There have been several attempts at making a LOST-like show, and they’ve all failed. Even my current favorite, Fringe, is struggling to stay a viable commodity.

With LOST no longer on the air, it’s time to rebrand this website officially as “Thing Scott Copperman Wonders about TV” … all TV, not just LOST.

And, well…, we’ll take it from there.

Thanks for stopping by. Check back in soon.

-Scott Copperman-

I know there are people doing re-watch podcasts, but I’m not rewatching. And as much as like listening to podcasts, it’s tough for me to find a podcast that is “appointment listening” for me, where I look forward to the release of each new episode and try to clear my schedule to listen.

The Fringe Podcast is one of those podcasts that has helped fill the void.

If you are a fan of Fringe, or are even thinking of getting into the show, I suggest you check out Clint and Darrell’s site and show.

-Scott Copperman-

Either way, it was cool.

So, this most recent episode, Reciprocity, was a pretty good one. Action packed and kept me from guessing what Peter was doing until the reveal. They made it obvious he was up to something, but the writers did a nice job of keeping the reveal a surprise without pulling it out of no where.

I’ve mentioned before that Fringe tends to have the “reveals” earlier in the episode than one would expect. This episode was no exception. What was a little less satisfying was how the 5 minutes post reveal showed no major consequences.

I’ve got some thoughts on the spoiler filled (very spoiler filled) “Lightning Round” video released by Fringe, but I’m going to save them for a future post.

I will encourage you, however, if you can’t wait to check out The Fringe Podcast for some great thoughts on the show.

Keep watching this space for some thoughts on other TV shows and more about Fringe.

-Scott Copperman-

So Fringe is back. It was a decent episode. Definitely set up some storylines for the balance of Season 3 and hopefully the future.

Here are impressions/reactions going forward (no spoilers, only theory… although I will be talking about what happened IN the most recent episode)…

1) I don’t like how timid Olivia has become. I was originally going to say how “damaged,” but I can understand her being damaged. That’s not how she’s coming across. She seems almost weak as a foil to the Faux-livia we watched for many weeks. I don’t like it and it’s making her an annoying character. The possible upside, is it’s generating fan sympathy for Peter and undoing some of the anger fans were feeling toward her for not realizing who Faux-livia was.

2) I think the John Scott of the Red Universe is being kept in the writers “back pocket” as a story line they can go to when needed/ready. It’d be easy to back-introduce him by having Faux-livia correspondences from her time on our side reference him as a possible way of getting to the real Olivia. Maybe a scan of a photo, some commentary in a cross-dimesnional email, etc.,. I think they can bring him back as a weapon to be used against the Blue Universe down the line. What is not addressed still, and may not ever be, is the whole Massive Dynamics keeping of John Scott’s body and who/what he was.

3) I felt really badly for Walter this episode. The Doc Brown character, “Roscoe,” was interesting, and it was a neat way to help Walter grow… but it was still sad to watch him learn he had been responsible for these new consequences. I’m ready for Walter to be less “damaged” and start to heal. I don’t want him to become the obnoxious Walter-nate, but I’m ready for him to be less needy. Quirky is fine, infantile is not.

4) My guess… is that the “next time” the observers are referring to about Walter letting Peter die, is related to Peter using the machine. I think we will all be led to believe Peter died, but in reality he will not. The effect of this on Walter will be a multi-episode arc like Olivia’s time on the other side.

That said, I do notice that Fringe often has cliff-hanger moments mid-episode and resolves them very quickly. For example, Peter getting shot by the observer could have been a much more dramatic moment… possibly the end of the episode. But there were about 5 minutes left … and within 90 seconds of screen time he was up and about. There have been other moments of tension that are diffused quickly by the fact that the show has X minutes left and the story quickly resolves the moment. So, I’m not sure if they would do that at all. The counterexample to my observation is the Season 2 finale… where we saw Olivia trapped. That’s one of my all-time favorite season endings. Killed me all summer long.

Can’t wait ’til next week.

-Scott Copperman-

With LOST off the air and no post “new man in charge” content to wonder about, I’m going to diversify the focus of this site so that it can remain active and become much more so.

What shows will I wonder about? Well, FRINGE is one leading candidate. It’s my favorite show on TV right now. Beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of Fringe, I went through the whole Olivia in the alternate universe first half of the season expecting to see John Scott. How could John Scott not make some sort of appearance. He’s the reason our Olivia is with the Fringe Team, isn’t he?

Well, I hadn’t realized Mark Valley and Anna Torv were linked romantically off-air. And in early 2010, they divorced after a short marriage.

I’d like to think that he’d still come back to reprise his role, but I can’t say I really blame him or Anna if either would prefer not. I’m pretty sure I’d have a hard time in a similar situation.

Well, that’s what I’ve been wondering. More to come. Stay tuned, and watch for new episodes of ReThinking LOST to be released in early 2011 as well.

-Scott Copperman-

But the show goes on. Look for it to be released every 3-4 weeks for the time being.

-Scott Copperman-

There were multiple reasons for the delay – none less important than the fact that Elton and I had overfilled our ReThinking LOST file storage space on podbean and short of shelling out $100, we had to wait a few weeks for new space to become available.

Please enjoy this “old school” style look at some spoilers that the Dark UFO site decided NOT to share and be sure to keep looking for us to rethink LOST.

-Scott Copperman-

http://www.archive.org/details/ThePaulGoebelShowepisode196

(be patient, the LOST talk doesn’t really get into full force until the 16:33 mark)

Follow Paul on twitter @PaulGoebelshow or visit his site http://www.thekingoftv.com/

Enjoy

-Scott Copperman-

I KNOW!

Sorry about that. I hope it’s still relevant and worth your time.

Watch for it.

-Scott Copperman-

Wow, what a tough question. My gut instinct is “yes.” We see MIB’s body, he’s supposedly “Adam” in the cave, and it would make sense to say/think that the MIB we’ve seen since the moment above was a new entity (Smokey) taking the form of Jacob’s brother the way he took Locke’s form.

However…. however… there are multiple reasons I’d have to say “no.” Among them, the way MIB describes himself… as someone who was human once, who had is humanity taken away by Jacob…. and the way “Mother” described the fate of those who into the cave as being worse than death.

So, at this moment, before we record this week’s ReThinking LOST, I’m thinking that the Smokey monster is an altered form of MIB. His soul? Mabye. His evil parts? I don’t think so. I think the “evil” people think they see is anger and frustration. But, I think that the smoke monster is the MIB changed (because he was special, because he was blessed by Mother or maybe cursed), and that it really is him. No longer human (so maybe you could say he’s dead), but still that same identity.

-Scott Copperman-