#8243;</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-301-the-tears-of-uther-pendragon-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/facebook-recap-merlin-301-the-tears-of-uther-pendragon-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:58:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Heather Hogan</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[facebook recaps]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Merlin]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[It's the return of our "Merlin" Facebook recaps (recaps via Facebook postings)! This week: Team Dollop Head vs. Team Evil in the series three premiere! ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Ffacebook-recap-merlin-301-the-tears-of-uther-pendragon-part-1%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p><img class="alignleft" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/merlin-fb-3-1b.png" alt="" width="500" height="1005" /><img class="alignnone" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/merlin-fb-3-1.png" alt="" width="500" height="1002" /></p>
<p><strong>Heather Hogan is a freelance writer from Atlanta, GA. Follow her on <a href="http://twitter.com/hhoagie">Twitter</a> or check her out at <a href="http://theheatherhogan.com/">theheatherhogan.com</a>.</strong></p>
<p><em></em></p>
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		<title>Syfy&#8217;s BEING HUMAN Pays Homage to the UK Version (But Doesn&#8217;t Imitate It)</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/syfys-being-human-pays-homage-to-the-uk-version-but-doesnt-imitate-it/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/syfys-being-human-pays-homage-to-the-uk-version-but-doesnt-imitate-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Anna Fricke]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Being Human]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Meaghan Rath]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Sam Huntington]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Sam Witwer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21137</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The cast and producers of "Being Human" try to make the case for a US remake.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Fsyfys-being-human-pays-homage-to-the-uk-version-but-doesnt-imitate-it%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p>At a presentation at the <strong>Television Critics Association</strong> conference in Pasadena today, the cast and producers of Syfy&#8217;s new show <strong><em>Being Human</em></strong>, about a vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf living together, praised the original UK version, but then argued that their remake is both different and worthwhile.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was about embracing what the original had, which we loved,&#8221; said <strong>Mark Stern,</strong> the President of Original Programming at Syfy. &#8220;But I think there&#8217;s a great opportunity to explore more of that world, which we&#8217;ve done. We had thirteen episodes [in our first season], they had six.&#8221;</p>
<p><div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 350px"><img style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/being-human-syfy-375x200.jpg" alt="" width="340" height="454" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Sam Huntington, Meaghan Rath, Sam Witwer</p></div></p>
<p>Both shows deserve to exist, Stern said. &#8220;There is a certain amount of [similar] ground that needs to be covered in the beginning. But the deeper into the series, the more they diverge. Watching the British series won&#8217;t spoil this series. They really do complement each other.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great premise,&#8221; said executive producer <strong>Jeremy Carver</strong>. &#8220;We [do] follow a similar trajectory at first. As a fan of the BBC version, we took great delight that we could confront some of these same moments, but then said to ourselves, &#8216;What if we did this differently?&#8217; You&#8217;ll see moments that you think you recognize, but we take it in a different direction.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;There are cultural differences,&#8221; added <strong>Sam Witwer</strong>, who plays the vampire. &#8220;Culturally, this is a North American version that deserves to be told.&#8221;</p>
<p>Seeing the actors was disconcerting, because they all look and sound more than a little like their UK counterparts.</p>
<p>Even so, the cast and producers all claim not to have watched much of the BBC version.</p>
<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t really seen it,&#8221; said Witwer. &#8220;I saw the first episode.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen a couple of episodes,&#8221; said <strong>Sam Huntington</strong>, who plays the werewolf. &#8220;I was unaware of the BBC series until I was up for the job. Then I read the first two episodes [of our version], and they were beautiful.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We actually made a point of not watching the second season,&#8221; said executive producer <strong>Anna Fricke</strong>. &#8220;Because were mapping out our season and didn&#8217;t want to be influenced.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t want to just mimic them,&#8221; said Witwer. &#8220;Hopefully, if we&#8217;re successful, we&#8217;ll bring to them a bigger audience than they have now. They deserve that.&#8221;</p>
<p>The show is much more than its fantasy elements, the producers said.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has those supernatural elements, but if you took that all that away, it would still work, because it has these [great] characters,&#8221; Fricke said.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the core of every story, what all these charaacters struggle with, is what all of us take for granted,&#8221; said Carver.</p>
