One Word Wednesday - AMC Spin Off Fever

Rules:  

Every Wednesday one question will be asked based on some recent tidbit of news.  You must answer this question in one word.  To emphasize your point, your one word answer may be accompanied by one picture.  One question, one word, one picture.  We'll call it One Word Wednesday.  

Note: You may explain your one word in a sentence or two (or three - ok, you have free reign to go crazy) at the end of the post.  

If you choose to play along, add the link to your post in the comments, and hop around to see what other words are being added.

One Word Wednesday:

AMC.  I don't know anyone was watching AMC.  Executives said...  we need to fix this.  Idea - Let's put on good shows.  BAM.  The Killing, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, etc. etc.  But The Killing has changed, Breaking Bad is days away from ending, The Walking Dead is...  well, polarizing - some love it, some hate it.  So what does AMC do?  Announce a bunch of spin offs!  Breaking Bad will have a prequel spin-off called "Better Call Saul" and The Walking Dead will have a spin off that it not tethered to the comic book world already created.  

In one word, describe AMC's spin off strategy.

One Word:  Dorothy

In 1992, Golden Girls came to an end as the quartet sold their Miami home with Dorothy having married and left (yes, I like The Golden Girls, what of it?!).  So to attempt to capitalize on the star power of Blanche, Rose and Sophia, CBS decided to spin off the series with the remaining characters purchasing a hotel, but uh oh! the staff is gone!  Shenanigans ensues.  The show failed after one season.

What went wrong?  Dorothy.  The Golden Girls is not be The Golden Girls without the entire ensemble in place.  Removing one piece from the machine resulted in a complete shut-down.  This is not the first series for this to happen to (Baywatch Nights, Joey, etc. etc. etc.), nor will it be the last.  What makes Breaking Bad so good is Walter and Jesse.  Saul is comic relief, and let's face it, a spin off will likely just be a sit-com.  It will be completely different, and it likely won't be long until Walter and Jesse make appearances to attempt to save it (Dorothy made 2 appearances on Golden Palace, but that wasn't enough to save the train wreck).

There have been some successes though (Frazier, for one).  And perhaps The Walking Dead will be able to succeed solely because the openness of the premise.  They're creating a spin-off not tied to the comic book world...  so, in other words, you're making a totally unrelated zombie show.  That could work.  But it would need to be a compelling story, because Bea Arthur has taught us, you can't run a hotel with only three old ladies.

One Word Wednesday - The Expanse

Rules:  

Every Wednesday one question will be asked based on some recent tidbit of news.  You must answer this question in one word.  To emphasize your point, your one word answer may be accompanied by one picture.  One question, one word, one picture.  We'll call it One Word Wednesday.  

Note: You may explain your one word in a sentence or two (or three - ok, you have free reign to go crazy) at the end of the post.  

If you choose to play along, add the link to your post in the comments, and hop around to see what other words are being added.

One Word Wednesday:
News of another adaptation to the small screen:

Alcon Entertainment announced that the writers of the Iron Man and Children of Men movies will pen the pilot of the adaptation of the James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) science fiction series "The Expanse" (novels include Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, and Abaddon's Gate - with at least three more novels to come).  The announcement describes the show as "an hourlong scifi drama with elements of a detective procedural, centering on a cover-up of the discovery of alien life."

In one word, describe your thoughts on yet another fantasy/sci-fi title being adapted for television.

One Word:  EASY

Even when reading the Expanse novels, it has the feel of something that can be translated into a visual medium (I must admit I thought movie, not television drama).  With the success of the Star Trek reboot and the Star Wars universe now expanding, and with the success of Game of Thrones, True Blood, the optioning of Patrick Rothfuss' novels, it must have been an easy jump for TV execs to make, using Corey's work to hop on the fantasy/sci-fi bandwagon.  The novels seem made for visual reinterpretation.  

Honorable mention to the word "unsurprising."

One Word Wednesday - Kingkiller Chronicles

Decided to make a game (ok, possibly rip off a game from elsewhere, but that's neither here nor there) in order to help myself post a little more and to tackle topics that may not come up during the course of a book/movie review and/or genre rant.  Feel free to jump in.  

Rules:  

Every Wednesday one question will be asked.  You must answer this question in one word.  To further your point, your one word answer may be accompanied by one picture.  One question, one word, one picture.  We'll call it One Word Wednesday.  Easy.  You may explain your word in a sentence or two at the end of the post.  

One Word Wednesday:

It's hard not to use this to make another OHMYGODBENAFFLECKISBATMAN post.  Let's let that go for a while.  Instead, let's go back a little further to a tidbit of news that was released surrounding San Diego Comic Con that never got much follow-up.  It was announced that New Regency Productions and 20th Century Fox Television have optioned Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles to develop a drama series.  The only names currently attached are in the Executive Producer and Producer roles.

In one word, describe your reaction to the adaptation of Rothfuss' masterpiece.

DANGER!

I can't help but feel the transformation of Rothfuss' beautiful and complex world will never live up to the standards I'd expect with handling this masterpiece of modern literature.  Game of Thrones has set the bar high and I seriously hope the production team shows the Kingkiller Chronicles the respect it deserves.