Tag Archives: Dexter

Netflix, Stan, Streaming TV

Getting to Know Stan

Bringing binge TV to the masses

Stan goes live in Australia on Jan 26th
Stan goes live in Australia on Jan 26th

Stan, the streaming subscription service created in a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax, has announced it’s official ‘live’ date – Jan 26th with the service going live just 12 days after Presto (Foxtel’s effort) went live.  Stan will cost subscribers $10 a month with no lock-in contracts (offering movies and television) and is cheaper than Presto who charge $14 per month for access to its movie and television catalog.

I’ve been playing around with Stan for the past week and wanted to share my thoughts on what to expect for those looking at possibly signing up.  Stan’s interface is simple, clean and easy to use with it’s landing page set up to showcase it’s draw-card programs and shows segregated into genres.  You want ‘groundbreaking comedies’ or ‘premium drama’ then it’ll be easy to find.

Dramas including Masters of Sex and Dexter will be readily available when the service launches
Dramas including Masters of Sex and Dexter will be readily available when the service launches

There’s an array of older content (which i’ll get to in a bit) and there’s also some selected new dramas being touted as ‘first on Stan’ including sci-fi cult Lost Girl, award winning drama Transparent and Amazon Original series Mozart in the Jungle all readily available when the service launches.

The rest of the programs available are made up of dramas, comedies and documentaries long since finished: Absolutely Fabulous, Will & Grace (only 4 of 8 seasons available), Dawsons Creek, The L Word and Deadwood among others or those currently airing but featuring seasons past – Hannibal, The Fall, Community, Masters of Sex and Nurse Jackie.

Like with Presto and the imminent arrival of Netflix (sometime before March), Stan’s catalog features a small selection of new content packed in between a slew of old programs we’ve all probably seen and long forgotten.  It’s best to think of these services as walking down the weekly isle at your local DVD rental shop where you can watch all you want but pay monthly for the ability to do so.

Do you need Stan?  To be honest, if you binge watch TV or your TV DVD library doesn’t exist then Stan will be useful.  If you have your weeknight free-to-air schedule worked out and can live without seeing certain shows as they go live, then no.

Stan goes live in Australia Monday Jan 26th.

Do you plan on singing up with Stan or Presto or Netflix?  Sound off in the comments below!

Comedy, Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, Sci-Fi, TV

My Love/Hate Relationships With Flawed Characters.

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Dexter Morgan, Jackie Peyton and Walter White

Having only just recently finished watching the entire run of Breaking Bad, a friend asked me what my thoughts were on the show and in particular the finale.  My first immediate response was “I hated Walt”.  Apparently that was a pretty natural response as my friend replied “You’re supposed to by the end”.  It got me thinking how I could become so involved and enamored with a show in which you literally despise the lead character for all the bad he or she does.

That said, this does this not apply to every character that expresses dark behavior.   Take for instance Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall).  The guy is a serial killer (who only kills bad people) whose actions led to the death of his wife Rita (Julie Benz) and several other innocent people along the way (Doakes, his sister Deb and LaGuerta to name a few) yet we are rooting for him to evade the law and continue on his merry killing way while, watching Breaking Bad, all I wanted was for Hank to get his man and put Walter White (Bryan Cranston) away for good.

Nurse Jackie’s Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) is another prime example of a love/hate relationship.  The pill popping superstar nurse all but ruined her marriage, her career and treated friends and co-workers like trash all while downing copious amounts of pills and having an illicit affair and all I wanted was for her to get what she had coming.  I disliked Jackie Peyton for all the horrible she brought to peoples lives.

Melrose Place's Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw
Melrose Place’s Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw

Yet going as far back as the 90’s with the Aaron Spelling soap Melrose Place.  Two of the show’s most devious characters Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) and Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) both slept and blackmailed and even bombed their way through a decent run of the series, but in true form, all I wanted for these crazy ladies was to come out on top.

What I can’t get my head around is what is the difference between Walter White and Dexter Morgan and Jackie Peyton and Sydney Andrews? Each are flawed, each have done inexplicable acts and yet i’m divided as to who I root for and whom I want to receive their comeuppance.

