Rebecca Cusey

SquareLens is being reborn as RebeccaCusey.com, your source for everything Rebecca Cusey. Because I know you've been waiting.

I will blog on our move, keep track of my work, and share my thoughts about TV. It's all coming.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Heroes has made some misteps this season, but it's still better than most shows. This clip shows why. In all the saving-the-world action, it incorporates themes of fatherhood, sacrifice and morality, always larger than life.

Think you have daddy issues? You got nothing on Elle (Kristen Bell). She's been a victim of "the companty," unlike the other perky blonde, Claire Bennet (Hayden Panetitere). Mr. Bennet (Jack Coleman) would do anything for his cheerleader daughter, and has. He crosses moral lines with one goal in mind: Protect Claire. Elle's dad, not so much.

Heroes has its finale tonight. It will go away and we don't get anymore until those writers and producers sit down and play nice. The strike is starting to hurt.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another of my favorite shows, Saving Grace, starts up again tonight on TNT. Played by Holly Hunter, Grace is a homicide detective with dysfunctions, what we used to call sins. God sends Earl (Leon Rippy), a last chance angel, to bring her back into the fold. She's kicking and screaming.

It's the classic existential crisis. It's shocking that this drama isn't explored more in H'wood.

 Read my National Review Online review here.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The writer's strike in Hollywood may increasingly affect your viewing. The late night talk shows have already shut down and gone into reruns, not a big loss for people who are in bed by eleven each night. Multi-camera shows were also forced to halt production immediately as writers are more involved in the filming process. This means that Back to You, Til Death, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory have stopped production, as reported by the trade magazine, Variety.

Now Variety is reporting that spy drama 24 will not begin its new season until the strike is resolved, because they don't want to have to halt the story in the middle of Jack Bauer's (Keifer Sutherland) harrowing "day." The Office will go into reruns after the November 15 episode. We will all have to depend on our real life bosses for spine-jarring embarrassing and petty moments.

Looks like the strike might force us to spend more time with our spouses and kids.

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The new season of NBC's Heroes was bogged down for a while. We were stuck in feudal Japan, reading subtitles and trying to care about Hiro's (Masi Oka) quest to defeat, oh, somebody. Skylar (Zachary Quinto) has been tramping through Central America, all evil and everything, but neutralilzed by his loss of power. Claire (Hayden Panettiere) has been going on dates with her semi-creepy flying boyfriend while her dad has been scheming with Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) and Matt (Greg Grunberg) to take down the company. Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) has been romancing girls in Ireland, his memory of the past gone.

 Interesting as backstory and all that, but we miss the days when Skylar was marauding through the show, slicing people's heads open and stealing their power. Now, that's a good time.

The villians have been too much off screen. We hear about the Nightmare Man and Adam from the characters, but aside from a shadowy guy in a hood, we didn't get to adequately meet them. November 6th's episode, however, regained some of the magic of last season. The scene in which Mark traps the Nightmare Man, also his father, in a nightmare of his own, was engrossing. In trapping his dad, Mark also released himself from the psychological chains of his father's abandonment. This is why we love the show, for its gripping stories interwoven with profound comments on family and sacrifice.

So now we've got Hiro's hero, Takezo Kensei (David Anders), transferred to the present and revealed as the sinister Adam. We've got Peter having traveled to a future in which a virus has killed most of mankind, and misplacing his ladylove there. And Mr. Bennet has been acting more and more ruthless in his quest to end the company, while the company seems to be reforming their ways. Or are they?

They just might have something here.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Writer's Guild of America, which represents movie and television writers, went on strike this morning. The fight is over residuals (meaning checks) from new media (meaning, mostly, internet streaming). Everyone knows that the internet is the future of entertainment, and everyone wants a big slice of the pie.

 Here's what the writer's strike means to you, the innocent bystander who just wants to consume entertainment:

Immediate reruns of late night shows, such as Late Night with David Letterman and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, not to mention Saturday Night Live and Mad TV. Those craving stupid animal tricks, undereducated "Jaywalkers" or Obama cameos will have to find them locally.

Scripted shows have some completed episodes and scripts to draw on. However, if the strike continues, it will force scripted shows into reruns without necessarily completing their story arcs. Hiro may be stranded in feudal Japan, George and Izzy may be frozen in their sick love triangle, and House may be stuck being, well, cranky.

Movies already in post production should be fine, but the strike may hold up other anticipated films, such as Prince Caspian (the next Narnia film) and The Hobbit.

Five words: More Dancing with the Stars. And more of every other reality show.

The networks will be slow to cancel shows because, golly gee, it might stink but at least it's something to put on the air. I'm talking about you, Til Death.

If things get desperate, the networks might bring back episodes of cancelled shows, such as Anchorwoman or Viva Laughlin.

Oh! The Humanity! Let's hope it never comes to that.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Bella, a beautiful movie about redemption, opens on Friday. This gem won the Peoples' Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Eduardo Verastegui stars as Jose, a man with a once-promising future shattered by a tragedy that happened in a split second. He works as a chef in his brother's restaurant, where he meets Nina (Tammy Blanchard). Despite his haunting past, Jose reaches out to Nina when she is fired by his brother. The day they spend together will impact both their lives, but not in a way you'd expect.

 This film is beautiful, with a warm, loving family that surrounds Jose and Nina. Latino culture is portrayed in a refreshing light, with Jose and his family acting on inherent decency that goes beyond any people group.

See this movie. You'll be glad you did.

Posted by rebeccacusey at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)