Being Human Being Gone

With this song on January 17, 2011, a new tv show premiered that soon became one of my and my wife's favorite shows. BEING HUMAN. Then on April 7, 2014, after 4 seasons the run is over, at the creators request. It has been a long time since a show has affected me like this one and I am going to try to write out why that is.

I guess it was one of the first shows that had a very big social media prescence, I tweeted episodes and met new people who have since become friends as we shared in this great series. Also the main cast members used Social Media to their advantage as well by detailing behind the scenes events, pictures, and live tweeting the shows. So it seems like you got a really good glimpse into what made this show special.

Sammy Huntington, Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, and Kristin Hager always tweeted and even tweeted at each other. You could tell from these tweets that they loved working on the show, that they loved working with each other, and that they were truly sad when this adventure was over. These 4 were one of the main reasons that this show ruled. They appeared to be friends and real life which added to their TV friendship as well.

It all started with the Brits. The British seem to have some of the greatest ideas ever and this one was no different, and idea that seemed so obvious that you smack your head and say why didnt I think of this? They created a show called Being Human, the basic premise was a vampire and a werewolf are friends and they move into a house that is haunted by a ghost. Just like that 3 of the biggest horror creatures are joined together as they try to find a way to live a normal life while being extraordinary. It took off in Britain so much so that the Syfy network decided they needed their own American Version as well. Now usually that pisses me off we always try to do our version of certain shows, and the British are the same way they try to do British versions of our shows. But history goes to Britain as they have more shows that get americanized then vice versa. But in this case the creators of the show were going to produce and develop the American Version which is so much better when the creators take over to make sure that it is done right. They soon were not as hands on after the first season was a huge success and then they let their American Counterparts take over while they still produced from afar.

Now the show is more about the characters then the stories. It is how these characters deal with trying to be normal when they cannot be, but they do not give up. It is unfortunate though that life has other plans for them and their extraordinary lives continue to mess them up. This is not a happy show. Yes there is a lot of humor, and fun to be had, but there is alot of darkness and despair, some romance blossoms as well but the dark pervades and makes it hard for our heroes to have a happy ending.

We have Josh (Sammy Huntington) the Jewish Neurotic Werewolf, brillant but underutilized due to his constant fear of losing control of the wolf. He feels he cannot have a normal life because when the wolf comes out it can kill you, or turn you into a werewolf and he does not want the guilt. And guilt he has. Guilt about the loss of his friend who was savaged by the werewolf that turned Josh, guilt in leaving his fiancee Julia at the altar because he did not want to harm her when he wolfed out. Guilt at the murders he causes when in the wolf form, even if it is protecting himself or his loved ones. Guilt at turning Nora (Kristin Hager) a brillant doctor whom he loves into a werewolf and even taking the guilt of what she does in the wolf onto himself. More on Nora in a bit.

We have Aidan (Sam Witwer) the brooding guilt ridden vampire who has lived for 200 plus years and has gone from mean son of a bitch, to a mere shadow of his usual self. He now just wants to live a normal life without causing anymore death and destruction. He no longer feeds on people but bags of blood he gets from the hospital where he works as a nurse. That is also where he befriended Josh and though Werewolves and Vampires are mortal enemies the two of them became best friends and they both have the same desire to be free of their horror and just live normal lives without guilt. So the two decide to move in together as roomates so that they can try to have a normal life. Of course nothing goes as planned as the house they move into is haunted by a ghost.

Sally (Meaghan Rath) was killed in the house the boys moved into by her abusive fiancee Danny and she is stuck there. But when these two extraordinary guys move in, who due to their afflictions, can see and interact with Sally. So now we have three people all trying to live as normal a life as they can. They have fun, they try to encourage each other, they help each other and it's all good. But the horror is still around them.

Nora (Kristin Hager) was turned into a werewolf by Josh, and impregnanted as well while in mid change. She had a miscarriage and does not take well to her new life as a werewolf. Josh feels guilt because it was an accident. And Nora is kind of unlikable in the first two seasons, but when you look at what is happening to her your hatred of her vanishes and then in the last two seasons Nora comes around and becomes an important of the story and another friend for the trio. This gives Sally a gal pal that they can talk girly stuff about as well. And Nora loves Josh, but sometimes his neurosis gets to her and she is also fighting off an abusive ex boyfriend who burned her.

Their lives go through so much upheval in the four seasons that it is crazy that they still remain true to their goal of Being Human. The first season set up the friendships and we discover the evil that his danny, and also the fact that Aidan still slips and kills people, Josh's neurosis is on full bore here and the crew takes on the head of the vampire crew in Boston who also happens to be Aidan's "father" Bishop. Bishop turned Aidan and has tried to keep him within the family despite many ups and downs.

Second season has Nora not taking her change to well and ends up disappearing from Josh's life for ahwile and hanging with a purebred werewolf brother and sister. Josh feels guilt about Nora and is trying to discover a cure for the werewolf problem soon gets re-involved with his ex-fiancee only to see her get killed when he turns during an eclipse. Aidan is now grooming the new head of the Boston Vampires an old flame of his who he gets involved with again. As well as the reemergence of his "son" Henry whom he turned. Sally discovers the ability to shread which is the power to kill other ghosts. She also learns she can enter bodies and feel their feels. She is being stalked by something known as the Reaper.

The Third season was the wish fulfillment season whereas at the end of the 2nd season Josh is no longer a Werewolf and he and Nora are back together. After two years of searching for Aidan and Sally who have disappeared, we get the return of Aidan who returns to a world where a virus is decimating the Vampire population, and Aidan appears to be immune to it. The virus culls the vampire horde who cannot feed on humans in case they get infected. So Aidan now lives and reigns in a world where all the vampires are like him. And Sally discovers a way back into her body and is reanimated.  However we learn that especially with this crew things dont stay good for long, as we learn that Aidan is facing a shortage of good blood and he may die soon, but finds a new human who is not infected, Kenny who declares that the only way he will feed Aidan is if he becomes a vampire. Aidan eventually turns Kenny, but all does not go well. Josh after being free of the wolf for two years gets attacked by a pureblood and rebitten and turns into a pureblood, and Sally starts to degenerate into a zombie like life form.

Finally the 4th season wraps it all up as Josh tries to come to terms with his new form, Nora is pregnant again, Aidan has to deal with the return of his wife who was also turned into a vampire by Bishop unknown to Aidan, and Sally learns magic but while trying to be helpful actually causes more troubles. We also learn that she has fallen in love with Aidan.

Those are just brief nuggets of the 4 seasons, a lot more goes on in there then I wrote and I highly suggest you look them up and watch them. All are 13 episode seasons which is another reason why it is so good since you have a tight taut storyline, and also these characters are wonderfully portrayed, I cannot go on about how good the acting is. The storyline's are also intriguing but it's the characters that sell the show. These are people I would like to hang out with myself. The finale is a good example of this, after all the darkness and horrific scenes they have lived through that they SPOILER WARNING!! Get their Happy Endings. Aidan is free of Vampire form and dies and goes to the afterlife where Sally is waiting, and Nora and Josh live happily together with their twin children living a regular human life. In the end they all get what they want and it is good.

The last episode was picture perfect, tying up loose ends and giving everyone what I longed for these wonderful people a happy ending. Again the characters make the story, the actors bring them to life and Being Human was a perfect blend of actor and character. You will be missed my friends. I will be picking up all 4 seasons so I can watch them anytime I want. You should too.

My (very) Brief career as a Television Extra

The late 90s was a good time for the film industry of Baltimore. Homicide Life on the Streets was a critically acclaimed show that lasted I think 6 seasons on NBC. Filmed entirely in Baltimore it brought mucho dinero to the area and employed thousands. Also movies were being filmed not only in Baltimore but in the surrounding area. During this time I was working at a Bagel shop. My hours were abyssmal, 330-1030 or up to 1200 depending how busy we were. But it was a job and I was making money. I was still living at home and had no car. My interest in comics had waned, but I was obsessed with movies. When I got to leave at 1030, usually on Fridays I would head up to Towson Commons and watch the new movies that came out. At night before bed I would watch movies in my bed. I was writing screenplays, had visions and dreams of being in the film industry. Then one day I saw it, an ad in the employment section of the Baltimore Sun. Extras wanted for local filmmaking please send resume and screen shot. So I did. And one day I got a call.

Homicide was filming an episode that was supposed to take place at the Naval Academy. They were not allowed to film there but were able to film at St. John's also in Annapolis. They need men about my size and age to portray students on the Naval Academy campus. So I said yes and my dad drove me to Annapolis Mall where a bus would pick up the extras and ship us to the shooting location. For those who may not know an extra is one of the people in the background moving around or doing things that do not affect the main shooting scene. It's to make it look like the scene is taking place in a real location and not some set.
So we got bussed to the shooting location. We were told that actors Andre Braugher and Kyle Secor would be the only members of the show shooting a scene there. It was our job to dress as Naval Academy midshipmen and walk in formation or in straight lines around the scene. They would also be shooting some exterior stuff of us walking around in our uniforms to set the scene. So we did the scene a bunch of times. And we broke for lunch. Andre Braugher who was the breakout star of the show went back to his trailer, while Kyle Secor hung out with us at the craft services area where we were eating lunch. Then we filmed a few more scenes of us marching around and that was it. They let us know when the show would be tenatively airing and to just keep an eye out for it. We were also paid 50 bucks for it. So I waited. Finally I saw the episode was coming on and told everyone to watch it. And the scene we filmed with the actors was literally about 10 seconds long. No exterior shots were used and I don't even think any of the extras showed up in the scene. So ok that's fine. It was an experience I can talk about.

About a year later they actually called me and requested me to join them for another episode of Homicide. Why not I thought.  So I got off the day from work and this time it was filming at Coppin State University. I was a college student. And the episode was set during Valentines Day. (We were filming it in January). It was also directed by Clark Johnson who also had a roll on the show. He played Detecticve Meldrich Lewis, and he was one of the stars of the ensemble who also happened to direct. So thatr was a bonus one of the actors directing us. Then the cherry on top was that the special guest star of the episode was none other than Neil Patrick Harris! (Before he had his renaissance, he was playing the bad guy) I ended up filming three scenes in the episode. So right off the bat I thought Great now I will actually get on!

The first one had me being a student walking down a hallway around Neil Patrick Harris who was being questioned by Brody the semi regular character played by Max Perlich who appeared to be the star of the episode. He was a cameraman who would film crime scenes and this episode a friend of his was killed. So I was supposed to walk around the actors as they were doing their lines then stop at a bullentin board and pretend to be reading something on it.  The second scene had me being a cast member of the theater troupe who was rehearsing the play Eqqus while Brody was questioning another student. I was told to wear a sheet and a horses head. (Since if you read Eqqus would know why). What was cool about this scene was that when we were waiting on the lighting to get fixed or the camera to get reloaded Max Perlich would talk to us about anything. I had never had an actor before talk to me like a regular guy, and go out of their way to talk to you as well.

The third scene was the best. As mentioned before the episode took place on Valentines day. We were filming in the cafeteria. Here Clark Johnson was front and center in his directing shouting our orders for us on how to act as he filmed. He set me across from a woman. We had to pretend we were madly in love with each other. Holding hands looking into each others eyes. ETC.  Apparently I didn't do a great job because the actor turned director Clark Johnson started calling me out on things, in a playful manner mind you. Any other director would not have been a big deal but this was one of the leads on the showing telling me what to do and making fun of me. So he panned across all the tables and passed ours and did it two or three times then we were wrapped. The shoot was over and I got to collect another 50 bucks. But it was cool because of the interactions with the actors and the fact that Neil Patrick Harris was there as well.

So right around Valentines day the episode aired and the storyline they were filming with us was relegated to a B story, so not a lot happened. They cut the EQQUS scene to shreads, they cut the scene in the cafeteria RIGHT BEFORE IT WOULD HAVE PANNED ON ME!!!! Finally the NPH scene, you can see me, barely. I was the big guy in shadow looking at a bulletin board. You would not know it was me unless I told you.

So a few months later I get another call. Species 2 is filming in the area and they were wondering if I was available for an overnight shoot. Now at this time I was working at the bagel shop and really could not take off. So I turned them down. I never heard from them again. Sigh. Well there was my touch with Hollywood. All in all a neat experience, but a little disappointing since I was never seen. Oh well. Them's the breaks.

Double Dose of SMG please

My wife all ready knows this. I have a huge crush on Sarah Michelle Gellar. I guess it came from her days on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but in my days before I became a kept man, I used to cut her picture out of magazines and tape them up in my room at my mothers house where I lived for about 6 years after graduating from college. Then around the same time I started dating my wife Sarah disappeared from view. Buffy was over, her movie career was not one of the best. So she got married to Freddie Prinze Jr. and had a baby girl. Then she went in mom mode around the time that I got married and had a daughter to. I never saw any of her movies she made after Buffy, though I am sure sometime in the next few years I will be watching the Live Action Scooby Doo's because my kids may become interested in them.  So last year I was excited to hear that she was coming back to TV albeit on the CW. Originally CBS was going to air it, but ended up just producing it and sold it to the CW. What might have been if it had a major network backing. However RINGER appears to be getting cancelled after one season. And I'm ok with that.

It took me a while to warm up to RINGER, but now with the end in sight I have new respect for it. Because it reminds me of a Noir Novel. Each episode ends on a cliffhanger or big surprise like a lot of books do that get you to come back for more. Or get you excited to read the next chapter. As the weeks progressed on the show the story got crazier and more intricate, and more addictive. Despite all that it did not appear to me like they were throwing stuff on a wall to see what makes it stick. They had a plan and each crazy twist makes sense in the end when you view the story a few eps from the twist. It keeps your interest and makes you wonder what will happen next and how can this end happily for everyone involved.

At it's heart it is a revenge tale. (POSTING SPOILERS RIGHT NOW!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!)