Part of it, I think, is because we go into a show, say like Dexter, knowing he is a serial killer.  There’s no surprise shock act that makes us question our feelings towards him.  Same applied to Kimberly and Sydney on Melrose Place.  The two made a splash on their entrance, letting us all know they were here to cause trouble, while on the other hand, when we meet Walter White, he’s a married science teacher who’s discovered he has cancer.  We want to resonate with his less than perfect life situations and we do….but then we witness his actions of atrocity (including poisoning a little boy) and suddenly we begin to question.

It’s this tickle on our emotions that makes characters like Walter White and Jackie Peyton so different from those like the Melrose duo, Dexter Morgan even American Horror Story Coven’s Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) or Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Mad Men’s Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, TV

A Dexter Spin-Off Theory to Consider.

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Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan

As the final season of Dexter begins it’s final decent into saying goodbye, the speculation about a possible spin-off continues to garner talk, mainly about who will the show continue on with.

Episode 806
Sam Underwood as Zach Hamilton

With this final season introducing a new protege for Dexter (Michael C Hall) in the form of Zach Hamilton (Sam Underwood), many began assuming the new series could feature Zach continuing on, in his new path Dexter has provided for him, but those rumors were quickly quashed when it was announced that Underwood has just joined the cast of The Following for it’s second season.

So it brings us back to the original question.  If there is going to be a spin-off, will it focus on Dexter’s sister Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter)?  Carpenter was recently quoted as saying that “she hopes Deb will die at the closure of the series” as it will enable her to “shed the skin of the character and move on as an actor”.  I thought I’d throw out a plausible option for a spin-off that a co-worker and I tossed around with today.

The final 20 minutes of Dexter would see Deb and Dexter having a quiet moment (all seen from Dexter’s perspective) before he leaves to an undisclosed location.  It’s time for him to move on and away, allowing Deb to live her life the way she is supposed to.  After a final drink, she says goodbye, hops in her car and leaves.  A short time later, she receives a call from Dexter, it’s a distress call, he’s frantic, not making sense then suddenly, the call goes dead. – scene end.

We pick up in this new show, 20 minutes before the finale of Dexter, this time from Deb’s perspective, saying goodbye to her brother, getting in her car and driving off.  She receives the call from Dexter, it goes dead, she rushes back to find him dead.  Who killed him?

The new show, season one, follows Deb on splitting her time and resources between both Miami Metro and with Jacob Elway in the hunt for Dexter’s killer while also taking on the day-to-day tasks and crimes of her job.

I think this could be a perfect direction into a spin-off that allows characters and locations we know and love to continue on and also have a direct link to the original show – that being the hunt for Dexter’s killer.

Either way, there’s only three episodes left of Dexter.  How will it end?  Will Dexter die or will he ride off into the sunset with Hannah and son Harrison?  Guess we’ll find out soon enough!

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Awards, Comedy, Crime, Drama, FRONT, TV

Emmy Nominations 2013

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus nominated for VEEP in lead actress comedy.

The nominations for this years Emmy awards are out, and like every year, there are a few surprise additions and a few shock misses.  This years nominees:

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES:

Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey, PBS

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, AMC

Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom, HBO

Jon Hamm, Mad Men, AMC

Damian Lewis, Homeland, Showtime

Kevin Spacey, House of Cards, Netflix

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES:

Connie Britton, Nashville, ABC

Claire Danes, Homeland, Showtime

Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey, PBS

Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel, A&E

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men, AMC

Kerry Washington, Scandal, ABC

Robin Wright, House of Cards, Netflix

 

COMEDY SERIES:

The Big Bang Theory, CBS

Girls, HBO

Louie, FX

Modern Family, ABC

30 Rock, NBC

Veep, HBO

 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:

Jason Bateman, Arrested Development, Netflix

Louis C.K., Louie, FX

Don Cheadle, House of Lies, Showtime

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes, Showtime

Jim Parsons, Big Bang Theory, CBS

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock, NBC

 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES:

Lena Dunham, Girls, HBO

Laura Dern, Enlightened, HBO

Tiny Fey, 30 Rock, NBC

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation, NBC

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep, HBO

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie, Showtime

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:

