EVIL PUPPET MASTERS

Happy 40th Birthday to the hardest working producer in Hollywood - and one of my favorite people on the planet - Bryan Burk!!!

Bonnie Covel at About.com reviewed LOST Ate My Life, and she had some really nice things to say about it.

My favorite part? Under The Bottom Line, she had this to say about LAML:

Lost Ate My Life is the best book about Lost I have ever read, mostly because it’s not so much about the show but about us, the fans.

Well now, you can’t really ask for a better review than that, can you?

Also, she listed LAML as #7 on her “Top 16 Gifts for the ‘Lost’ Fan”. Her blurb about the book there:

Usually I don’t recommend Lost books as gifts because they go out of date so fast. However this book is less about the show and more about the fandom. While this book will be most popular during the years that Lost is on the air, it will remain a piece of history as the book that explores the fans behind one of the greatest television shows of all time.

Yeah…I’m feeling pretty good right now Thanks, Bonnie!

ETA: Bonnie also mentions the book and gives a few more impressions of it on her LOST blog.

Meltdown Comics has added two new photo galleries with pics from the LOST Be@rbrick signing that took place there Wednesday night. Linkage below:

Meltdown’s Album

Pinguino’s Album

LA Weekly has coverage and photos of last night’s LOST Be@rbrick signing event at Meltdown Comics in L.A. There is a slideshow with 26 photos at the link. According to the article, they filmed the event for the Season 5 DVDs.

For some crazy reason Doc and I are getting interview requests to talk about the book we wrote, so I thought I’d share a couple of those interviews with the EPM Faithful:

Interview by Jopinionated of Doc and hijinx (which includes how I came up with my online alias) - READ IT HERE

Interview by Michael Pinto of fanboy.com of hijinx (which includes a question about JJ doing Star Trek) - READ IT HERE

Go read it HERE.

Interview is by Patrick Kevin Day.

Just got this from Erin over at ABC:

MEDIA ALERT

MEDICOM TOY JAPAN AND DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS
PREMIERE “LOST” BE@RBRICK AND KUBRICK LINE

Signing Event Will Feature Executive Producers of “Lost” In Los Angeles on November 19

WHAT
Medicom Toy Japan and Diamond Comic Distributors unite with Meltdown Comics to host the world premiere and signing event of the BE@RBRICK and KUBRICK collections based on the hit television series “Lost,” in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Fans will have the opportunity to buy one event exclusive BE@RBRICK per person, and have it signed by the show’s creators and executive producers. Series-one Lost KUBRICKS will be sold (no limit) until Meltdown sells out.

Also showcased at the event, will be a limited edition (three made in the world) 1000% BE@RBRICK which includes signatures from the cast and producers of “Lost.” This 1000% BE@RBRICK will be auctioned off at a later date with proceeds going to The Children’s Defense Fund.

Exclusive Lost art by executive producer Jack Bender will also be featured.

WHO
Scheduled to appear at the event are “Lost” co-creators and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and executive producers Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Carlton Cuse. Also scheduled to attend are writers Elizabeth Sarnoff, Paul Zbyszewski, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Kyle Pennington, and Brian K. Vaughan.

WHERE
Meltdown Comics & Collectibles
7522 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046 www.meltcomics.com

Legal mumbo jumbo under the jump ~

Read the rest of this entry »

According to Erin at ABC, LOST will return on Wednesday, January 21, 2009. Don’t know if that is one of those special “catch up” dealios or if that’s a new eppy, but I’m hoping it is the latter.

ETA: Okay, it is a clip show at 8 p.m., then at 9 p.m. is the 2-hour season premiere of LOST S5.

When Midseason hits, you won’t have to look too hard to find FRINGE - it will remain on Tuesday nights, following American Idol. It’s previous lead in, HOUSE, will be bouncing to Mondays.

CONGRATS to the BR peeps!!!

EPM Podcast 1×11

On this 11th episode of the EVIL PUPPET MASTERS, Speaker acts like an old man baby and hijinx is more cynical than ever.

PLUS, tequila!

