Bionic Woman Premiere

So I got to watch the premiere of Bionic Woman Thursday (I was at work Wednesday night and missed it) and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. The scifi worked for me, the plot worked for me, and I like the setup for the season.

Now, what did it get right?

• Michelle Ryan, who plays the Bionic Woman, is attractive and isn't too bad of an actress either. It probably helps that she's British. I think one of her strong points is her ability to control her facial expressions. The way she blinks, the way she moves her eyes, seemed important in the first episode, and I thought she did well.
• Katee Sackhoff, Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica fame, plays an original bionic woman who kind of went nuts. She attacks our hero, not really knowing why she is doing it. So there's potential there for conflict and shifting alliances.
• It also doesn't hurt that Sackhoff has a fan following already, and with BSG going off the air soon, a large part of that audience may transfer to this show.
• Jaime Sommers has a sister she takes care of. Unlike the original, this sister certainly isn't deaf, but she does have issues and Jaime has to be a mother, sister, caretaker, and now superhero.
• Miguel Ferrer (Crossing Jordan) rounds out the cast as the head of the company that creates the Bionic Woman. So, they surrounded our hero with a good cast.

What did the show get wrong? Well, in this episode, not much. We see Jaime, who is a bartender that takes care of her younger sister, has a boyfriend who wants to marry her, and learns that she's pregnant. Boyfriend takes her to dinner, and on the way home their car is hit y a semi. Jaime loses her right eye, right arm, and both legs. In addition to her new hardware she is injected with a sort of super-blood cell (I forget the name) that helps her heal faster (think Wolverine). She also loses her baby. This isn't really addressed for the rest of the episode, and the show may just forget that she was pregnant, but I'd like to see the hardship of losing her child come back at some point. The show promised that it would be about a real woman facing real world problems as much as a superhero show, so I'd like to see those things explored as well.

As for the ratings, Bionic had NBC's strongest Wednesday ratings in the 18-49 demographic since The West Wing in 1999. According to scifi.com, Bionic "was also the TV seasons best drama debut in the demographic to date."

So, will Bionic Woman make it? Well, it's off to a good start. But Studio 60 started well last year and then just tanked. But I think it will do well as long as it doesn't degrade into some silly 'chick fights bad guys' show. Keep her real and respectable and I think it will do fine.

I'm number three!

If you search 'Matthew Ware' on Yahoo, this blog comes up as the number three result. I just have to say 'woohoo'. Now that I'm internet famous I should do what any other web personality would do: shamelessly self-promote!

Or, just move on and keep working, cuz you actually have to have someone search your name for them to find it.

New Job

I put in my notice last Friday at my current job, St Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. I got a new job at Children's Mercy Hospital's Northland campus. I'm really excited about this job. The changes I will run into is that it's not an emergency room, it's not a trauma center, I won't have to deal with drunks or homeless people. The perks are that I'm dealing with kids that aren't mortally wounded. These are just children that are sick and need a doctor.

I'll be doing the same work, patient registration, but in a friendlier environment. I always like the kids that I see in our ER. They're funny, they're good sports, and when they cry you know it's because they're really hurting.

So, starting October 8th, I'll be a Children's Mercy employee. I think this is a good move.

Stardust (the movie)

The wife and I (and my sister) went to see Stardust Friday night. I had wanted to see it for a while, but with my work, my wife's school, and our baby, it just slipped through. But our movie-savvy friend told us we just HAD to see it. So we did.

Let me tell you, this is a great movie. It's based on Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel of the same name. And let me tell you, so few fantasy novels translate as well to screen as this one did. It probably helped that Gaiman was a producer.

Just to get started, let's look at the cast: Claire Danes (who I've thought was hot since her "My So-Called Life" days; Michelle Pfeiffer, who turns fifty next year and still looks amazing; Sienna Miller; Peter O'Toole; Robert DeNiro, in a hilarious role that he wouldn't have been able to do twenty years ago; Rupert Everett; Mark Williams (aka Mr. Weasley from the Harry Potter movies) as a billy goat; Ricky Gervais (Night at the Museum, For Your Consideration), and is narrated by Ian McKellen.Every character is well done, the story is original and funny, and the special effects are amazing.