<p>The producers also promised that the US version would be as dark and provocative as the UK version has been.</p>
<p>&#8220;What we loved about the original series is that is it dark, it does push the envelope, and we want to do the same thing,&#8221; Fricke said.</p>
<p><strong>Being Human</strong> <em><strong>premieres January 17th on Syfy.<br />
</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em><strong><em><strong><strong><em>Follow us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheTorchOnlinecom/257371105879" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/TheTorchOnline" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. </em></strong></strong></em></strong></em></p>
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		<title>Fox Network Insists It&#8217;s Committed to FRINGE Despite Move to Fridays</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/fox-network-insists-its-committed-to-fringe-despite-move-to-fridays/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/fox-network-insists-its-committed-to-fringe-despite-move-to-fridays/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:40:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Fringe]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Reilly]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At a gathering a TV critics yesterday, the president of Fox detailed exactly what "Fringe" needs to do to survive.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Ffox-network-insists-its-committed-to-fringe-despite-move-to-fridays%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p>At the<strong> Television Critics Association</strong> conference in Pasadena yesterday, Fox Entertainment President <strong>Kevin Reilly</strong> insisted that the network remains strongly committed to <em><strong>Fringe</strong></em>, despite the fact the poorly-rated show has been moved to a Friday night time-slot where shows often struggle to command large audiences.</p>
<p>&#8220;I beg you to not write the [show's] eulogy prematurely,&#8221; Reilly told the critics. &#8220;It’s a show we’re very passionate about.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reilly argued that the move to Friday does not indicate a lack of faith in the show: on the contrary, he spelled out a case that it&#8217;s a pretty good fit for the night.</p>
<p>&#8220;Friday has been a troubled night,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It’s not a free night for us. It’s not a night we can just sort of hang out a &#8216;gone fishin’ sign. We are continually looking for the solution to the night.&#8221;</p>
<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/041-fringe-ep309_sc12_022_352.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="246" />Many of <em>Fringe</em>&#8217;s existing viewers already watch it via time-shifting (which is the term for programming not watched &#8220;live,&#8221; but via DVR, Tivo, or some other recording device). In other words, viewers don&#8217;t necessarily need to be home Friday night to watch the show.</p>
<p>&#8220;You already get about fifty percent of [<em>Fringe'</em>s] audience watching it on<br />
DVR, as it is, on Thursday,&#8221; Reilly said. &#8220;I’d really hope those fans would stick with it, even if it means that DVR usage goes up a little bit more on Friday.&#8221;</p>
<p>In arguing that the network is still strongly committed to the show, Reilly noted the critical praise the show has received this season.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was very happy to see it turn up on a number of Top 10 lists this year,&#8221; he said. The producers of the show &#8220;deserve it. The work is outstanding. They make a mini-movie every week. The production value is incredible.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reilly also insisted that there are currently no plans to change the show, trying to make it appealing to a broader audience.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are going to do the same show, and they are already on a track for the season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They can’t make any changes to it. I think, if anything, they will be really liberated. Right now we are down to a core loyal audience that watches it each weekend.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reilly added, &#8220;I think, frankly, one of the conundrums of it is, as it’s really gotten to be more pure and a better version, kind of what I think it was destined to be, it’s probably a little bit difficult to join it in progress for some of the new viewers on Thursday. I think now they can say, &#8216;Do you know what? We are playing to our fans, happy to take anyone new that wants to get on board.&#8217; But if our fans stick with us, you know, the show can stay on the air for many years.&#8221;</p>
<p>As for the show&#8217;s struggle in the ratings on Thursday nights, Reilly said, &#8220;It’s been the most challenging night — a four-way scripted race at nine o’clock on Thursdays. There is no other time period that’s even had that. [<em>Fringe</em> has] done a job for us. It put us in business on Thursday night. With the new structure, we are looking to go a little bit broader with the rating. I want every one of those audience members to transfer to Friday.&#8221;</p>
