The Point Radio: Dissecting THE BLACKLIST
Transcript
The Point Radio It's my crop, no hype, no promotion, it's just true that the Blacklist is the fastest growing show on television and easily the number one hit of the new TV season. So how did it happen? And can the folks behind the show keep it going? We'll talk to the cast and creators.
Meanwhile, that ghost in the show movie finally gets moving and the Powerpuff Girls cover? Really? Let's get to The Point. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. Sometimes the holiday break can well put the brakes on a television series, even one that starts out the season as a bona fide hit.
And it's not been the case-over for NBC's Blacklist back and bigger than ever, getting tremendous new audience every week. I talked to executive producer John Isendorf and asked him what he thinks made this show really the only breakout hit of this television season. It's got a great character at the center and writing for Red is an incredibly fun thing to do.
And you know, we spent a lot of time crafting the stories and the procedural beats and the bread and butter of the show, but nothing makes us laugh more than when we're trying to figure out what Red would say in any given situation. Cast member Paramander Negra has a similar take. I think it's the mixture between, you know, a serialized drama between the procedural and the characters more importantly. I think, you know, you can often have so many shows that do the serialized part of it and just do that bit particularly well.
And you never really get to find out about the characters. And I think that's what an audience craves. Certainly what I crave when I watch a show is like I want to know who these people are, what makes them tick. And the fact that Red Reddington and Liz Keane are such a mystery and people want to know the answers and it keeps them guessing. I think, you know, they want to know, they want to find out and they're hanging in week after week to find out who these characters are.
And they, you know, people care about these characters as well. You want to have something to care about and something to relate to. And of course, you know, you've got all the action, you know, it's thrilling to watch, you know, all the mayhem that occurs week after week. And these amazing, you know, the bad guys, as it were, you know, that there's such interesting characters in themselves. And it's character and story and the action.
I think it's just one great package. And I think people love that. And I love watching that as myself. Co-executive producer John Bogankamp told me that he really enjoys the immediacy of what you can do in television production. To me, all of my past experience has been in feature films where they take six years to go from, you know, an idea or something on the page to an actual movie, if they ever do.
And here things happen so quickly. And something that, you know, we have an idea or like John says, something that makes us laugh or we have something that surprises us. We put it on paper and very quickly it's on air. And to me, that's sort of a fascinating and really exciting process. An integral part of this new run of episodes, I asked Parmander how she came on board with the Blacklist.
Well, the story is I sort of feel like it came out of a little sort of out of left field for me. I was asked to go in and audition for this part. And I suppose you'd probably have to ask the two Johns more specifically. But I was asked to go in and audition, but I went in and auditioned and didn't know too much about the character and just sort of proceed to find out what was going to happen with it. As you know, as we're going along now and playing a badass character, I have to say I'm enjoying it.
And probably a bit too much sometimes. It's like now I'm just kind of you just give me a gun and let me run around with it. I'd be really happy. But it's very empowering. It's I love it.
I really, really do enjoy playing such a strong female character. It's nice. And you don't get a lot of those, you know, you don't get a lot of those parts, especially on TV for women that are so strong. So it's nice to be able to be to be able to do that and to be part of something like this. And your character just keeps on growing.
I feel like I'm sort of getting a bit more of a better handle on who she is as well. But I'm constantly being surprised with the script, which is really nice because it's just, you know, the reveals happening slowly and also for others, actors, the reveal is happening slowly. And it's nice to open scripts every week and not quite know like you sort of feel like you might be going in a particular direction, which it makes you play. I feel like it makes you play the scene truthfully in the moment without too much knowledge.
I mean, you're you obviously got to have a basic background knowledge of who this person is. But it's also a nice part of doing a series is you get to really create something that's original that hopefully lasts for years. We've got more on the blacklist coming up. Meanwhile, new episodes every Monday on NBC and catch up at NBC dot com. Let's kick off the week with the latest in pop culture.
It could be time to upgrade again. Apple is planning to release two new smartphones this year. There'll be larger screens than the iPhone five, which means it'll be bigger than five inches, maybe even as big as the Galaxy's five point seven inch screen. The metal casings, though, will allegedly be pretty much like the iPhone five is now and look for Apple to make these announcements and releases in the second half of the year. NBC's blacklist continues to grow.
