Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Undeniably the awesome emotional center of Fox's sci-fi series, Noble doubled our pleasure last week when he took his tripped-out, socially inappropriate Dr. Walter Bishop across the universe (hashtag alert!) to help the other Fringe Division figure out how folks on our side and their alt-doubles were dying at the same time. It was magical. From his heartbreak at seeing, first-hand, the damage he did to a world he broke years ago to his bemused reaction to their keeping domesticated badgers as pets to the avuncular kindness he afforded drunk, tormented Fauxlivia during their late-night kitchen pow-wow, Noble hit every sweet spot he's imbued the character with over the past four seasons. Seriously, is it any wonder she gave the ol' man a hug before he headed back home at the episode's end? It's impossible not to love the guy….

More at Watercooler: John Noble…the Best of Both Fringe Worlds

Sir Patrick Stewart, Peabody Award-winning star of stage and screen, Shakespeare plays and science-fiction blockbusters, will be the host of the 71st Annual George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony on Monday, May 21, at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City.

“Patrick Stewart, the first actor to host the Peabody Awards Presentation Luncheon, brings a career that perfectly illustrates the breadth of the Peabody Award,” said Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia. “He starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was recognized with a Peabody in 1987. Just last year, he gave us his superb Macbeth, another Peabody Award-winning production. The Peabody recognizes excellence in journalism and news, documentary and public service, and in all forms of entertainment in electronic media. We are truly honored to have Sir Patrick as our host. “

The winners of the Peabody Awards for original broadcast, cablecast and Webcast programs presented in 2011 will be announced via Webcast on April 4 from the University of Georgia.

An internationally respected actor known for successfully bridging the gap between the theatrical world of the Shakespearean stage and contemporary film and television, Sir Patrick Stewart has demonstrated his versatility in a wide range of projects.

Sir Patrick has a long standing relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company and is an Honorary Associate Artist, having been made an Associate Artist in 1967. With the RSC he has played roles such as King John, Shylock, Henry IV, Cassius, Titus Andronicus and Oberon. He has also starred in many contemporary works with the RSC, including plays by Tom Stoppard, Edward Bond, Howard Barker and David Rudkin. Stewart recently completed a run at London’s Young Vic in the lead role of William Shakespeare in a revival of Bond’s 1973 play Bingo.

Alongside his extensive theatre work, Sir Patrick has had an enormously successful film and television career. He reprised his role as Captain Jean Luc Picard in the hit Next Generation theatrical films and portrayed Professor Xavier in the popular X-Men movie series. He has voiced characters in such animated films as Steamboy, Chicken Little, The Game of Their Lives and Bambi 2. He recently provided the narration for the natural history documentary Earth.

Stewart’s many honors include an Emmy for directing a Next Generation episode called A Fistful of Datas and Officer of the British Empire (O.B.E.), conferred on him by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2001. He received a knighthood in the New Year Honour’s list in 2010 for his services to Drama.

The Peabodys, the oldest awards in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The Peabody Awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the Board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students, and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, visit www.peabody.uga.edu .

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in advertising, digital and broadcast journalism, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.

SOURCE Peabody Awards

I’ve played one game on Facebook, and after about three weeks I was finished with it. I guess this is going to be the second game I play on Facebook, although most of my friends are playing Farmville, and think I’m a bit weird because I don’t want to plant crops for fun. Wait until they realize I’m killing zombies on Facebook. It will confirm for them that there is seriously something wrong with me. LOL!

Here’s the official write up.

Official Page. Get ready to enter the world of The Walking Dead Social Game. Complete missions, meet characters from the show, and recruit your Facebook friends to defend your camp from Walkers. If your friends get killed, look out, they may return as Walkers.

So, go over and like the page so we can kill Walkers together. By the way, is the term “Walkers” in capital letters or lowercase like humans. Are they just another race of crazy, flesh eating dead people (sort of)?

Go here to LIKE the Walking Dead page.

If you were living under a rock and missed Season 1, you can buy it here:

The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (3-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

People died. People lived. Walkers Everywhere and now the Season Finale. I can’t believe this season has come and gone. So much MORE happened this season, that every Sunday was explosive, worse than the previous Sunday and jaw dropping. I thought first season was rough, but OMFG how wrong I was. Like Battlestar Galactica, every time I think “things can’t possibly get worse” – they do . . . and in spades.