Adam Driver, Girls, HBO

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family, ABC

Ed O’Neill, Modern Family, ABC

Ty Burrell, Modern Family, ABC

Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live, NBC

Tony Hale, Veep, HBO

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES:

Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory, CBS

Jane Lynch, Glee, Fox

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family, ABC

Julie Bowen, Modern Family, ABC

Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie, Showtime

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock, NBC

Anna Chlumsky, Veep, HBO

 

DRAMA SERIES:

Breaking Bad, AMC

Downton Abbey, PBS

Homeland, Showtime

Game of Thrones, HBO

House of Cards, Netflix

Mad Men, AMC

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES:

Bobby Cannavale, Boardwalk Empire, HBO

Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad, AMC

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad, AMC

Jim Carter, Downton Abbey, PBS

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones, HBO

Mandy Patinkin, Homeland, Showtime

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES:

Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad, AMC

Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey, PBS

Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones, HBO

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife, CBS

Morena Baccarin, Homeland, Showtime

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men, AMC

 

LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE:

Michael Douglas, Behind The Candelabra, HBO

Matt Damon, Behind The Candelabra, HBO

Toby Jones, The Girl, HBO

Benedict Cumberbatch, Parade’s End, HBO

Al Pacino, Phil Spector, HBO

 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE:

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story, FX

Laura Linney, The Big C: Hereafter, Showtime

Helen Mirren, Phil Spector, HBO

Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals, USA

Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake, Sundance Channel

 

MINISERIES OR MOVIE:

American Horror Story: Asylum, FX

Behind the Candelabra, HBO

Phil Spector, HBO

Political Animals, USA

The Bible, History

Top of the Lake, Sundance Channel

Personally, I’m quite surprised to see Arrested Development missing off most categories.  I was expecting to see it at least nominated in the comedy series category and perhaps see a nom for either Portia De Rossi (Supporting actress – Comedy) or Isla Fisher (Supporting actress – comedy).  At least Jason Bateman has been recognised for his work (Lead actor – Comedy).

A big shock snub was Tatiana Maslany for Lead actress – Drama for her role in “Orphan Black“.  Pretty much anyone who watched this intense high action series had noted down Maslany for an Emmy nom.  She is pretty phenomenal in the show (currently playing 7 different characters!)

I think the charm of New Girl is starting to wear off with the show and it’s stars missing out all-together on any nominations.  Other surprise snubs include Michael C Hall for Dexter, Parks and Recreation (comedy series), Busy Philipps for Cougar Town (Supporting Actress – comedy) and Eric Stonestreet for Modern Family.

Snubs aside, this years nominations created Emmy history for actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus who, with this years lead actress in a comedy nomination for VEEP, saw Louis-Dreyfus surpass comedy legend Lucille Ball’s 13 Emmy nominations.  Now on her 14th nomination, Louis-Dreyfus is also the only actress who has three wins for three separate comedy shows — “Veep,” “Seinfeld” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”

Dexter, FRONT

Dexter Season 8 – Teaser Trailer Revealed

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Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan

It’s here!  The first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated final season of Dexter has been released online by Showtime, and, in true Showtime fashion, they ain’t giving much away!

Season 8 looks set to continue on from the massive cliff-hanger of season 7 which saw Deborah making a life changing decision – shoot Dexter or shoot Maria LaGuerta.  What many are wanting to know is how will the show say goodbye?  Will Dexter, the serial killer who kills bad people continue with his dark path?  Will he be caught out?

We’re not going to know until that final episode, but, Michael C. Hall has himself said that “I imagine Dexter is going to get caught one way or the other. And by that I mean, can we really expect him, at this point, to walk into the sunset? Or get off without a blemish on his conscience or character? In a way, he is already caught. Once Rita dies he is caught. Once Deb is in on the secret he is caught. And what he’s caught by is the undeniable fact that how he conducts himself has an effect on more than just him and his victims. As far as whether he goes to jail, or gets put to death, or gets hit by a bus or whatever it might be, I can’t say. But I think, in a way, we are watching someone slowly but surely get caught.”

Dexter season 8, premieres on June 30th on Showtime in the US.

Watch the season 8 trailer below: