House: The Final Season

Fox's long running medical drama, House, suffered a common ailment of popular shows in their final run.  It ran just a bit too long.  The eighth and final season limped to its finale as the signature wit and charm fizzled out.  The primary problem was the depleted material.  House's cases had become less interesting, the original team had dispersed, and the recurring conflicts of the previous seasons had either been resolved or dropped.  There was very little left of the character discourse and Sherlock-ian methodology that had carried the series to success.  

Avengers Assemble, But Only For A While

After a four year drumroll, The Avengers has arrived and it's a hit.  Marvel now has the commercial leverage it needs to pursue further films within the Cinematic Universe, and in stand alone series like the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.  That clout puts Marvel producers in a rather unique and unprecedented position.  They can produce multiple films in the same universe at the same time and release up to several per year.  While it may sound cool for fans, Marvel faces a danger of going too far too fast with their films.  Multiple films means a longer investment in the characters and a risk of formulaic stagnation.  Then there's the difficulty in adaptation that the writers are already facing, and which will only get worse.  If Marvel isn't careful, their franchise could run away into multiplicity, and then, oblivion.  

Young Indy in World War I

(This is a continuation of a post from several months ago.  Click here to read.)  

Indiana Jones' erratic military career during The Great War spanned a volume and a half of the series.  During his service in the Belgian Army, Indy served as an infantryman, courier, officer, translator, aerial photographer, and finally, intelligence operative.  The constant vocation change made the tone of the second volume very uneven.  Some episodes had a very serious and/or dramatic feel, while others were comedic or downright cartoonish.  In either case, the series did manage to introduce some nice war action comparable to the films, along with some romantic subplots and character growth.