Now, to the plot. It's really pretty complicated, so here's a synopsis from imdb:

A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) tries to win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), the beautiful but cold object of his desire, by going on a quest to retrieve a fallen star. His journey takes him to a mysterious and forbidden land beyond the walls of his village. On his odyssey, Tristan finds the star, which has transformed into a striking girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes). However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. Lord Stormhold's (Peter O'Toole) three living sons not to mention the ghosts of their four dead brothers all need the star as they vie for the throne. Tristan must also overcome the evil witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who needs the star to make her young again. As Tristan battles to survive these threats, encountering a pirate named Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader named Ferdy the Fence (Ricky Gervais) along the way, his quest changes. He must now win the heart of the star for himself as he discovers the meaning of true love

Sound fun? Well it is, so watch it.

I bought the book for my wife's birthday, so I'll have to read that and see if it's just as good. But for now, I'll depart with some pictures:

Another great leaves us

Time goes on, people get older, and we are left with the next generation. It is nothing new in history, but each time it is new to us.

Author Robert Jordan passed September 16, 2007 at about 2:45 pm. He was 58.

I've never read anything by Jordan, but I'm probably one of the few that haven't. He wrote Three books in the Fallon series (1980-1982), seven Conan books (1982-1984) and elevenbooks in the Wheel of Time series (starting in 1990). The twelth and last book remains unfinished, though it is reported that he had been working on it and communicated the major plot points to his family, so hopefully his work will be completed.

That is one fear I have. Supposing I ever get published, it would be tough to know that you may not finish your story the way you want it finished.

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning." The Wheel of Time series.

Holiday Season?

So, I'm hesitant, but I guess its too late. It's Halloween season. I put out my decorations (which now makes those beds of dirt in front of my house look much better) including a sign that says "The Witch is In" and can be flipped to "The Witch is Out". I have my wife change it when she comes and goes. And yes, I did ask when I saw it at the store if it was okay to do that.

I'm hesitant because this will lead to other holidays. I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. But once you start putting up Halloween stuff, that means we will have to deal with holiday stuff through the new year. And those stations that start playing Christmas music November 1st are of the devil.

So November 1st you see this:

Yes, Thanksgiving, the day the Indians taught us how to survive in a foreign land and we repaid them with smallpox and reservations.

Then comes Christmas. I love Jesus. But this is overdone:

That's right, if you can't see the TREE, it's overdone.

But all of that is okay, because Halloween is almost here. And what is the best thing about halloween? THIS!:

So, Nabisco claims that Halloween Oreos taste just like the regular ones. They are so wrong. Halloween Oreos taste so much better. It's the only time my wife will eat them. Each year I wait patiently for them to arrive. Nabisco made it easier this year. On their website you can search your zip code to see the stores that have them. As luck would have it the Price Chopper nearby has them in stock.

Now, I don't think there's anything "Just Right" about Price Chopper. Their stores are hard to navigate and I'm often afraid that I'll catch something just by being inside one. But I may have to bite the bullet tomorrow and satisfy my orange Oreo need.

In Memoriam

Madeleine L'Engle passed away Thursday. She was 88 years old. I confess I have only read one of her books, A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962. Yet it has left good impressions on me. When I married I found the trilogy in my wife's collection and I've thought of reading Wrinkle again along with its sequels. I've not gotten to it yet, but now being reminded of such a great writer, I may have to take the time to remember my childhood.


