'The Pitt', Fixed-Fee Cast Salaries

https://deadline.com/2024/11/the-pitt-cast-salaries-fixed-fee-model-tv-1236168485/

The Pitt on HBO Max

Last night I watched the first episode of The Pitt. My first impression was that this was not the type of show that interests me, but by the end of the first episode I very much wanted to see more. I think the show is a thinly disguised soap opera, but it succeeds because it makes us care about the characters.

I'm not sure about the format in which every episode represents a single hour in the shift of an ER doctor. In this respect, it is like the TV series 24, where each episode represents one hour and all 24 episodes cover a single day. In The Pitt, events are heavily compressed for storytelling purposes. Sometimes a doctor walks into an exam room, makes an assessment in 15 seconds, and then walks out again. That is hardly realistic, and the relentless pace is noticeable, but it allows the show to pack more story into its 53 minutes.

My personal experiences with emergency rooms have varied by location. In a small city or town, the ER staff were helpful and the facilities were not overcrowded. But in the heart of a large city, the ER was overcrowded and the experience was a complete nightmare. That is the kind of emergency room The Pitt is portraying.

"Maul: Shadow Lord" Episodes 5 & 6 Review & Discussion with Thor & Naboo

Severance and Pluribus

Severance and Pluribus have a few minor things in common.  They are both science fiction shows produced by Apple TV whose stories involve some sort of mind control.  They both have nine episodes in their first seasons, serial story lines, gay characters, and oddly enough, baby goats as part of the story.

Offhand, I don't find either premise believable.  Pluribus is about a world hive-mind caused by an alien virus.  Severance is about a form of corporate mind control where a person's work memories are artificially separated from their non-work memories, so people don't remember their jobs when they leave the office, and likewise they don't remember their outside lives when they are working.  Although Pluribus is very unlikely to happen, Severance makes even less sense to me, because this would be a very impractical way to manage a workforce.

Pluribus could be interpreted as a metaphor for many things, such as AI, social media, the Internet, communism, or a religious cult.  It is a very layered show.  

Severance isn't as layered and doesn't hide its religious cult references, but instead makes them very clear.  There are parallels with multiple cults, but in particular the show reminds me of Scientology.  It is also anti-corporate, as its characters work in a very sterile environment with ridiculously long white hallways that seem to go on forever.  The company treats the employees like slaves with little regard for their human rights or their sanity.  One of the side characters writes a book reminiscent of The Communist Manifesto attacking the way people have to work, so maybe the show is a satire on corporate life.  The series is portrayed as a weird kind of Hell.

Severance depends on cliffhangers at the end of each episode to keep the audience watching.  The nine episodes are one continuous story with each episode picking up where the last one left off.  This caused me to binge-watch the first season because those cliffhangers are very effective; they make you want to see what happens next.  Whereas Pluribus tells you what is happening right away, Severance keeps the audience in the dark, which is another way the show is addictive.

 Although Pluribus also has cliffhangers, the individual episodes are more self contained with stories that mostly resolve by the end of each episode.  Severance takes place in a very limited corporate environment giving the viewer a sense of confinement, but Pluribus covers enough locations to make the story feel global.

Severance is a good show, but Pluribus is better in every regard.  The acting, the story, and the cinematography are all fantastic.

Pluribus cost around $15 million per episode to make, but Severance cost around $20 million per episode.

Check out my Pluribus playlist!

Severance Season 2

I previously wrote that Pluribus and Severance are shows about different forms of mind control, but the show Severance is also a form of mind control, which works by presenting the viewer with several mysteries that don't make any sense and dragging out those mysteries as long as possible to keep people watching.  The show will occasionally give the audience an answer to a question that they are yearning to know, but add a couple of new mysteries to keep them hooked.  This works very effectively, but leaves me unsatisfied.

Severance is a science fiction soap opera.  The characters are so good that we care about what happens to them, which is another mystery that the show drags out as long as it can get away with.

Another series, The X-Files, followed a similar "mystery box" formula, keeping the audience in the dark for as long as possible, but I quickly lost patience with the show.

Compare this to another Apple TV science fiction series, Pluribus, which is so rich in detail that I watched the first four episodes four times each.  However, I can't see myself rewatching Severance, because the viewing experience is all about getting the answers to the mysteries that the show presents.  Nor do I think that Severance is a particularly rich show; season 2 is essentially a ramped up version of season 1.  Naturally, the second season ends on a cliffhanger, but it is one that is so chaotic that like the first season ending, it is hard to imagine where the show goes from here.  If season 3 repeats the same formula, I expect that the audience will get bored with it. 

I keep going back to the fact that the series really doesn't make any sense; there are so many elements of this show that are weird.  I am strongly reminded of a British 1960s science fiction TV series called "The Prisoner", which is about a retired intelligence agent imprisoned on a strange island with strange people who are also prisoners.  His captors want to know why the main character chose to leave the intelligence service, and subject him to different experiences as a form of interrogation.  The show is best described as "trippy", which especially applies to the bizarre ending.

Severance second season has a couple of episodes that feel like filler.  These drag on too long and don't serve much purpose, so they could have condensed the 10 episode season down to 8 or 9.

Of course, I will watch Season 3 when it comes out in 2027 because I want to know how the story ends, so it appears to me that I really am being mind controlled.

The Bad Batch Is Beautiful

SAM WITWER does Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford worked as a carpenter between acting jobs.  He was brought in to read lines to audition other actors for Star Wars.  He was not initially considered for Han Solo.

