Book Review: "The War For Late Night"

The first book, which resulted in a film
based on the events within.

Around this time last year, Late Night television was the best it had been in awhile, and it was over an unfortunate situation that was playing out in the press.

In 2004, Jay Leno announced he was retiring from "The Tonight Show" and handing the reins to "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien, citing that he didn't want the same acrimony that happened when he had taken the job after Carson's retirement.  In 2009, NBC announces that they are going to retain Leno in a 10pm show, where O'Brien once again will be following Leno. "The Jay Leno Show" turns out to be one humongous flop, and leaves NBC executives scrambling for a solution to their problem.  What ends up happening is O'Brien leaving the network for cable, Leno gets his old job back under a cloud, and NBC executives are left wondering how this could have happened again.

Will there be a movie made from
this book also?

Bill Carter, who wrote about the Leno/Letterman fight in 1992 in The Late Shift, does it again in his latest book, The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy.  Reporting all sides fairly, Carter takes us back into the world of late night television. Although quite a few of these details are familiar to anyone who was following the Second Late Night Wars, there are some surprises.

-- The decision to side with Leno over O'Brien by the NBC executives had to do with money -- primarily, they didn't want to lose Leno because of his strong "play and pay" contract that guaranteed him a big payout if his show was on less than a year.  And unlike most late night hosts, O'Brien's contract didn't stipulate a start time -- his people just assumed that having the words "The Tonight Show" in the contract meant that the show started at 11:35pm.

-- Despite Letterman's monologue one night where he criticized Leno for not going somewhere else after he was fired from "Tonight," Leno DID approach ABC soon after, even hinting to people around him that he was strongly considering any offer they would make.

-- When Leno and his producer was told about the cancellation of the show and the move to 11:30pm for a half hour, he asked if O'Brien was okay with the move.  After finding out that he wasn't told about it yet, he and the producer asked if he didn't want to go along with it if they would be let go from their contract.  The executive said "no."

-- NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker doesn't really come off as a bad guy in all of this -- just as a guy who couldn't adjust to the entertainment side of the business because he ran news for so long.

-- One of the problems with Leno's show had nothing to do with Leno or his production staff, but from meeting the demands of the affiliates, who wanted the strongest comedy bits at the end of the show to lead in to the late night news, leaving the weaker bits for the beginning -- a time when most people would be tuning in to the show and deciding whether they wanted to continue watching it.

-- Leno thinks Conan should have stuck it out and doesn't understand why he didn't. Because Leno IS planning on retiring in the next few years, and we may actually start seeing some guest hosts in the lineup to be tested.

Even if you know most of the details, you'll find this book entertaining.  It's a hard one to put down.  And if you can find a copy, read "The Late Shift," also, to find out how this all began.

  

"SuckerPunch"

New movie coming out March 2011.




Other than the fact that this trailer looks pretty cool, you want to know another reason why I'm highlighting this trailer?

Yeah, a fantasy film takes place in Brattleboro, Vermont, of all places. I had to rewind the video to make sure I read that right.

From what I read online, the movie takes place in the 1950s, and the Lennox House is possibly based loosely on the Brattleboro Retreat, which at one point was the Vermont Asylum.  I lived in Brattleboro from 3rd grade until Freshman year of high school, so I got a kick out of this.

ConChrist Podcast Rundown: Episode 3

This week I've been busy with school, so I'll be focusing on just one topic this week: the ongoing revelations about the site StickyDrama.com (now offline) and its founder, 31 year old Christopher Stone.

I should have more to talk about next week.  I'll post the link when it's ready.

Nostalgia Critic: "The Room"

There's a movie made by an unknown actor/director/writer/executive producer/producer (check the credits) named Tommy Wiseau that is considered one of the worst movies out there.  It's a little independent film he made based on his novel and screenplay called "The Room."  I have not seen it, but it is developing a cult following along the lines of "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

Well, last week the Nostalgia Critic (Doug Walker) gave a hilarious review of this film, even by the end of the review recommending it to people just so they could see how bad it is.  Before him, a newer reviewer going by the name Obscura Lupa had also done her own review of the film.

By this week, both reviews have been removed from the website.  Why?  Wiseau-Films made a copyright claim on the fact that they used footage from the film to make their point.

Well, at the moment Obscura Lupa's review is stil MIA, but the Nostalgia Critic's take is up at YouTube.








I'll talk a little more about this in the podcast this week, but just thought I would post this to give you guys a preview of at least one of the topics I'll be talking about this week.

Update: Fellow TGWTG contributor Brad Jones (The Cinema Snob) made his own contribution to the recent events.

"Let Me In" Trailer Released

For those who don't know, this is a remake of a Swedish film that came out in 2008 called "Let The Right One In," which is based on a book called "Let Me In." (You confused yet?)  The Swedish film got excellent reviews, so naturally Hollywood came calling.

If you don't recognize the actress right away, you might if you saw the recent film "Kick-Ass" -- that's Chloe Moretz, who plays "Hit Girl."

Funny For Today

At the moment I'm taking a class on Shakespeare, so I got a kick out of these. Comedy troupe Second City did a series of three videos online that ask the question: If some of Shakespeare's most tragic heroines had sassy gay friends, could their lives have been saved?

Gary Coleman RIP

Dead at the age of 42.

He had a lot of problems after his show Diff'rent Strokes went off the air, although he seemed to fair better than his fellow child co-stars.  Hopefully he's now at peace.

       

You Find the Weirdest Stuff When You Google Yourself

I was looking to see if any papers had any announcements from my graduation from Keene State College online, and after not having luck with my search string I just decided to put my maiden name in.

Some of the entries were from my days at The Citizen.  Others were when I was more active in the anti-Scientology movement in the 1990s.  And others were just from random boards I've been on over the years.

Then there was this entry.

It's an academic book on the history of erotic thrillers called The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema.  You can imagine my rather amused surprised when I discovered that she had footnoted a very brief review I wrote on IMDB for a direct to DVD film called Night Eyes 3.  My husband (then my boyfriend) had rented this movie one night, and I had almost forgotten about it until I saw that citation.

I thought that someday I might get cited in an academic book, but not for a movie THAT stupid. :-)

"Nightmare on Elm Street" (2010) Review

Not terrible, but it didn't give me any nightmares last night.

Teenagers in Springwood are getting killed off one by one by a mysterious killer by the name of Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), and it's up to Nancy (Rooney Mara) and her friend Quentin (Kyle Gallner) to stop him.  But can they survive the night?

On Haley's performance as Freddy -- there was something "off" that I couldn't place.  Which was surprising since I liked him in "Watchman" as Rorschach.  It was like he was holding back from the potential of being Freddy.  The new look for the character was interesting, since they were able to make him look more like a burn victim in this version with the help of CGI.  The teenagers were standard fare -- no one particularly stood out to me as far as performance.

1984

2010

The story itself could have been interesting with a better execution -- in this version, they have the kids who have been awake too long start hallucinating in "micro naps," so they can never really escape Freddy.  Plus they went back to Freddy's original roots of being a child molester (in the movies, he was a child killer).  And they did do a call back to some of the more memorable moments from the original, such as the death of Tina and the claw coming out of the bathtub.

Judging from the audience last night, the teenagers will be more likely to go for this one -- they are the ones who didn't see the original when it was first released, so they have no real history with the franchise.  Those of us who grew up with Freddy being the ultimate badass, however, will want to stay away.

For those interested in collecting items for your horror collection, here are a few items from Amazon.com on the 2010 version that you might be interested in.

"A Nightmare On Elm Street" -- A Look Back

I'm planning on seeing the new "Nightmare on Elm Street" this weekend, so I thought it would be fun to do a reflection on the original series of movies.

In 1984, a small studio called New Line Cinema released a film that would bring us one of our most enduring horror movie icons next to Jason Vorhees.  "A Nightmare On Elm Street" was released to big box office and would put New Line Cinema on the map (earning the nickname "The House that Freddy Built").

Watching the first film today, you can see why -- the acting was above average for this genre of films, you had a really scary monster at the heart of the story, and you wonder how the kids are going to survive.  It follow the rules for a great "Monster In The House" film: It's got its "monster" (Freddy Krueger), it's "house" (the dream world of the kids from Springwood), and the "sin" that brought the monster to them (the parents burning him alive in his home).

(By the way, since I recently purchased one of the greatest screenwriting books ever -- "Save The Cat" by the late Blake Snyder -- you'll see me using terms now such as "Monster in the House" more often in my reviews)

The story is very simple -- kids are haunted by the same monster, not understanding how it's happening or how they can stop it.  Robert Englund (who starred in "V" prior to this and has made a name for himself in starring and directing horror movies) really makes you scared of Freddy Krueger as you're watching it.

After this, there wouldn't be a really decent "Nightmare" film for awhile (although on its own level part 3 is pretty fun to watch), with filmmakers making Freddy a horrible stand up comedian in later films.  Wes Craven would finally come back to the series and direct "New Nightmare," where the film would break the fourth wall and have the makers of the "Nigthmare on Elm Street" crew be stalked by their own creation.

"Freddy Vs. Jason," a film that was a long time in coming, basically played on the arguments that I would have with friends in the schoolyard of who would win in a fight.  The bulk of the film was standard slasher fare, but I did enjoy the final fight at the end between the two characters.  I'm still hoping that at some point they make the movie version of "Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash."

So what am I hoping for from the new version?  That they kept true to the original ideals from the original film, for starters.  Although I do know of some anticipated changes that they're planning on making between the two versions, such as having Freddy be an actual child molester in this film (or is he? -- one of the themes is the incidents that lead Craven to change Freddy from a molester to a child killer for fear of exploiting the child center molestation hysteria going on at the time), I really hope that the film is still scary and that any updates enhance the film over ruining it.

Things aren't looking good at the moment for the new version (Roger Ebert already gave the film 1 star, but then again he gave "Kick-Ass" 1 star a couple of weeks ago). But I will bring back my review once I see it tonight or tomorrow.

On "South Park" and Censorship

I've been dealing with a backache and allergies since yesterday, so this is the first chance I've had to make a comment on this.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone -- YOU ROCK!

Very few of the mainstream outlets are commenting on this save for CNN and Fox News, but the creators of "South Park" are involved in a bit of a controversy again over another two part episode that recently aired, and it looks like it's having some potential long term consequences for what will be aired and streamed in the near future.

But here's a bit of history before we get into talking about this episode:

1) July 4, 2001 -- The airing of the episode "Super Best Friends." In the episode, the group of kids join a cult started by David Blaine, and are eventually rescued by the Super Best Friends, which include Jesus, John Smith, Buddha, Krishna, Sea-man, and Muhammad, who has "the power of flame." Muhammad was shown in his full glory, and no threats were made over the episode.

2) April 5, 2006 -- "Cartoon Wars" airs, the first of two parts. The episode has the town of South Park in a tizzy because the show "Family Guy" is about to show Muhammad on their show. The first part ended with the guys asking if Comedy Central would "puss out" or allow them to show Muhammad. In the second part, we got our answer -- Comedy Central opted to censor the image of Muhammad instead of featuring him on the show.

