Welcome to the Munchkyn Zone

I'm Sarah Stegall, and I write reviews of television shows, movies and books. I review mostly science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative fiction, but I might branch out into other genres if something really appeals to me.

We tend to treat popular culture as ephemera, but I choose to treat it as the artistic expression of our times, and as such I try to approach these entertainments from the attitude that some of what they say matters. These are the art forms of our day, and deserve as much intelligent critique as any painting or symphony. How intelligent or useful these opinions may be is entirely left to the reader.

My reviews of television shows are usually carried on the website SFScope for a week before they appear here; if you're looking for, say, the review of the latest episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, check out SFScope first.

What you will find here are not "recaps" of shows, which summarize the plot, but critiques. These reviews contain spoilers. I'm more interested in how and why a particular entertainment succeeds or fails (in my opinion) so I tend to get a tad analytical and more than a bit philosophical. That's how I roll. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for stopping by!

NEWS

April 17, 2008 - New Amsterdam probably cancelled, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles probably renewed. Kristen at E! Online says,

Though final decisions have not been made, and there are a wealth of fans who are just dying to see Nicolaj Coster-Waldau’s New Amsterdam come back this fall, sources are saying that sadly, it isn’t looking good for a second season. Fox did give New Amsterdam a vote of confidence, having it premiere in the coveted post-American Idol slot last month. And though it drew a respectable 13.7 million viewers, I'm hearing that might not be enough. (Even last year’s The Wedding Bells earned slightly higher post-Idol ratings, and still that series disappeared quietly.) Fox boss Kevin Reilly recently told The Hollywood Reporter that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Back to You are the two most likely freshman candidates to return for a sophomore season, implying that other shows such as New Amsterdam just haven’t caught on with audiences.

Pretty much what I thought. I just hope Coster-Waldau gets another good gig soon. He did a good job with what he had to work with.

April 3, 2008 - NBC renews "Chuck" for Fall 2008. But we won't have to wait that long to see the Nerd Herd again; NBC is planning to roll out a few webisodes this summer to tide us over.

Sophomore dramas Chuck, Life, and Lipstick Jungle will benefit from an aggressive re-launch in the Fall, and the hit Heroes will come back with a bang owing to a major event in the Fall." The network is also going ahead with more of the webisodes it experimented with last summer: "Beginning this summer, NBC will produce short, original episodes -- webisodes -- of The Office, Chuck, and Heroes. NBC isn't saying much about what these webisodes will entail, but NBC Universal co-chair Ben Silverman promises they'll be meaty. He said the new WGA contract allows NBC writers to go all-out with the work, without wondering whether they're being fairly compensated.