The Simpsons S19E09 Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind

I heard good things about this episode so I watched it.  There are a couple of outstanding moments.

I have a funny relationship with the Simpsons in that I like the characters but feel lukewarm about the episodes.

Ernest Borgnine on Joining the Navy During the Great Depression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-VrMQyMv0

When the writers give you a great line…

My Mom Was on the Original Star Trek...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JstoIBry10w

And how did you meet your best friend?

We Thought He Was A Movie Star… Now We’re All Just Hanging Out

Corresponding with Actors on Facebook

Recently I left a message with former child actor Johnny Whitaker, who is the same age as me, and I told him that I enjoyed watching him in various shows and movies as a child.  He was nice enough to respond and we talked a bit.  It turns out he has relatives who grew up close to Columbus.

Bill Mumy was a more famous actor as a child and as an adult.  He played in multiple science fiction shows both as a child and as an adult.  I left him a comment on Facebook which read....

"I just want to say thanks for making my world a little brighter. I'm a big sci-fi fan."

... which he gave a thumbs up to.  It is nice for him to give feedback.  Although this might not have been him personally, I think that it probably was.  It looks like he manages his own Facebook page, and not some publicist.

George Lucas likes to say that actors and directors are just ordinary people who happen to be good at one thing.

Can a Cherry Bomb Create a Water Fountain?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlhXoAOaMlE

The CRAZY Evolution of Animated Star Wars

Skinner Joins The Army

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgqn-ZFYVVs

Homer Finally Finds Out His Middle Name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfcMfOaISLQ

Edward Olmos

This is an interesting passage about discipline, motivation, and being the student.

Best of School House Rock Part 1

I have a nostalgic fondness for these.

"Maul: Shadow Lord" Episodes 5 & 6 Review & Discussion with Thor & Naboo

Movies: Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

I like the Kenobi mini-series better than most Star Wars Fans.  It tells part of the story of what Obi-Wan was doing between Episode III and Episode IV.  In this series, a young Princess Leia is kidnapped, and Obi-Wan is recruited to rescue her.

It is seems that LucasFilm is incapable of creating shows and movies that are logically consistent with previous Star Wars movies and shows, or they simply don't care.  However, the hardcore Star Wars fans get upset when something doesn't match up.  The show has some logical problems, but I found the rest of the mini-series very entertaining. 

Fans also complained about the character of Reva, saying that she is the main character in a show about Kenobi.  However, this isn't true.  Although Reva is a prominent secondary character, it is still Kenobi's show.

I like Ewan McGregor as Kenobi, and the guest appearance of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader.  Some fans complained that this entire series is just an excuse to see Kenobi and Vader fight again, which maybe it is, but the fight is very well done.

Rating: B

I would like to see a second season, but that may never happen given the negative reaction by some Star Was fans.

I think that Star Wars fans are hard to please.  If anything doesn't match their expectations, they will say that the entire show is bad.

Nicholas Brendon dies at 54: Cause of death revealed

I was a fan of Nicholas Brendon because he played Xander Harris on the series Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  This is a far better show than most people realize, and he played an important character.

After the series, he reportedly had trouble getting roles and struggled with alcoholism.

Nicholas Brendon Dies At 54: Cause of Death Revealed

The Buffy director and writer Joss Whedon has been brilliant in most of the shows and movies he has worked on.  However, he has fallen out of favor in Hollywood for claims of being abusive to some actors.

Robin Williams trying to do a Scene with Elmo

Harry Potter HBO Trailer (FULL BREAKDOWN)

The films were great.  Why remake them?

What Rob Reiner Told Jerry O’Connell Changed Everything!

Jerry O'Connell was in Stand By Me.  I liked him from the TV show Sliders.

Best science fiction franchises

Thor Skywalker

Not including Star Wars, what would you consider your favorite "franchise" and why?

@john2001plus

0 seconds ago

Star Trek is arguably the king of franchises, with 13 movies and 13 TV series. 

 Doctor Who has spanned over six decades. I don't like any of the older episodes, but the 2005 reboot hit its peak around 2010, giving us some fantastic stories. After that, the show slowly declined. In recent years, it has been terrible. The series hasn't been officially canceled yet, but it is barely on life support. The BBC nearly canceled it until Disney+ picked it up, but now Disney+ seems to have washed its hands of it. 

 An honorable mention should go to Stargate, which includes one barely passable movie and three TV series. Stargate SG-1 ran for ten seasons, followed by three made-for-TV movies. For years, there have been rumors of a new series or reboot. The franchise isn't dead yet, but it feels like it has done everything it can with its premise. 

 Battlestar Galactica has had four series, although the earlier ones from 1979 and 1980 are too corny by today's standards. However, the 2004 series might be the best science fiction TV show ever made. A reboot/sequel was in development at one point but was ultimately canceled.

Hugh Laurie on the biggest difference between the UK & US

Nathan Fillion Says 'Firefly' Animated Series In Development

https://deadline.com/2026/03/nathan-fillion-firefly-animated-series-development-1236754122/

Nathan Fillion plays a cop on TV

@pollycide5760
2 weeks ago 
That's an average Friday night interaction between bars for Canadians like Fillion


@grandmofftaylor
2 weeks ago
Correct

Not Another Star Trek Prequel! Star Trek: Year One

It has appeared to me that the current Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, was working toward rebooting the original Star Trek series.  The show has introduced new actors for Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty.