Agent Carter

[Formeruser012523]

And I just read this, why? I need to listen when I'm warned. Ugh!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Hayley Atwell wants an Agent Carter film!

http://theplaylist.net/give-movie-h...t-carter-get-feature-film-treatment-20160928/

 

[Blackjack]

Hayley Atwell wants an Agent Carter film!

http://theplaylist.net/give-movie-h...t-carter-get-feature-film-treatment-20160928/

She may want it but I doubt it will ever happen. AC had great ratings it's first season and it played really well as a period piece where it was set, they should have left it there and kept going. As per an interview with one of the shows producers it was Atwell who fought to make the show edgier and bring in a racial slant, she thought the viewers would love it. They fought, she fought, she won and the viewers hated it. The negative mail was a reflection of the almost immediate sinking ratings. The second season was more 66 batman with a pc message than anything to do with her character. Once again, they had a good thing going and made a stupid move by letting her change the whole dynamic of the show. Where is she now?

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ didn't realize that's why the second season changed so much. I thought it lost its atmosphere out in LA and the story became incoherent, silly and not worth the effort. Also the Sci-fi was embarrassingly inconsistent and, I'll just say it, stupid.

But I still enjoyed the period details that remained and the passion she brought to it enough to stay with it, but it was much better in season one. The problem with pc stuff was that it was obvious - it felt forced. The racial narrative could have been very interesting, but it wasn't put in a '40s context of how it would have played out then, but in a 2015 idealized manner to jam a message down the viewers' throats.

 

[Blackjack]

⇧ didn't realize that's why the second season changed so much. I thought it lost its atmosphere out in LA and the story became incoherent, silly and not worth the effort. Also the Sci-fi was embarrassingly inconsistent and, I'll just say it, stupid.

But I still enjoyed the period details that remained and the passion she brought to it enough to stay with it, but it was much better in season one. The problem with pc stuff was that it was obvious - it felt forced. The racial narrative could have been very interesting, but it wasn't put in a '40s context of how it would have played out then, but in a 2015 idealized manner to jam a message down the viewers' throats.

Yeah, well that was all Haley Atwell's idea, so I don't think there's going to be a movie coming of this unless they decided they could make big bucks off it and then I'm sure she wouldn't have any say in the script.
In my opinion they should have stayed in NY for the "look" maybe brought in a little sexual tension with one of the other agents but face facts, no one wanted to see Carter with anyone but Capt. A.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I suspect that "she" had less to do with the retooling of the second season than directives that came down from ABC/Disney/Marvel. But yeah, most of the second season changes didn't improve the series. (In particular, the utterly-wrong-for-the-period racial stuff is classic ABC/Disney PC meddling.) Still, it had its moments and I'd love to see her play the character again, at whatever age.

BTW, the character got a shout-out in this week's Agents of SHIELD episode: Coulson is giving a congressional group a tour of SSR/SHIELD HQ (since in light of the Sokovia Accords, SHIELD has been re-instituted as a less-secret organization) and he said something like, "While she's quite famous, there are a lot of things Peggy Carter did that aren't yet public knowledge." How meta!

 

[Frunobulax]

Where is she now?

Starring in her own legal drama on ABC.

...no one wanted to see Carter with anyone but Capt. A.

Or, uh me...

 

[Doctor Strange]

Atwell's new series, Conviction, starts next Monday. I'm gonna give it a try, but I suspect it's gonna leave me cold apart from Atwell herself.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Or, uh me...

Good one.

 

[Formeruser012523]

In my opinion they should have stayed in NY for the "look" maybe brought in a little sexual tension with one of the other agents but face facts, no one wanted to see Carter with anyone but Capt. A.

They were never actually in New York. The "move" was probably just to save on the CGI budget of the outdoor shots. Personally, I always liked Sousa & hoped in season 1 she'd end up with him, plus it was nice to see a disabled character on tv. So rare in today's world.

I suspect that "she" had less to do with the retooling of the second season than directives that came down from ABC/Disney/Marvel. But yeah, most of the second season changes didn't improve the series. (In particular, the utterly-wrong-for-the-period racial stuff is classic ABC/Disney PC meddling.) Still, it had its moments and I'd love to see her play the character again, at whatever age.

BTW, the character got a shout-out in this week's Agents of SHIELD episode: Coulson is giving a congressional group a tour of SSR/SHIELD HQ (since in light of the Sokovia Accords, SHIELD has been re-instituted as a less-secret organization) and he said something like, "While she's quite famous, there are a lot of things Peggy Carter did that aren't yet public knowledge." How meta!

PC things in period pieces never work. Why they try, I don't know. They introduced that character, then made him disappear then reappear? It made no sense.

Nice catch on that line from Coulson. Hope there's more on that.

Apart from Peggy, think Jarvis was the best character on the show that I'll miss the most. Oh well.