3) April 14, 2010 -- For their 200th episode, titled appropriately "200", Parker and Stone decide to revisit a lot of the storylines from the past 14 years. One of them being the Muhammad storyline from "Cartoon Wars." Still one of the "Super Best Friends," Muhammad can now no longer be seen in public because no one wants to get "blown up." The celebrities that have been mocked mercilessly over that time file a class action lawsuit unless they can get Muhammad. The Ginger Kids have their own plans for Muhammad, while in the meantime Cartman discovers that he was lied to as to who his father was, and goes searching for the truth. After the episode aired, a fringe Islamic group called Revolution Muslim "warned" (threatened) Parker and Stone on their website (since taken down) that they could end up like director Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered while filming a documentary on Islam and its treatment of women. So since this was a 2 part episode, where is the next week going to lead us?

This brings us to Wednesday night.

The episode "201" is about to air. The episode's going along fine. Then you might have noticed something right away.

The name "Mohammad" is bleeped out, as if his name was a vulgarity.

Then we get to the part of the episode where the kids do the "I learned something today" speech. And the entire thing is bleeped out.

Because I don't get cable, I was going to watch the show online. I was greeted with a notice that South Park Studios was not allowed to stream the show "at this time." So I had to find an alternate source to watch the show. In a bunch of entertainment articles that appeared, there was confusion over whether the additional beeps were another joke or if Comedy Central had something to do with it.

Parker and Stone released this statement yesterday afternoon.

In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it.

What gets me is the part where they say that the end speech didn't contain any mention of Muhammad but was censored anyway. So now Comedy Central is censoring any criticism for their decision.

Chickens.

Good news is that someone at Comedy Central has some balls to stand up to them.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
South Park Death Threats
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I've already written letters to just about everyone in the chain of command at Comedy Central over this decision. I'm mad because this decision appeases the very people who want ALL Americans to be dead because they don't follow the Muslim "ideal" of Sharia law. They don't get that this will NOT stop, regardless of how many episodes they pull. THEY WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED. That is how terrorism works -- to scare you into doing something that THEY want. And in this case it looks like they succeeded.

I urge EVERYONE to write to the corporate suits at Comedy Central. If there's enough of an e-mail bomb, maybe they'll put this episode on the site uncensored (and also bring back "Super Best Friends," as well -- that episode has also been pulled since then). This is not acceptable to anyone who believes in free speech, and this either needs to be rectified as soon as possible or we need to support Parker and Stone more on this fight.

I Would Rather Watch A Good Foreign Film Than a Bad American One

It's another post on "Death Note," this time on the three movies that were released a few years ago.

The trailers and the scenes that I saw online didn't do the films justice. They were really well done, and I was highly impressed with the work behind it.

The first two movies dealt with the actual "Death Note" storyline from the manga and anime. The shimigamis were all done as CGI characters, and were very well done. The acting was very well done, and we got to explore different elements of the story with the two films that we weren't able to with either the manga or anime. The director wisely took out the inner monologues from the manga to allow the audience to guess for themselves what the characters are thinking. And the title of the post is a little bit misleading -- although all the action takes place in Japan, it feels like a very American movie in its storytelling.

The third film was a side story that starts out with the end of the BB murder case, leads in to the Death Note case, and ends with L's last day on Earth before he dies. Although the story itself isn't supernatural (it involves a biological virus), it shows a side of L that we don't see in the other two films -- a more human side to the character.

If you can't find a good American movie to rent, check out these films -- they're not rated, but I would probably give them a PG-13 for some mild violence (most of the deaths are due to heart attacks), themes, and language (a thief in the first film in the beginning uses the "f" word a couple of times while running from police). It's probably one of the better anime/manga live action adaptations out there.

First Amendment

I'm looking at my last two posts, and I realized how much I've been occupied with First Amendment issues. As a future English teacher, it's something I have to keep in mind when assigning literature -- First Amendment issues and appropriateness.

In the case of the two things I talked about, I think they both have a right to exist. I wouldn't show "The Unfunnies" to a kid, but if the kid is mature enough to handle it, I would have no problem with letting them watch or read "Death Note."

It's all about knowing your kids and what they can handle (and what you are comfortable with what you think they can handle).

