Revolution Returns Tonight, Webisodes Conclude, 8 Minute Preview

After a long 4 month break, tonight Revolution returns on NBC at 10pm EST. As a way to ease back in, the "Enemies of the State" webisodes conclude with parts 3-5 (part 1-2 here) as Neville hunts for others against the Monroe Republic. Those are below. After that is the 8 minute preview of the new episode that starts where the last left off - a now fully powered and armed military helicopter chasing the good guys.

Abrams on Figuring Out Star Wars Approach

JJ Abrams has started some of the promotional tour that will be part of promoting his next movie Star Trek Into Darkness. Of course when he talks to the press, the main focus is going to be his plans for Star Wars Episode VII that he is also directing. In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, this was no difference as he answered a few questions.

While he was able to approach Star Trek with a detached objectivity, how will he, as a huge Star Wars fan approach Star Wars' bold new era?
“I don’t know because we’re just getting started. So it’s a great question that I hope I’ll have a good answer to when I know what the answer is. There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they’re not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of ‘Ooh, that’s really exciting.’ And even though I was never a Star Trek fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think ‘that’s cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that.

“How we were going to get there, what the choices were going to be, who was going to be in it – all of those things I knew would have to be figured out, but it was all based on a foundation of this indescribable, guttural passion for something that could be. It’s a similar feeling that I have with Star Wars. I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project. The movies, the worlds could not be more different but that feeling that there’s something amazing here is the thing that they share.”

Why change his mind on directing Star Wars
“My knee-jerk reaction was that I’m in the middle of working on the Star Trek movie and I can’t even consider it. But then time went by and I got further along working on the movie and getting to a place where I had done most of the heavy lifting. So when I met with Kathy Kennedy we just started discussing it and I was able to actually engage in the conversation. I went down to tell Katie, my wife, and I said ‘I had just a very interesting conversation with Kathy.’ That was the beginning.

“I will say that Steven [Spielberg] was very encouraging of Star Wars. It’s funny because I talked to him about it and it turned out he knew all about what was going on.”

Leads Cast for Abrams' Cop Drama (Updated)

It seems that JJ Abrams has found his leads for his Fox buddy cop pilot. Friday Night Lights and Charlie's Angels hottie Minka Kelly has been tapped to play Valerie Stalh, one of the cops that works with John Kennex and his android parnter who will be played by Michael Ealy (Common Law). I assume the character will provide that female/romance angle that all cop shows seem to require. All that remains is to find who will play John Kennex. The pilot episode will determine if Fox will order additional episodes for the 2013-2014 season. The show currently remains untitled.

Update: The final cast member has been hired for this project that might be titled "Human" (lets hope not). Karl Urban (Judge Dredd, Star Trek) has signed on to play the cop John Kennex that is partnered with an android. This is the first regular television role for the actor that has done movies for the last decade or so.

Revolution Webisodes Part 1 and 2, Preview

JJ Abrams' Revolution returns on NBC starting March 25 at 10pm EST and as a run up they have started posting a webisode series called "Enemies of the State" that acts as a kind of prequel as Neville begins his hunt for Miles who has just quit the Monroe Republic. The first two parts are below. In addition, Abrams himself introduces a sneak peak at the first minute of the return episode. The real question is can the series survive its six month hiatus, especially since NBC's ratings have achieved new record lows for network television? Are the kids, their behavior and response to circumstances still has childish and annoying as they have been for the first half of the season? Is a television shows capable of assuming that teenagers, much like adults, when faced with circumstances of life and death tend to be changed by those circumstances into something more mature and hardened rather then childish and reckless? Will the show begin answering questions instead of just adding new ones? I guess we will all start finding out in just a few short weeks.