<p>Regarding the ratings the network hopes to achieve on Friday, which might be an early indication of the show&#8217;s eventual fate, Reilly said, &#8220;If we just literally transfer the rating we have, you know, even in that ballpark to Friday, we have significantly upgraded our Friday night both in terms of numbers and quality.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important to keep in mind that a network would never declare in public that they&#8217;ve given up on a show still in production. Earlier this year, for example, SyFy publicly claimed to be strongly committed to <em><strong>Caprica</strong></em>, despite reports now that behind-the-scenes, the channel had mostly already given up on the show.</p>
<p>That said, Reilly sounded genuinely sincere in his support for <em>Fringe</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s a fantastic show,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and honestly, I’d be heartbroken if it went away.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fringe<em> returns Friday, January 21st at 9 PM.</em></p>
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		<title>Casting Update on SPARTACUS Season 2: &#8220;We&#8217;ve Been Seeing a Thousand Actors&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/casting-update-on-spartacus-season-2-weve-been-seeing-a-thousand-actors/</link>
		<comments>http://thetorchonline.com/latest/casting-update-on-spartacus-season-2-weve-been-seeing-a-thousand-actors/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:06:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brent Hartinger, Editor</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Spartacus]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Steven DeKnight]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thetorchonline.com/?p=21082</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Exclusive: the co-creator of "Spartacus" gives a status update on the recasting of the title character, which is still not complete.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthetorchonline.com%2Flatest%2Fcasting-update-on-spartacus-season-2-weve-been-seeing-a-thousand-actors%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:30px;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><p>When <strong>Andy Whitfield</strong>, who played the title character in Starz&#8217; <strong><em>Spartacus: Blood and Sand</em></strong>, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2010, the producers and cable channel responded by giving the actor time to recover: they commissioned a six-episode &#8220;prequel&#8221; series, which airs later this month, with a different lead.</p>
<p>But Whitfield did not respond well to initial treatment and subsequently had to bow out of the part completely.</p>
<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/spartacuscastinginside.jpg" alt="" width="328" height="329" />Last week, Starz officially announced that the series would have a second season, but the producers have been saying for months that a re-casting was in the works. <strong><a href="http://thetorchonline.com/latest/three-actors-vying-for-spartacus-lead-will-battle-to-the-death-in-new-zealand-stadium/" target="_blank">Deadline reported</a></strong> in November that three actors had been flown to New Zealand to screen-test, but none ended up getting the part, according to the website.</p>
<p>So how is casting going?</p>
<p>Still no decision has been made, which means they&#8217;re cutting it rather close, since shooting is tentatively scheduled to begin in April, and if they follow the procedure of the first season and prequel, the actor will require at least a month of training beforehand to get in shape.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’ve been seeing a thousand actors,&#8221; says the show&#8217;s producer (and co-creator) <strong>Steven DeKnight </strong>in an exclusive interview last Friday. &#8220;It’s such a difficult part. We had such a hard time casting it in the first place. And Andy was a roll of the dice – a risk, taking a relatively unknown and making him the star of the show. And he gave a phenomenal performance.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nobody can take Andy’s place, DeKnight says. &#8220;That’s a given. But finding someone who can carry the show forward, that’s very, very difficult. You’ll find someone who looks right, but doesn’t have the sympathy, or you find someone who has the sympathy, but doesn’t have the body. It’s a very tall order. We’ve got some people that we’re very, very interested in &#8212; that are strong, strong possibilities, fantastic actors, they look fantastic. But this is kind of unprecedented where you’re going on with a show and you lose the lead.&#8221;</p>
<p>When asked for specific names, DeKnight demures: &#8220;They’d kill me.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s a very difficult decision, and we want to make sure we make the right decision,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>How many episodes are they planning in season two?</p>
<p>&#8220;Anywhere from ten to thirteen episodes,&#8221; DeKnight says. &#8220;It might be slightly less than thirteen, because season two is so much more expensive than season one. It becomes an epic show. The stories we’re planning are gigantic. Without losing the emotional anchor, there’s a lot of big stuff going on once the rebellion breaks out.&#8221;</p>
<p>As to where the season will take place geographically, &#8220;We will definitely move outside the city of Capua,&#8221; he says. &#8220;We’ll be Capua-adjacent<span> </span>for season two, then we’ll go farther and farther from Capua to follow history. [The historical figure] <strong>Crassus</strong> [an historical figure charged with ending the Spartacus-inspired slave rebellion] will probably pop up in season two. We talked about adding <strong>Veronus</strong>, who is one of the guys who goes after Spartacus, and other guys from history.&#8221;</p>
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