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I wish more people understood this simple fact!
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The Americans
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The Televerse #46- ComicCon 2012 TV Wrapup
Despite the premieres of Breaking Bad and Political Animals, and another strong episode of Louie, we’re spotlight-less this week on the Televerse. Instead, after talking through a slightly more filled week in TV, including So You Think You Can Dance, Futurama, Awkward., Wilfred, the Black Dynamite premiere, True Blood, and Bunheads, Kate breaks down her experience at last week’s San Diego ComicCon and the TV-related panels she was able to see.
2012 ComicCon TV Recap: Sunday
Traditionally, Sunday is the slowest day of ComicCon. Most of the major panels have already happened and many fans opt out of the festivities to head home and rest up a bit before the work week starts up on Monday. Others opt out of at least the morning portion for another reason- the Saturday night parties tend to go very late. Increasingly, though, Sunday is becoming the home for TV, with one panel after another in Hall H, while Ballroom 20 and several of the other rooms go unused, and those of us willing and able to get our butts out of bed nice and early were rewarded with some of the most anticipated TV panels of the Con. Including…
Fringe
After Fringe’s last second final season pickup, it was no surprise that this panel was, for the most part, a chance for the cast and showrunner to reminisce and say goodbye, both to the show and the fans. After showing a teaser trailer for season 5, the panel got underway, with Damian Holbrook moderating and J.H. Wyman and most of the regular cast in attendance. Things quickly got emotional, with Jasika Nicole, then Anna Torv, and then Lance Reddick all tearing up while they discussed their favorite scenes not including themselves. Joshua Jackson brought things back, though, when he described some of his favorites, mostly full of awesome effects and gore. Then there were the recurring jokes about Jackson managing to spill water on an inconvenient area of his pants during the opening clip reel. It was a funny and heart-felt panel and the audience questions were for the most part interesting. Perhaps the fan highlight was the appearance of the Female Observers, who came to the mic to ask why we’ve only seen male Observers to this point (apparently it’ll be addressed in the upcoming season). Wyman was tight-lipped about the season to come, but did confirm that the season premiere will pick up in the future, at the end of the flash-forward episode from season four, and John Noble threw out the idea of a potential filmic continuation at some point down the line. On top of an entertaining and touching panel, everyone who made it in to the 6500-chair hall received one of the hottest swag items of the Con- a nice quality grey fedora with a Fringe-labed ribbon. This panel was immediately followed by…
2012 ComicCon TV Recap: Saturday
All throughout the convention this year, lines were an issue. I mention this at the top because I missed the first two panels I’d intended to cover on Saturday, Warehouse 13 and Once Upon a Time, due to lengthy lines. It’s hard to get an accurate image of the lines without a helicopter, but here’s a tiny, tiny idea of what it’s like. The wonderful upside to this is that you’re usually neighbored on at least one side by very cool, interesting people who you’d otherwise never meet. Many people opt out of the largest halls/panels, and by extension longest lines, but if you want to see the most popular projects or celebrities, you’re gonna have to park it for at least a couple hours. This year, Twilight, Firefly, and Iron Man 3/The Hobbit were responsible for the longest waits. It’ll be interesting to see what fills that gap next year, now that the Twilight films are finishing up and, barring some amazing development that would’ve been announced here and wasn’t, there shouldn’t be a Firefly panel either.