The January 20th episode grew by 70 percent when they added in the DVR rating, setting, by the way, a new DVR playback record in sheer numbers. It was a growth from eight point 83 million to just about 14 and a half million viewers. The live action Ghost in the Shell project is moving ahead and now may also have a director. It looks like it'll be Rupert Sanders, who also did Snow White and the Huntsman a couple of years back. William Wheeler has turned in the script that happened a few months ago and the film is finally starting, as we said, to get a little momentum.
It's been kicking around at DreamWorks since back in 2008. The award for the first big comic book controversy of the year goes to IDW and the little problem they had with that variant cover to Powerpuff Girls number six. It started with comic book retailer reaction on Facebook and then finally IDW pulled the cover. They plan on re-soliciting a new one this week for retailers to get their orders in for the book, which the cut off date is fast approaching. The variant cover in question, by the way, was done by artist Mimi Yoon and depicted the girls as sexy teens in miniskirted uniforms as well.
IDW has released a statement saying that the entire cover idea came from Cartoon Network. No word yet from them, though, on the whole controversy. The transporter is coming to American television done by a French Canadian production company. The drama has already had a successful first season internationally. TNT has now acquired the series and they plan to debut it in the fall of this year.
The CW network is having a pretty good year. They had their most watched Tuesday in over five years a couple of weeks back. It involved the one, two punch of the originals and Supernatural. The originals gained 2.5 total million viewers and Supernatural came in with about both series have been growing week to week this season. And by the way, the originals is also noted as a series most active in social media among any current shows on network television.
It was done as a script for a possible daily comic strip. However, it's been repurposed to now turn into a new Doc Savage novel. Writer Will Murray worked from the unpublished manuscript found among the papers of the Doc Savage creator Lester Dent and has produced the new novel, which is called Doc Savage Phantom Lagoon. It's available as a trade paperback, a hardcover and an e-book too. You can check it out on Amazon.
There's also a website to learn more about it. Adventuresinbronze.com. The point, the point, here's what's cool. If you live in the northeast this week, your choice is already the shovel snow or read comics and assuming you make the right decision. Here's what's going on inside your comic book stores this week.
The ongoing story of Joss Whedon's Firefly continues in another new series, this one written by his brother Zach. It's called Serenity Leaves on the Wind as a new issue. First one out this week. If you've heard that the next DC Direct to DVD feature will be The Son of Batman, well then you may want to do a little research on this. If you missed Grant Morrison's great story arc that started all of it, well you can catch it in a new edition of a trade paperback, Batman and Son out this week.
Gotthobia continues in Catwoman number 27. There's also three annuals out from the new 52 universe, Earth 2 annual, Green Lantern Corps and World's Finest Annual. One of the best independents that have come out in a while has been half past danger and now it's collected in a beautiful hardcover this week. You really do want to grab that. Also, Mr. Peabody in Sherman hits issue four and a collection of the first issues as well.
So if you want to catch up on the other three and don't want to dig them up, grab the trade paperback this week. And finally, the Superman Golden Age Sundays book, the beautiful one that has been promised for a while. Finally out from IDW this week, including some things that have never seen printing in, well, since they were originally in the newspapers back decades ago. Black Science number two has a second printing from Image. Issue number three is out this week.
So a saga number 18. The Amazing Spider-Man movie adaptation begins this week in comics. Do with that what you will. Inhumanity number one has a second printing this week. There's also a second issue of that.
And from Dynamite, another one of the little books this time, Red Sonja gets a treatment in little Sonia number one. All these and more waiting for you in a comic store near you or maybe anywhere you may be. Check out to find the latest ones right now with the comic book locator service, 1-888-COMIC-BOOK. There's a link to find stores at the front of our website, ComicMix.com or the new website, findacomicshop.com. Thank you for the podcast.
We're back in a few days and there'll be more with the folks at the Black List, including the big question. When do we get some answers? In the meantime, plenty of pop culture right now. 24-7 at GetThePointRadio.com. Listen on your laptop or on your desktop computer free at GetThePointRadio.com.
Take us along on any mobile device, Apple or Android with a free app called iNet Radio and find out more about that at iNetRadio.com. The podcast comes out twice every week on websites like ComicMix.com and MichaelDavisWorld.com. And of course, you can follow us on social media under the Point Radio on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the podcast and the iTunes Podcast directory. See you right back here in a few days.
GetThePointRadio.com.