EPM Podcast 1×10

Don’t everyone die of shock! Speaker and I could not resist the lure of hearing ourselves pontificate (along with the REST of America) about FRINGE, so we have dusted off our podcasting hats and decided to do podcasts for the FRINGE episodes. We’re a bit rusty and we had some technical difficulties with this one, but we’re hoping to get these out within a week of each episode - ideally.

Yes, we’re complete dorks, but we mainly do these for our fellow BR addicts and some industry peeps who just think we’re SWELL. If you have questions for us or topics you’d like us to cover in future podcasts, feel free to leave those in the comments. Enjoy!

Speaking of technical difficulties… - for now we’re just posting a link to the audio file. It’s been so long since we’ve posted one of these that our podcast and iTunes stuff is not cooperating. We’ll come back and edit this when we get that straightened out.

Well there is something you don’t see every day. The fast track overnight ratings for last night’s episode of FRINGE (1.02 “The Same Old Story”) were BIGGER than the numbers for the Pilot:

FOX stayed on top at 9 p.m. with “Fringe,” 8.2/13, which, with the help of its lead-in, gained about 4 million viewers over its premiere last week. Hour two of “The Biggest Loser,” 5.3/8, moved NBC into second. The finale of “Big Brother 10,” 4.9/8, finished third for CBS. ABC stayed in fourth with the conclusion of “Wipeout,” 3.4/5, and a “Primetime” special on UFOs, 3.2/5. “Privileged” finished the night for The CW.

Source: Zap2it.com

Whether it was due to the HOUSE lead-in, or because of all the positive reviews this week, or as evidence that EVERYONE had already seen the pilot due to the leakage of the unfinished version - that’s just pretty durn awesome. CONGRATS BR PEEPS!!

FOX issued a press release yesterday that revealed a little bit of information regarding Episode 1.02 of FRINGE - which is posted under the jump cut. I will update this post once the okay is given to reveal other information pertaining to the episode. **UPDATED**

Read the rest of this entry »

I love FRINGE. You guys know I do.

But I’m at the point now that if I read ONE MORE article or interview about FRINGE, then I’m going to hurl. This is coming from someone that has been a part of a media frenzy before - I have lived and breathed the media coverage of LOST much more than your average fan. Heck, I have even co-written a book about it eating my life. But this FRINGE stuff…it is just way way out of hand.

There is something to be said about mystery. There is something to be said about anticipation. At this point, I feel FRINGE has reached “critical mass” - aka the “put up or shut up” phase for their potential fandom. Face it - no other television show, in the history of television shows, has had THIS MUCH build up…this much pre-pilot hype. I’ve seen the pilot (the legal version) and it is hella awesome, but there is no way it is going to come even close to fulfilling this massive weight of expectations that has been bestowed upon it and the series. Nothing short of the cure for cancer or the formula for immortality could appease the level of expectations that exist at this point.

As aggravating as that is to me…I am also sickeningly happy that there will be those who are disappointed by the pilot once it airs. Why? Because it will give everyone something NEW to talk about and debate. As I said in my “pissing in an empty pool” post, there has been a whole lotta riggermarole over practically NOTHING at this point. A million interviews with JJ/Alex/Bob/Jeff/Bryan and you will never get more out of them than they are willing to say, so most of the interviews from the past month or so have been the SAME thing, over and over again, just asked in slightly different ways. The Fab 5 are GOOD. They are EXPERTS at handling the media. In fact, their media savvy should be a testament to every other show out there. But even the Fab 5 cannot prevent the inevitable backlash that will come after the Pilot airs next Tuesday. In fact, they should embrace it.

Again you may say, “how can you say that?” Because, as sick as I am about the over-the-top media coverage of a show that has yet to air, I KNOW that once the cards are laid out on the table and the critics line up to take their pot shots at the new kid on the block (SO to Danielle) - this show will hold up. It is NOT going to appeal to everyone and it is NOT going to miraculously come out on the other side completely unscathed by vicious TV critics who live to tear down, especially something so shiny and bright and media-saturated as FRINGE. But this show has the meat, the creativity, the depth, the acting, and design to stand up under the intense microscopic examination it will be receiving. Once the wrapping paper has been peeled off, there is something REAL underneath that should appeal to a fairly large fanbase. And I am DEFINITELY ready to get past the packaging…aren’t you?