Again using "Death Note" as an example -- if a school district allowed me to use it in the classroom, I think that it would be a good discussion among the kids. It brings up a lot of important issues about right and wrong and the limits we have in the legal system and why they're in place. It makes for a good discussion.

As a parent and stepparent, I have to think about those things when it comes to entertainment for the kids. Some of them are in our Home Theater, such as the "Saw" movies (which my husband was just compelled to want to watch -- I liked the first one, but personally the rest just seemed like "torture porn"). I already told my two older stepkids that they aren't allowed to watch the movies (it's easy to monitor when the living room is so open). I also told my husband to wait until after the 16 month old goes to bed before watching them in his spare time because I'm afraid of some of the images getting stuck in his little head. But I also know I can't shield the two older ones forever. I've started letting the 15 year old watch some of the (older) horror movies in my collection because the violence in them isn't as bad as what's out there now. Over Halloween I let him watch the original "Halloween," because I knew that he could handle it because it's not really all that violent -- it's all atmosphere. (His reaction: "Not bad for an older movie.")

I wish more parents did this rather than just put a blanket over everything they hear in the media about video games, movies, television, etc. I think if we did that more we could be better parents to our kids. We can't protect them from everything, but we can monitor it and make sure the worst of the world stays out of their lives a little longer.

Anime, Manga, Etc: "Death Note"

I had bought the first two volumes of this manga series for my 15 year old stepson for Christmas called "Death Note." After reading the back of the books (and seeing that it was rated for older teens) I thought it sounded like an interesting story, and was something that my stepson could handle (mangas and animes I kind of keep an eye out for because there's a lot that are really aimed at adults).

Since I bought him those two books, he now owns the entire 12 volume series. And my 12 year old stepdaughter has started getting into them. And he's started watching the anime series online (which I didn't know until this weekend, but I'll get to that in a minute).

My curiousity about these books got piqued online because of a show that I watch over at the website That Guy With The Glasses called "Anime News Editorial." This week it was on how animes coming into the US right now all seem to feature high school or middle school students, which the host, MarzGurl, has no interest in. Someone in the comments mentioned "Death Note," so I decided to check it out online.

A little history on this one: it started as a series in the manga magazine Shonen Jump from 2003 to 2006. The story is about a high school student named Light Yagami who finds a special notebook called a Death Note that allows the user to kill people by writing their names into the notebook. He decides to use the notebook to get rid of criminals and create a perfect society with him as its God. He's followed around by a Shimigami named Ryuk (who dropped the notebook into the Human World because he was "bored"), and is soon involved in a cat and mouse game with a detective who only goes by the name "L."

The manga has been praised, but it's also garnered some controversy, as well. It's banned in many places in China because of kids making their notebooks look like Death Notes. There have been a few stories here in the United States, too, about students who had read the manga or saw the anime making their own "Death Note" and bringing it to school. In the US, there have been four cases of kids doing this. A case in Belgium has the body of a Caucasian male found in a park with the words "Watashi wa Kira dess" (misspelling of "desu") -- "I am Kira (killer)" in Japanese, the name that the lead ends up adopting as an alias.

I didn't realize how popular this particular manga was until I asked my stepson how he liked the books. When I looked it up on Wikipedia, I discovered that the manga was so popular that there was an anime made from it, three live action films based on the story (two directly on the manga, one a separate story about "L"), and a live action American remake is slated to be released in 2011. Plus there was a separate manga written based on an early case that "L" worked on a year before the "Kira" case.

So, naturally, I had to check out at least the anime. Luckily Hulu.com has the show in subtitles, while a site that my stepson pointed to, Justdubs.net, has a dubbed version.

Verdict: It's a good story with great characters.

