Felicia Day

So, my boyfriend is a writer, and he cannot legally work right now. It’s kind of frightening really. Anyone familiar with Hollywood knows that writers, although the most important part of the creation process, are usually treated like poop. Especially in features, they are considered disposable, and they will cycle through writers like Paris Hilton cycles through hair extensions on a script. Worst analogy ever, that’s why I’m not in the guild

I really think that this strike is important now, because as we internet folk know, the time for digital downloading/viewing is now, and for them to not establish a cut of that during this negotiation could financially ruin the regular writer down the line when people are ordering TV shows like Pay Per View over the internet, or when the TV is actually their internet browser. For every DVD sold, studios and producers make 97% profit from them. The rest is production costs, and THEN paying the actors/directors/writers their tiny share. It’s time now for creative people to protect their share of profit in the evolving marketplace. Actors may go on strike in June, but if the writers can negotiate a settlement, that could pave the way for actors to not have to.

Anyway, I’m going to go support my friends on the picket line this week, I’ll be sure to take a picture. I am conflicted about releasing Guild episodes during the strike, but really, the sooner the studios realize that people can do things WITHOUT them taking all the profit, maybe they’ll start to be afraid of the artist, and not the other way around. I hope lots of Guild members make web videos and they become hugely popular and make those suits quake in their boots. Anarchists arise!

Today was a “look at Felicia’s face” day.  Ugh.   Between rehearsing sides in the mirror for an audition, watching the gag reel for The Guild being edited, and picking out which new headshots I want to upload for my agents to see, I’m pretty much sick of my own face.  Like, seriously.

The funny thing is, I think most actors DON’T like to see themselves.  The whole goal of “good work” is to be un-self conscious, which is hard when your business is your face and body.  Most human beings don’t get the opportunity to analyze their own expressions minutely, so it’s only actors/models who get paranoid that the bottom of their nose moves when they talk, or their teeth look like they could gnaw off a hand if they smile too wide.

I guess that’s why I like doing comedy.  Because you can mock yourself if you trip or stumble over a line, or generally look like an idiot, which happens to me a lot.   Anyway, I’m pretty excited that a gag reel of The Guild will be online, along with a spiffier Guild website in the coming week, and a new episode will be up in about two.

The REAL drama today was the headshot.  Oh boy.  Getting new acting headshots taken is like jamming salt in your eyeballs.  The inside of you is like, “Sell yourself!  Be sparky!”  and at the same time, “try to look natural, stupid!”.  It usually ends up that half the photos have a maniacal smile, with a gleam of desperation in the eyeball.   Or your eyes are dead, like a fish on ice.  Not really hireable.   It’s a hard thing to get one good picture, and there’s no wonder that the main one I’m still using has hair that is chin-length, from two years ago.  Oops.

I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this, but I notice it’s amazing how different clothes bring out different aspects of my personality.  In a big chunky sweater, or a spaghetti-strap tank, the things the camera picks up are startlingly different.    Also, I notice that when I had short hair, especially when it was REALLY short, I was a lot spunkier and outgoing.  More confrontational.  Now, I feel more reserved and I wonder if that’s a question of being perceived/feeling more feminine?  It’s weird.

I’ll post the winning photo on here when it’s determined. Oh ya.  I guess I should update the website gallery too.  Oh God, more face.

So, last night in my 5th hour of TV, I wished that the networks would be a little less “all at once” about their new shows and space them out so people could actually watch and appreciate them. At this rate, if I don’t watch 6 hours of TV a night, my Tivo is going to get so backlogged that I’ll be slogging through it for weeks. Not to mention I insisted that I wanted to watch The War with my boyfriend, because I never sit through educational stuff. It’s 14 hours long. Help.
Ok, so in order now, the shows that I saw last night.

1) Heroes

I gotta watch this on Mondays because I’m so behind the curve by Wednesday! So, establish this was my favorite show last year, with the Office, and I have to say this premiere felt a little disjointed to me. I finally got what they were trying to set up by the end of the episode, but I don’t think you should have to spend 40 minutes going, “But I though…” and “That doesn’t make sense from the finale…” Anyway despite my skepticism, the new cast was surprisingly good. I love that they added Dania to the cast. Some Buffy people may remember her as a potential from the last season. She didn’t have a lot to do on-screen then, but we were all a tight-knit group that last 4 months of shooting, and I knew Dania was going to be big, she had a “star quality” about her that you know when you see it. Suffice it to say I think her character is gonna be cool! I actually found myself liking Claire’s storyline too, although really she needs to lay off the weird orange tan. Anyway, Peter showing up at the end was a given but still was cool to watch. And then…Amnesia?! Cornballll. I’m sure they’ll do something good with it, but overall I’m just hoping things get a little more focused after all the new people are established.