I read online today that Wrinkle was rejected repeatedly before finding a publisher. That may sound astonishing for a book that has done so well, but as a writer, I know it's actually quite common. Most writers have such a story. As Jim Butcher says, the trick to getting published is to outlast your competition. Even JK Rowling was rejected by just about every publisher in England. But persistence pays off. So much more so for L'Engle. She has written over 60 books, most featuring children as the main characters. But she did not like to be called a children's author.

And I understand her completely. The book I have written would probably be classed as a children's or YA story, but I didn't write it that way. I just tried to tell the best story I could with the characters that I created and fell in love with. I didn't target an audience. I think you'll disappoint that audience if you do. As L'Engle said: "In my dreams, I never have an age. I never write for any age group in mind. ... When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."

So, lesson learned from L'Engle? Just write. Write what you like and don't underestimate your audience.

Bionic Woman Troubles

Glen Morgan, one of the show runners on the new Bionic Woman series is leaving the show immediately. The reason cited is "creative differences". At this stage of production my only guess to what that means is that NBC wants to take the show in a direction that he wasn't comfortable with.

According to imdb.com, Morgan produced Space: Above and Beyond (a show that bombed fast), The X-Files (from 93-95, or in other words, before it got weird even for scifi geeks), and Millennium (which was always too weird). His writing credits include 10 eps of Space, 15 eps of X-Files, 15 eps of Millennium, the screenplay for Final Destination, and he wrote Final Destination 3.

Looking at that, it seems like he knows how to make good TV. It also looks like he doesn't stay in one place for too long.

But let's look at this from an NBC angle. NBC was last in the ratings last year out of the major networks. Their ratings are so bad that even Jay Leno and Conan O'Brian have made fun of their own network. Just about the only breakout hit last year was Heroes. And now they want to capitalize on the comic book genre with Bionic Woman.

I can' t blame them. If you were a major network whose ratings were embarassing, what would you do? Well, for starters they put Deal or No Deal on just about every night of the week because it got good ratings and was cheap to produce. Then, you look at what is working. Heroes works. Let's do more of that. It's the same deal with Journeyman and Chuck.

So, what happens now? Well, this isn't Fox, so they'll probably give the show a reliable schedule instead of kicking it all over the week and it'll probably stay on the air even if it sucks at first. Studio 60's ratings were very poor and the show still kept going. When your ratings are as bad as they are the studio is willing to let you bumble along longer. In the case of Studio 60, it didn't matter. The longer it was on the air the worse it got (even though I really liked it at first). The opposite was true for Heroes. The longer that show was on the better it got.

So Bionic Woman will get a fair shake. If it works, it works. If not we'll move on.

On another note, here are the series I'll be paying attention to this fall:

Heroes debuts 9/24 at 8/7c on NBC
Bones debuts 9/25 at 8/7c on Fox
NCIS debuts 9/25 8/7c on CBS
Bionic Woman debuts 9/26 9/8c on NBC
The Office debuts 9/27 at 9/8c on NBC
Scrubs (unknown debut date) at 9:30/8:30c on NBC

Unfortunately New Amsterdam and The Sarah Connor Chronicles have been pushed back until January by Fox, and it seems ABC isn't offering any shows that I'm interested in.

Book Review: Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

At its heart, Twilight is a love story. But don't let that stop you. It's a love story with vampires, without all the annoying sex. In fact, the story is able to keep you going and really feel for the vampires without having to resort to crudeness, something almost unheard of for modern vampire stories.

Edward is a 17-year-old guy and so is Bella, and they're in love. The only problem is that Edward has been 17 for almost a hundred years and he wants to kill her. It makes things awkward at first. Through persistence their relationship grows. The one difficulty that is hard for both is that Bella will continue to age while Edward will not.

All of this is complicated enough until a rival vampire shows up and discovers a similar obsession in Bella. Only his is not one of love, instead he simply wants to hunt and kill her. This draws them to the climax and Bella has to decide whether she can trust Edward's family, one completely composed of vampires.

Twilight is the first book for author Stephenie Meyer and is the first of a series. Two follow up books are out: New Moon and Eclipse.