After the obligatory several hours in line, and a lovely chat with some San Diego natives, mostly about Terriers, I was able to get into Ballroom 20, where I was able to see…
Futurama
This panel was an absolute blast. It quickly became clear that the most sure-fire way to make a panel fun is to people it with voice actors. Most of the cast was present and they had lots of fun passing back and forth and jumping in to comment as the various characters they voice. This was also the panel with by far the clearest structure, and it definitely benefited from this. We saw a clip from an upcoming episode, ”Fun on a Bun”, then found out a bit about the upcoming episodes from the characters, rather than actors or moderator, and then were treated to a three-minute draw-off between Matt Groening and director Stephen Sandoval, with Billy West and John DiMaggio on play-by-play and color commentary as Howard Cosell and Tracy Morgan. Afterwards, the floor opened up to fan questions, and the panel finished up with a costume contest. Everyone who’d come to the panel dressed in a Futurama costume came up front and the panel chose a winner- Zoidberg! The costumes were creative and fun and it was great to see a little love sent out to the fans who’d gone the extra mile with their Futurama love. Next up was…
2012 ComicCon Recap: Friday
Friday featured perhaps the most highly anticipated event of the Con- the 10th Anniversary Firefly panel. Fans camped out overnight waiting for the line to get into Ballroom 20 to open up. Firefly was the third panel of the day, but as ComicCon has a policy of not clearing out the rooms between each panel, many people decide to pick a room and stay in it, sometimes sitting for hours through panels for projects they’re either unfamiliar with or actively not fans of. The line for Hall H was perhaps even longer, though that hall seats about 2500 more people. Needless to say, at around 6:30am, the area outside the convention center was a zoo, with volunteers and staff doing their best to keep lines organized and people off the roads. Once things got started at 10am, though, there was plenty for the TV crowd to sink their teeth into. A few huge TV panels were in Hall H, which I wasn’t able to get to, including The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, and last year’s hit of the Con, Game of Thrones, but here’s what I was able to see:
Community
The day started off with a bang with a Community panel featuring the cast (minus Donald Glover and Chevy Chase), the new showrunners, and some fan-favorite writers. I got in about 8 minutes in, so I’m not sure if there was a trailer for the new season, but we did get plenty of talk about the panel’s favorite moments from season 3, their hopes for season 4, and a few spoilers as well. There were several clips shown, including season 3 highlights and part of the s3 DVD blooper reel, and plenty of love spread around- the panel emphasized their gratitude to the fans for their part in bringing Community further into the public consciousness and helping to get it renewed. There was time for a few questions from fans, though not very many, and then it was time for…
2012 ComicCon TV Recap: Thursday
Thursday started off quietly, TV-wise, but kicked into gear in the afternoon, with panels in several different rooms. Here’s a glimpse at some of what Day One had to offer-
Psych
Moderated by Tim Omundson, the Psych panel was the most cohesive and smoothly run of the day. It was a laid-back lovefest, with James Roday and Dulé Hill getting most of the questions and bursting into song at least three times. After a trailer for the upcoming season 7, including a look at the highly-anticipated Clue-themed 100th episode, Omundson introduced the cast and rattled off a series of questions to them, leading to such revelations as the fact that Roday and Maggie Lawson are instantly melted by cute dogs and Dulé Hill can sleep anywhere (with photographic evidence). After opening it up to audience Q&A, a few fans played a Psych trivia game for some swag, creator Steve Franks sang a few bars from the upcoming two-hour musical episode, and Omundson plugged next year’s book release, Psych’s Guide to Crime Fighting for the Totally Unqualified. After going back to a final few fan questions, the panel ended with a clip reel, “100 Episodes in 200 Seconds”.
Wilfred
Due to timing, I missed the first half of this panel, which was a screening of one of Wilfred’s upcoming episodes, and only made it in for the Q&A portion. The creators and Elijah Wood fielded a majority of the questions, showing themselves to be good sports, as well as incredibly funny. Moderated by Alan Sepinwall, the panel stayed pretty well on track as the questions veered from the thematic and creative, with creator Jason Gann describing his take on how the original Australian show relates to the current American version, to the more obscure, with one fan referencing North with his pitch to bring Bruce Willis onto the show. This panel was followed by…
2012 ComicCon TV Recap: Preview Night
San Diego Comic Con 2012 officially kicked off Wednesday with badge pick-up at 3pm. For many, Preview Night is a chance to scour the exhibit floor for that particular Con exclusive that’s a must-have or to take care of any shopping that may prove difficult once the larger crowds show up for the official Day One. For others, it’s a chance to catch up with long-distance friends met and made at previous years’ Cons. Unlike the rest of the convention, on Preview Night there’s only one panel- the WB’s pilot preview. This is the fifth year the WB has premiered pilots at SDCC and, for the first time, they brought five to show. There was fairly positive reaction from the crowd to each of these, and most episodes had at least one extremely ComicCon-friendly gag (a Twilight joke in Arrow got by far the biggest laugh of the night). Last year’s slate of pilots was widely panned as one of the worst ever- hopefully this year will bring better fare. Here’s a brief look at each of the pilots previewed.