The main theme I would describe as "idealism." Yagami wants to create a perfect world with no crime, but his methods are suspect. Ryku tells him on a couple of occassions that nothing ever good comes of those humans who possess the Death Note, but Yagami thinks he can out think the police and "L" forever. He thinks he's created his perfect society, but in reality he's created a society based on fear. He's become a God to those who thought his methods were right, but to others he's become as bad as the criminals he's killed, not knowing if he's going to strike them down next because they didn't agree with him.

"L" is an interesting character. He starts out as this mysterious figure, but quickly reveals himself to the police once he feels he's safe. He's not what they expect a detective to look like -- always clad in a white shirt with jeans, "L" is a very smart guy who hates to lose and is a worthy adversary to Yagami. He has a quirk where he has a very strong sweet tooth, and is always seen with candy or cake or some kind of sweet in front of him. He also sits in his chair in a way that makes him look like an owl on its perch, constantly watching.

The story itself is told in three parts. The first part is when Yagami is in high school and discovers the Death Note on the ground, and starts the planning for his perfect world. In the second part, Yagami is at university the next year, and a second Kira has emerged -- a pop star (think Britney Spears) by the name of Misa Agame has possession of a Death Note. In the third part, Yagami is now on the task force to find Kira. But he now has a worthy adversary in the head of an American task force headed by a potential "L" successor named Near. The way the story is told is a perfect trilogy, with logical start and end points to each part.

If there is a plan for the American remake, I really hope that they do this as three movies -- it's the most logical way to do it. Either way, I can't wait to see what they do with it.

"Kick-Ass"

It's another comic book movie with an adult edge called "Kick-Ass." The story: a high school kid decides to become a costumed superhero, and finds himself teaming up with former cop Big Daddy and his 12 year old daughter Hit Girl along with another costumed hero called Red Mist. The movie is slated to be rated R. This is the initial trailer.



I don't think it looks too bad. But if you saw the red band trailer, I think the impression would be that the movie is about Hit Girl. (NSFW) Allahpundit at Hot Air decided to write a post about the red band trailer, calling the movie "Hit Girl" in the headline, and so far people in the comments are not thrilled with a 12 year old swearing and killing people.



To me, it's very cartoony. Believe it or not, I hear the kids in my neighborhood use worse language than this at a much younger age (which is sad, really). I can understand their point of view, but for me it's just one big adult cartoon.

New Doctor Who Trailer

Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor is coming in the Spring. It already has some promise.

You can access the BBC trailer on their site if you live in England. Lucky for us American Yanks, we got YouTube.



As for Tennant's departure -- let's just say that it's a hell of a way to go. I'll be sad that he's no longer the Doctor (always considered him "my" Doctor after getting back into the show), but I'll see what they can do with Smith.

Thsi is Just Too Cool

Want to go bar hopping and have your mind get blown? Do it at this location in Switzerland.



If the design looks familiar, it should. It was designed by artist H.R. Giger, who designed the aliens for the "Alien" films.

Check ou tthe above link for more pictures.

So I Am Now Finished With The First Three Books of the Southern Vampire Mysteries

Spoiler Alert -- If you haven't read the books or watched "True Blood," and don't want to know until you watch it for yourself, don't go any further.

I'm going to get back to reading the books after I finish "Going Rogue." But for now, here are my thoughts.

So far, the first two seasons have focused on the first two books (with some interesting changes). After having read the third book, I have come to the conclusion that they can no longer keep Bubba in the shadows any longer and have to bring him out next season.

If you haven't read the books, you may be asking "Who is Bubba?" Well, in the books, "Bubba" is Elvis Presley in vampire form, although they never refer to him specifically as "Elvis Presley." In the books, the story goes that when Elvis was in the morgue, the coroner was a vampire who happened to be a big fan. He sensed some life coming out of him, so he thought he would do him a favor and "turn" him. Unfortunately, the process in his case basically made him "simple minded" (possibly because of the amount of drugs in his system at the time).