And as a general comment, I really don’t like the previews being whole season overviews on all the shows, it ruins surprises, like Sylar coming back. Even if you know it was gonna happen, it’s nicer to be wowed by it, than it being given away in a 30 second promo.

Onwardser and briefer…

2) Private Practice.

Ugh. This was a one timer for me. I’m not a Grey’s fan so maybe I was missing something, but when every plotline having to do with a wellness clinic results in an ambulance or police being called, you can’t have that much faith in the quality of medical care, can you? Also, why would a world-class neonatal surgeon go back to OBGYN work? Specialtists don’t backtrack like that for no reason, they go into huge debt to get their specialties and…

OK, it’s TV. Everyone looked pretty. Taye Diggs is still hot. Moving on.

3) Reaper

Now we’re talking. Objectively, probably my favorite show I’ve seen so far. Self-deprecating humor, really good acting, I really was excited about seeing more. Damn, they shoot in Canada so I’ll never work on it I just really appreciated an hour-long show sustaining the level of comedy that you don’t even see in half-hours nowadays. Of course, this show was the THIRD or FOURTH show this season with the requisite scene between disaffected slacker big-box employee and imperious and self-important manager-type of said big-box store, but aside from that I really liked the characters and wanted to see more. #1 on my Tivo list.

4 ) Dirty Sexy Money

I wanted to hate this show. I read the script last pilot season and hated it. Well…I was wrong. I eat thorough crow. This show is so well cast and acted, it has a sense of fun underneath it that I never expected. All the characters are played teetering on the edge of making fun of themselves, but always having a grounded sense of reality. It’s really hard to do, and the wrong actors/director could have taken this into OC territory. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. It’s fun, and I usually don’t watch this sort of thing. I don’t know if I will watch the whole season, but I will definitely give it a few more tries.

5) Back to You

Er, is sitcom really dead? Sad face. This show I will watch because I am fiercely loyal to this format and the two leads are amazing at what they do. I can’t say I was laughing out loud at anything, but it hit all the required notes and I want to give it a chance. If it fails then there will be a continued spiral of networks not ordering comedies because they’re “dead”. How about ordering original out of the box comedies? Nah. That’s CRAZY TALK.

Ok, I’m tired just from reading all that TV I watched. Now…I have 4 hours of The War backed up. Shoot me now.

I just finished watching a few of the new shows on TV, I watch them all of course, and somehow coincidentally I watched “Chuck” and “Big Bang Theory” back to back.   Nerds on TV overload!

Most of the time the “nerd” character in Hollywood grates on my nerves.  There were moments in each of these shows where I was like, “Uh, stereotype” but for the most part I’m eager to have a little more brains on TV and these shows may very well fulfill that.  Oh, except for the girl characters.  They went with the cookie cutter blondes on that front.  I guess one step at a time!

First “Chuck”.  It’s been trendy the last few years to have nerd sidekicks, but it’s nice to see the geek have his glory as a lead.  I liked that Chuck wasn’t such a stereotypical nerd, and it looks like the series could go some cool places, but I’m reserving judgment on whether I’m raving.   It seems like the show is trying to do a lot at once, and I guess a few more episodes will tell if this will stay on my Tivo or not.  There are a lot of suspension of disbelief moments in this, some tres cheesy, but I do like the lead actor, and the whole Best Buy ripoff workplace could provide some funny story lines.  It looks like they will be going with more of the espionage angle though, so I’ll just watch and see.   After seeing Gossip Girl (UGH) this show was amazing in comparison.

“Big Bang Theory” I really wanted to hate, but thankfully there were many moments where I laughed out loud, more than any other comedy I’ve seen since The Office season was over.  It’s really well written and acted.  At first I was like “Oh no, they’re playing stereotypical nerds” but after the first scene I really got into the clever dialogue, and I love the fact that, for once, the actors weren’t reading their lines to the rafters.  For some reason they direct sitcom acting SO BIG lately, and the offhand delivery here was so refreshing.  The guy playing Sheldon particularly charmed me, his line delivery reminded me of Niles from Frasier.  I have no idea why the girl’s character would ever hang out with these guys, but I decided to go with it because I wanted to see more of the guys’ characters.  I definitely will keep watching this.  And not only because they had a WOW screenshot in it but because I don’t want the sitcom to die as an art form.  And if Chuck Lorre has to save it singlehandedly, then so be it!