AMC TV gives you 10 things you can do before the Season 2 Finale, but let’s face it – nothing will prepare you for a field full of zombies all headed towards your house and hungry….

No other show even comes close!

All good things must come to an end. The Walking Dead‘s Season 2 Finale airs this Sun., Mar. 18 at 9/8c. Looking for ways to distract yourself until then? Here are ten ways to get ready for Episode 13, “Beside the Dying Fire.”

1. Catch up with The Walking Dead Season 2 via an all-day marathon on Sun., Mar. 18 starting at 11AM/10c with Season 2 Episode 3, “Save the Last One.” Short on time? Check out video recaps of each episode.

2. Watch a sneak peek video of Sunday’s all-new episode.

3. Check out two sneak peek photos from the Season Finale.

4. Be one of the first to play the all-new The Walking Dead Social Game by liking us on Facebook.

5. Check out The Walking Dead Story Sync, a LIVE, two-screen experience that runs during the premiere broadcast of Episode 13.

Anybody remember this show from last year? Not bad; not great – passed the time. Well, it’s back this summer and premieres on June 17 at 9pm: Season 2.

Here’s the trailer for Season 2

Fox Television’s new promo for the sci-fi series Fringe, which returns from the holiday break with Episode 4.08: Back to Where You’ve Never Been on Friday, January 13 at 9 PM ET. Click on the video player below for a sneak peek at what’s in store for the second half of Season 4.

by Billie Doux

Billie Doux runs one of the best review sites on the Internet, and he does it for the love of review. His reviews are insightful, entertaining and he allows other sites to reprint his material. SF Buzz has been following his reviews and share them with you. While you read the review below, make a note to visit his main site where he reviews so many movies and television shows that it’s too long to list here.

“Fringe” has been getting the short end of the baseball-sized stick in recent seasons, but it has never affected the flow of the season arc quite so much as it has this time around.  Not only did it force a longer than usual pause after the first four episodes, but it means that this episode is now the fall finale, rather than the episode originally designed as such.  While it’s unlikely to have a major effect on the ratings, it does undermine what the writers and producers intended.
 
There’s no way this was meant to be a fall finale.  It’s not a terrible episode by any means, but the narrative construction in terms of the season arc was not leading to this as a major pause or turning point.  Even so, it reintroduces another of those first season concepts that had been set aside for far too long: the questionable practices of Massive Dynamic, and Nina’s role as the architect of those practices.
 
Some people have wondered whether or not Nina’s decision to adopt Olivia and her sister after the collapse of the Cortexiphan trials was as altruistic as it seems.  We now have the answer, at least in part: Nina really wanted Olivia around as a resource.  This is a nice spin on things, because for the most part, Nina Sharp in the “normal” Fringe Prime timeline had been rendered a bit soft.
 
There is the obvious question of just what Nina was trying to accomplish by drugging Olivia.  Is she trying to ensure that any evidence regarding experiments conducted by Massive Dynamic is left unexplored?  Or is it something more sinister?  Could Nina and Massive Dynamic be working with whoever unleashed the Shapeshifters 2.0?  The introduction of this layer to the mystery leads me to believe even more that Peter’s solution to his quandary will not wipe out the new timelines, even if he gets “home”.
 
Meanwhile, there is the case at the center of the storm, so to speak, which was an interesting direction to take.  Eugene’s condition is intriguing in that his attempts to restore some semblance of normalcy is the very thing that is killing him.  He’s literally dying (and killing) to be noticed.  There’s a certain sympathy that the writers evince for Eugene.  After all, how many people feel like they struggle to be noticed in the world?
 
There’s a bit of a counter-point to this notion in the subplot involving Olivia and Lincoln.  Peter, of all people, pushes Lincoln to come out of his shell and respond to Olivia’s thinly-veiled interest.  (I still struggle with the notion that anyone would fail to response to Olivia’s come-hither routine!)  It doesn’t quite mesh as an overall theme, but it does reveal just how convinced Peter is that this is not where he belongs.  If he felt that this was his Olivia, on any level, he’d never try to get Olivia and Lincoln together.
 
All in all, it was a reasonably solid episode, but it suffers from carrying the weight of being a fall finale, when it was never intended to be in that position.  On the other hand, “Fringe” fans can look forward to the high probability that the first two episodes upon the show’s return in January will be a powerful two-parter.
 
