Movies
TV: A ‘Walking Dead’ Talk Show?
A Walking Dead talk show. Wut. Maybe I have this all wrong but it seems like a horrible idea for AMC to cheapen its programming with a “Watch What Happens:Live” style recap after each episode. Apparently they’re considering such a thing. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of ‘The Walking Dead” these days, but it still sounds awkward. It sounds like the plan might extend to other shows like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”, but the pilot they’ve shot is “Dead” centric.
It all kind of falls in line with AMC’s current plan of burning its best shows to the ground. I know they’re concerned about money and a talk show format recap is a cheap way of retaining the viewers of these series for a few minutes after the actual show has ended.
According to Vulture, “Our spies say Nerdist blogger and former MTV personality Chris Hardwick, most recently seen hosting BBC America’s Doctor Who specials, served as the host of the pilot and that the discussion focused on Walking Dead. This would indicate that AMC is considering a launch of the as-yet untitled project in conjunction with this October’s return of Dead, though we haven’t been able to confirm that (and it’s likely that it would be designed to air after other AMC shows, not just Dead). What’s more, because this was just a pilot, it’s possible there could be format tweaks or that Hardwick might not be a part of the project should it go to series. If AMC decides to move forward with the show in time for Dead, it would likely do so within the next few weeks.”
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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