Seth MacFarlane to remake 'The Flintstones'

 

"Yabba dabba do, Seth MacFarlane will finally achieve his dream! The mastermind behind Family Guy will reboot the classic animated series The Flintstones for Fox.

Fox execs made the announcement at the network’s presentation today in New York. The show will go in production this fall for a 2013 launch. “One of the first things I ever drew was Fred Flintstone,” MacFarlane told advertisers. As for his re-imagination, he said the show has to keep up with the times but some things will remain familiar for old fans. “The characters will look the same but the only thing that will change is the stories,” he said. “What’s the [prehistoric] version of an iPod?”

Dan Palladino (Gilmore Girls) and Kara Vallow (Family Guy) will also serve as exec producers."

I'm sorry, what? Who's bright idea was it to green-light this? I understand that MacFarlane has produced one of the most talked-about television shows (never mind cartoons) of this generation and I realise that fans of his previous work are going to eat this up, but why? Is there that little creativity flowing that original series get cancelled for remakes? 

Recently, Fox have discontinued 'Human Target' and 'Lie to Me'. Two programmes which I had heard great things about. Not to mention the fact that 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' failed to be renewed after two seasons despite the encouragement of fans. Yes, that was two years but the pain's still there, dammit!


I understand that shows get cancelled all the time. Some of my favourites from recent years, including 'Heroes' and 'Scrubs', have been axed with the former not even earning a finale episode, despite featuring a linear narrative. Fuck you, NBC. 'Scrubs' was later picked up by ABC, producing what is known as 'Scrubs: Med School'. This season was just terrible, leaving ABC to finally take the show out into the back garden and put a bullet between its eyes. Shit, 'Family Guy' was cancelled twice before it became such a hit.

Where was I? Oh, yes, 'The Flintstones'.


If MacFarlane and the writers stay true to the original sixties Hanna-Barbera format and just literally give the show a touch-up, I will be fine with that. However, I do not see that being the case. I can imagine it now: "Wilma, this is worse than the time I first saw a dinosaur!" *cut to flashback segway featuring Joan Rivers* (Get it? 'Cause she's like a million years old? Okay, it's not perfect but I literally pulled that out of my ass.)


With the quality of MacFarlane's works being as they are now, it's hard to get excited about this. 'Family Guy' hasn't been great since about 2008, though I did enjoy the 'Laugh It Up, Fuzzball' 'Star Wars' homage trilogy. Let's just hope that this is not another quick cash-grab by Fox/MacFarlane like the abortion that is 'The Cleveland Show'.

The Hunt for the Perfect Discography: The Beatles, Part One

Is it possible for an artist or band to go their whole career without a single bad album? Surely some have managed it? 

Today, I will look at The Beatles' discography:

Please Please Me (1963)
Despite it's critical acclaim, this is not one of my favourite Beatles albums. That does not however make it a bad one! I simply prefer the post-'Revolver' time in their career. In no way is this album terrible, though you could argue the fact that nearly half of the album's tracks being covers brings it down a notch. Ringo's track 'Boys' is pretty awful.

With the Beatles (1963)
Similarly to 'Please Please Me', 'With the Beatles' features nearly fifty percent cover versions and the early rock and roll style The Beatles debuted with. This is probably my least favourite of the band's 'great' albums and, according to Last.fm, it's the one I have listened to the least. Again, Ringo cuts a terrible track with 'I Wanna Be Your Man', though the Harrison-sung cover of Chuck Berry's 'Roll Over Beethoven' makes up for it. 'All My Loving' grates on me also, though that may be due to over-exposure.

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Serving as the soundtrack to their 1964 film debut of the same name, 'A Hard Day's Night' shows where Lennon and McCartney began to improve on their composure, receiving songwriting credits for all thirteen tracks. Lennon primarily wrote most of the material on the album contributing nine of the songs. The album features two of the band's biggest hits in 'Can't Buy Me Love' and the title track. Probably my second-favourite early Beatles album behind 'Help!'

Beatles for Sale (1964)
Another good album, featuring tracks such as 'I Feel Fine', 'Eight Days a Week' and 'Baby's in Black'. 'Rock and Roll Music', another Chuck Berry cover, is also a highlight. 'No Reply', 'Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby' and 'I'm a Loser' are also standout tracks, making 'Beatles for Sale' the strongest release so far.

Help! (1965)
The second soundtrack album and fifth album overall, 'Help!' is a near-perfect offering by the Fab Four. Nearly song on the album is great with the band only slipping up with 'Act Naturally' (Ringo again!) and 'Another Girl', though both tracks are listenable. 'I've Just Seen a Face', 'Ticket to Ride', 'Help!' and 'The Night Before' are highlights. I think I actually hate 'Yesterday' though. Yes, okay, it's a beautiful song but I'm just sick to death of hearing the fucker.

Rubber Soul (1965)
Here is where things start to really pick up. Not unlike 'Help!', 'Rubber Soul' is arguably a perfect album. Notably the album in which The Beatles began to evolve from their previous Merseybeat sound and become something much more. This album has got everything from French ballads ('Michelle'), folk influences ('Norwegian Wood'), baroque pop ('In My Life') to threats of murder brought on by jealousy ('Run for Your Life'). The compressed and harmonised piano effect found on 'The Word' would later influence the psychedelic wave of music of the late sixties. Only 'What Goes On' brings the album down from true perfection (fucking Ringo again!) being the second-longest track on the record.

So there we have the first six albums from The Beatles and not one is a stinker thus far. Stay tuned for the second part of their discography coming soon!

Nice one Blogger

Isn't it typical that as soon as I start getting back into this blog nonsense, the whole system goes down? As an added bonus, the posts I had done since 2010 were deleted and my old template was restored. Double-yoo tee eff right? Strangely, the posts have now been restored though some images were removed. Also a couple of the posts from last year have been pushed to the top of the list somehow. Anyway, just a rant. Still managed to get three views today though for some godforsaken reason.

Music & Dreams Experiment II

"My Wave" by Soundgarden, from 'Superunknown' (1994)

I nodded off listening to this on the train to Liverpool but I don't remember much of my dream or if I even had one. I recall there being a blinding light but that could have easily been the sun shining through the train windows. I was awaken by some twat listening to 50 Cent on his phone so not much to report.

Music & Dreams Experiment I

"Parabola" by Tool, from 'Lateralus' (2001)

The dream started in a dark corridor in which there was no visible light source, yet I could still see. I was moving down the hallway as if I was standing on a conveyer belt. Loud shrieking noises could be heard all around me but no indication of where they were coming from. I came to a large metal door which was extremely cold. The noises grew louder but as I came to open the door I was woken up by 'Faaip de Oiad' (the last track on the album).
A very strange dream, which seems to reflect on the dark, solemn, gloomy music which Tool produce.