John K
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2011
All rights reserved
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Laurie Holden who plays Andrea on AMC’s The Walking Dead, describes her own shooting skills and attaining a Zen-like calm.

Q: Now that it’s approaching winter, do you miss the summer heat on set?

A: The thing that’s great about our new location is that there are more trees and more of a breeze in the summer. It was not as hot and unbearable as it was last year. So we were dying when we shot it but that’s the intent.

Q: Andrea looks pretty comfortable with a gun. Have you acted with guns before?

A: On The Shield, I played an agent so I used guns a little bit, but I’ve never… had the training I’ve had for The Walking Dead. I got hooked up with a shooting expert and we were going into the backwoods of Georgia on weekends for like two hours at a time. He would put bulls-eyes throughout the woods. They were tiny. When I saw that, I was like, “Come on!” He told me just to try it — and I started nailing all of them! He said he’d never seen anything like it. I guess I have a knack for shooting I didn’t realize I had.

Q: Kind of surprising for someone studying human rights at Columbia.

A; None of it makes sense! It’s very bizarre.

Q: Last season Andrea was an emotional wreck. Have you enjoyed the shift in her character this season?

Read the full interview at amctv.com

Actors: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Laurie Holden
Director: Frank Darabont
Genre: Horror, mystery, thriller
Price of the DVD: Retail Price $39.98, Amazon Price $14.69
Formats Available: DVD, Blu-Ray
Running Time: 292 minutes…2 discs
Release Date: March 3, 2011
MPAA Rating: not rated
Distributors: AMC and Anchor Bay Entertainment

Main Characters:

• Rick Grimes -protagonist, former sheriff’s deputy
• Shane Walsh-his best friend and former colleague
• Lori-Rick’s wife
• Carl-his son
• Andrea- civil rights attorney
• Amy-Andrea’s younger sister
• Dale Horvath-owner of the RV the survivors form around
• Darryl – Hunter, brother of Merle
• T-Dog
• Merle

Product Description: The first season of AMC’s television series The Walking Dead premiered on October 31, 2010 and concluded on December 5, 2010. Developed for TV by Frank Darabont, he also directed the pilot and wrote 4 of the 6 season episodes. It is based on a series of novels by Robert Kirkman.

Rick Grimes, the Sheriff’s deputy, was in a coma for a long time…the result of being gunned down. When he finally wakes up he finds himself in a world full of walking dead people. His family, a wife and son, are missing, so he heads out to Atlanta, Georgia…a quarantined safe area that he hopes is where his fin are hiding. By the time he gets there it is no long safe and is full of the walking dead.

Lori and Carl have actually been hiding out with Rick’s best friend, Shane, in a small camp with some other survivors, who then rescue Rick and reunite him with his family. He ends up taking over the responsibility of survival for everyone in the camp. The camp is almost destroyed by the walkers, so some of them go back to Atlanta for medicines and other aid from the CDC.

However, all but one of the staff have fled or committed suicide and it is no longer a safe haven. Always a loyal staff member, Dr. Jenner remains at CDC, even though there is a pending explosion that he is aware of and in which he perishes.

Reviews: “…I was afraid, with so much story to draw from, Darabont might rush things. Instead, “The Walking Dead” takes its time setting up the premise, introducing the cast, and establishing a bleak new world. It is a tremendous accomplishment that really allows the viewer to identify with the action, to become emotionally connected with the horror…”
K.G. Harris, 11-10-11

Get The Walking Dead, Season One here.

Doctor Who, the legendary television series that has wowed and amazed audiences for years, is finally coming to the big screen. It is going to be directed by none other than David Yates, director of Harry Potter.

Yates, who has directed the last four Harry Potter moives will be teaming up with the BBC to take the iconic science fiction series to the big screen. Doctor Who ran continuously between 1963 and 1989, then relaunced again in 2005. Doctor Who is a Time Lord, an alien who is disguised as a human, who takes human companions along on his adventures as he battles cosmic villains.

Yates is going to go for a completely unique approach, departing from what has become series canon to put out a film that is both unique and different from the television Doctor. When this venture will get underway is still up in the air. So far, they have no production crew, cast or screenwriter, so it’s anybody’s guess when the Doctor will make it to the big screen.

Ah well, we can continue to enjoy him on the small screen like always.