Because of his condition and the fact that they can't let him out in public with the other vampires (because everytime they do it gets reported to the tabloids, thus all the reports of "sightings"), the vampires between three states have passed him around as an errand boy. Again, because of his mental condition he takes things VERY literally, so you have to be careful what you tell him. He also has a penchant for house pets (in particular cats), can get really means, and gets upset when you call him by his former name.

He's introduced in the first book, Dead Until Dark, when Bill goes out of town and has Bubba watch Sookie in case the killer came to her house. In the third book, Club Dead, Eric asks Bubba to watch over Sookie for the night until her escort to Mississippi, werewolf Alcide Herveaux, picks her up the next day. But Eric forgets to tell him it was for the one night, so Bubba ends up following them to Mississippi, continuing to "protect" Sookie. In one scene in the book, Alcide and Sookie find a dead werewolf named Jerry Lawson in their closet, thinking that someone was trying to frame Alcide for his murder. Later in the book, after remembering that Bubba followed them from Josephine's to the King of Mississippi's home, we discover that Bubba was the one to kill Jerry because he watched him break in to Alcide's apartment, and he promptly killed him, sticking his body in the closet figuring that Alcide and Sookie would know what to do with the body.

Just based on that, they have to bring Bubba in to the show.

Anyway, a lot of the differences I found with the show vs. the first two books so far has been interesting. By the end of the third book, Sookie and Bill have broken up because Bill cheated on her with his "maker" Lorena. I know that "True Blood" creator Alan Ball said that he wouldn't have them break up, so having Bill kidnapped at the end of last season might be a way to change the plot point so that they do stay together.

In fact, there are a lot of plot points they changed when translating the books to the television show. For example:

-- In the books, Jason never joins The Fellowship of the Sun, and is relatively supportive of her relationship with Bill.

-- In the books, Lafayette died in Living Dead in Dallas. They kept him alive in the show, and are using him for more interesting plot devices.

-- In the books, Bill Compton is the great-great-great grandfather of Andy Bellefleur. It's never mentioned in the series.

-- Also in the series, the reason that Bill has to leave town in the first season while the serial killer is on the loose is because of his killing Longshadow (in the book, Eric kills him), with his punishment being that he has to "turn" another vampire, who would turn out to be the teenage Jessica. In the book, it's because he's running for (and wins) the position of investigator in Area 5 in order to keep Eric away from Sookie.

-- Jessica is not in the books -- she was created just for the show. She's a teenaged vampire who is "turned" and suddenly becomes a wild child. She ends up dating Hoyt Fortenberry.

-- Speaking of Hoyt: in the books, Maxine Fortenberry is his grandmother, not his mother. And their characters are, again, more developed in the show. One of the drawbacks of the books is that a lot of these characters aren't as developed because it's all told from Sookie's point of view.

-- The plotline with the maenad in Living Dead in Dallas is not a big of a characteristic as it became in the second season of the show. In the book, a maenad named Callipso is just coming through Bon Temps and sends a message (via Sookie) to Eric that she's looking for tribute, then later she gets into a brief fling with Sam and kills three of the partygoers at the sex party they go to because they killed Lafayette. In the show, the maenad goes by the name Maryann Forrester, and wants Sam to sacrifice to her Horned God.

There are also a lot of little changes, too, which I'm not going to go in to here. Some minor characters got made into major ones, like Tara, for example.

The one thing I can't see at this point is the plotline of Club Dead happening in season 3 as far as Bill's kidnapping. Since Lorena made an appearance this season, he made it clear that he no longer loves Lorena and wants nothing to do with her. Plus the fact that the season ended with Bill proposing to Sookie. I can't see the TV Bill being disloyal to Sookie in any way.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Here's hoping you and yours were able to celebrate the things you were thankful for this year.

In honor of today: the classic WKRP In Cincinnati episode, "Turkeys Away."

The Muppets Take On...

"Bohemian Rhapsody???"

It's actually pretty funny and cool. Enjoy!