Atwell's new series, Conviction, starts next Monday. I'm gonna give it a try, but I suspect it's gonna leave me cold apart from Atwell herself.

After seeing the trailer, I'll be avoiding this one. Disappointing to see her doing the things she's doing after being a d*** hero to little girls.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Times article on Hayley Atwell. Yeah, it's primarily a puff piece about Conviction, but there's some info about Atwell herself I hadn't seen elsewhere:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/a...l-swapping-a-secret-agent-for-a-hot-mess.html

 

[Frunobulax]

Times article on Hayley Atwell. Yeah, it's primarily a puff piece about Conviction, but there's some info about Atwell herself I hadn't seen elsewhere:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/a...l-swapping-a-secret-agent-for-a-hot-mess.html

Nice article. Thanks for posting.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Okay, I watched the Conviction pilot last night. I don't think it's got a chance of succeeding. Do we really need another legal procedural set in NYC?!? I found the two cases in the episode, and the costar members of the team, hopelessly boring.

Atwell is, of course, great, bringing her usual charisma and acting chops, and when the focus is on her, the show has some life. (I particularly liked the one scene of her interacting with her steely politico mother, played by the always great Bess Armstrong.) But the conception of her character - former First Daughter and genius lawyer, but a total trainwreck given one last chance to make something of herself... and her underdog team - is just too much. She's too good for this junk.

The show may be useful in making Atwell more familiar to the viewing public, but I predict bad reviews, bad ratings, and likely cancelation before they even order the back half of the season.

 

[Fading Fast]

Okay, I watched the Conviction pilot last night. I don't think it's got a chance of succeeding. Do we really need another legal procedural set in NYC?!?...

Yup, they lost with the copy-cat concept - won't even give the show a shot.

Also, after forty years of interacting with lawyers (I'm in finance, not a lawyer), I have seen the slimy ones, I've seen the solid citizen work-a-day ones and I've seen some really smart ones who are basically honest, but play the game of grey area as that is the only game in law at a highly competitive level.

No criticism, that's life. But what I've never seen is the incredibly smart, dedicated lawyer who will really truly risk his / her career for the integrity of the law, for pure justice, for an ideal of honesty. Yet in these shows, those lawyers are almost always the stars.

Seen too much of the inside of the sausage factory to watch the crusading super lawyer TV show.

 

[Formeruser012523]

First comment under this article: "Can we have Agent Carter back now?"

http://deadline.com/2016/11/convict...rder-abc-13-original-episodes-air-1201850888/

 

[Doctor Strange]

Hayley Atwell's next role is one of the leads in a new miniseries adaptation of Howard's End from the BBC and Starz:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hayley-atwell-star-howards-end-series-976481

Well, it's a step up from the godawful Conviction. And Emma Thompson won an Oscar for playing the same character in the 1992 Merchant/Ivory film.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hayley Atwell's next role is one of the leads in a new miniseries adaptation of Howard's End from the BBC and Starz:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hayley-atwell-star-howards-end-series-976481

Well, it's a step up from the godawful Conviction. And Emma Thompson won an Oscar for playing the same character in the 1992 Merchant/Ivory film.

Based on the last season of "Agent Carter" (she was fine, but the story lines were a sloppy mess) and "Conviction," she needs a reset, perhaps, a good period piece is just the ticket. Might have to pull my copy of "Howards End" off the shelf and give it a quick reread to get pumped for the series.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Atwell is always excellent. Don't know if I ever mentioned...

The new Disney Cinderella from a couple of years ago, the one with Cate Blanchett and Lily James, directed by Kenneth Branagh. Though my kids are now grown up, I'm always interested in anything from the fairy tale, myth/legend, and fantasy realm, so I gave it a watch.

It's a surprisingly enjoyable film, as good a "straight" version of the story as you could ever ask for, and with downright stunning costumes and opulent sets. It's not the live action remake of their fifties animated version I expected, though it riffs on it (for example, Ella does have a mouse friend named Gus-Gus, but he doesn't speak, none of the animals do apart from the ones transformed into her coachmen). The one aspect of it that I was surprised I didn't really enjoy was Blanchett's Stepmother - they play her as the usual villain...but also try to humanize her and explain her motives, and even with Cate's usual great performance, it's confused and unsatisfying. Anyway...

The reason I'm mentioning this here is because Hayley Atwell has a tiny but crucial part: she plays Ella's mother, who dies four minutes into the prologue. But in that brief screen time, she makes a vivid impression, and on her deathbed she provides Ella with her own "superhero mantra" that acts as her guiding principle and source of strength thereafter: "Always have courage... And be kind." It's not so far from Agent Carter's "I know my value", and as usual, Atwell's (you should excuse the term!) conviction gives it way more punch than was on the script page.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Can I just have Jarvis's wardrobe now that he doesn't need it anyone?