Siobhan and Bridget are twins. And they are both played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yummy!! They had a falling out a few years ago over the death of Siobhan's son who Bridget was taking care of and accidentally was killed in a car accident in a car driven by Siobhan's estranged baby daddy Dylan. (Yes that IS awesome) Siobhan has never forgiven her sister and moved to New York where she fell in love with a married man and stole him from his wife. His name is Andrew. He is played by Ioan Gruffaud who played Mr. Fantastic in the two Fantastic Four movies that were released a few years ago. They got married and are living the life of the rich. And Siobhan hates it. So she starts having an affair with her best friends husband Henry (Kristoffer Polaha). Siobhan then starts planning a caper that would destroy Andrew and also maybe kill Bridget as well.

Bridget meanwhile has been hitting the bottle hard and working as a stripper in Utah. (YESSS!) She witnesses a murder and FBI agent Machado (Nestor Carbonell from LOST. He with the pretty pretty eyebrows) gets her to testify against the man who did it. A crime boss named Mcowey. But at the last minute she panics and runs to New York to try to patch things up with Siobhan. Siobhan greets her with open arms and tells her she forgives her. They take a trip to the Catskills where Andrew and Siobhan have a vacation home and Bridget and Siobhan go out for a ride on a boat. Bridget exhausted from running falls asleep. When she comes to Siobhan is gone and she is in the middle of the water in a boat. Believing Siobhan has comitted suicide Bridget returns to land and decides to disappear by becoming Siobhan. She convinces everyone that she is Siobhan and soon discovers that Siobhan's life has not been all Champagne and Roses so she goes out of her way to try and repair Siobhan's life. She tries to get Siobhan and Andrew to be happy again and in the process she falls in love with Andrew. She tries to repair Siobhan's relationship with Andrew's daughter who hates Siobhan for breaking up their family. She immediately puts an end to the affair Siobhan had with Henry and tries to get her best friend to like her again.

However while trying to fix up their new loft which is being built. Bridget discovers a man who wants Siobhan dead and starts shooting at Bridget. Bridget gets the upper hand and kills the gunmen. Now she has to discover who tried to kill Siobhan. So Bridget starts digging more into Siobhan's life and discovers all kinds of wild and crazy things. And everytime she discovers something something else even weirder pops up and Bridget has to make sense of it all.  Then we discover that Siobhan actually faked her death and has travelled to Paris for some reason that has slowly been getting revealed.

There are a ton more of side storylines with the other characters that pop up in the story. Including the kidnapping of Siobhan's best friend, Andrew's daughter charging that her teacher has raped her, Machado trying to put McOwey away without Bridget's help. Bridget's sponser Malcolm (Mike Colter) is put in danger by McOwey to draw out Bridget, Andrew's possible Ponzi Scheme, The re-apperance of Andrew's ex-wife,  Siobhan's pregnancy and what her scheme is towards Andrew and Bridget, Henry trying to get his father in law to invest in Andrew's company. Mysterious people, murder, double crosses, big money, gunplay, and more. It is more than a soap opera it is a modern day Noir story. And I can't get enough of it.

Well Dylan if you love it so much why are you ok with no second season? To be honest after everything that has happened in this show, I do not know how you can have a second season without it seeming like a re-hash of the first season. The pretending to be your twin story has now been done, and where do you go after all of this? Is it possible that they had ideas for more seasons? Probably since networks tend to not give just one season to a show. They like to see that if it becomes successful that it can sustain multiple seasons.  But what you get with Ringer is a finely crafted Noir Novel with a true beginning, middle, and hopeful a fulfilling ending. With only 3 episodes left we shall see what happens. I will get back on in a few weeks to let you know if I was happy with the ending or not.

LOST without you

So LOST ended yesterday, on what I would say a high note, but there was still some questions as to the ending. Let me do a little background on my Lost habits. I watched the first season in it's entirety and half of the second season, missed the third season, except for the final episode, I caught up reading synopsises on various websites, watched half the 4th season, and all of the 5th and sixth. I own all the DVD sets except season 5 which I hope to get this week and season 6 which does not come out until 8/24. So I have followed it pretty regularly and I was very happy with the endings of the different relationships in this final episode but the final 10 minutes or so were a bit strange, though I loved them and I have a general idea what it is about.

SPOILERS BELOW

So the sideways flashes were just sort of a Limbo, heaven's waiting room as it were, and then when someone eventually gave in to it, they remembered everything that happened on the island and then went and waited for the others to arrive. As Christian Shepard stated to Jack, everything that happened on the island happened, some people died early and were just waiting in Limbo until they decided to let go or needed to help someone let go. Some lived long lives, some died early, but in the end they all went to one place to be together and move on to the next level. And some were not ready to leave their limbo, or decided to stay like Ben who didn't want to leave his limbo, or he felt he did not deserve to go. That seems to be the gist that most people are reading into it.

It makes it into a great ending to a series that still has a ton of questions that need to be answered, but this show was about the people on the island and not what the island was. I will miss the show and I hope to catch up on all the episodes I missed. Lost was great and it will be missed.