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Thread: Into The Badlands

  1. #136
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    The Bamboo Ceiling



    Daniel Wu Breaks The Bamboo Ceiling
    KC YAP | MAY 11, 2017

    Pictures by Sarah Dunn; words by Farhan Shah; grooming by Garen Tolkin for exclusive artists using V76 by Vaughn & Bare Escentuals, assisted by Nick Tooman, Jonathan Folds, Jimmy Fikes & Justin Schaefers.

    It’s five minutes to eight in the morning and I’m sitting in the conference room at the office, waiting for the phone to ring. Just the night before, I had binged on dozens of YouTube clips until my eyebags had their own eyebags. But it was all for work, of course. I was getting up to speed on Daniel Wu’s latest project, a martial arts television series called Into the Badlands. It’s visceral, bloody and very much in your face, so I don’t imagine it’s going to be aired in (currently on AXN) without first getting its guts and heart ripped out by our country’s rather zealous censorship board, but it makes for interesting viewing.

    The phone rings exactly at 8am. Surprising punctuality from a star, I muse while picking it up. Daniel Wu is on the other end of the line. He’s back home in Oakland, residence of the Golden State Warriors basketball team of which Wu is a massive fan. We exchange pleasantries. He seems fresh, even happy to be talking to me. I look at my list of questions and scratch out the one about Steph Curry and gang failing spectacularly at the 2016 NBA Finals. I couldn’t bear to do it to Wu.

    “Why are you back home?” I ask instead.

    “Oh, just in the middle of doing all the press interviews for Into the Badlands. I’m heading off in about a week to finish the filming of Tomb Raider. We have about a month more of filming to go for that.”

    Wu is experiencing an acting Renaissance of sorts in Hollywood. Besides Tomb Raider, which is expected to be out in 2018, Wu also has a small but critical role in Geostorm, playing a scientist who discovers the reason why the satellites are destroying Earth. “That film is interesting because I’m playing a character that is totally different from anything that most people know me for."

    “I am a nerdy guy, not the one kicking ass,” Wu laughs.


    Jacket by Guess Jeans; shirt & trousers by Fendi; Vanguard Carbon watch in carbon fibre case with nylon strap by Franck Muller. (Above) Jumper by Fendi; shirt by Guess Jeans & jeans by Acne; Vanguard Carbon watch in carbon fibre case with nylon strap by Franck Muller.

    THE MOST HARDWORKING MAN IN HOLLYWOOD

    “Kicking ass” is what Wu has been doing for close to two decades. He’s starred in over 60 films, two television series and multiple commercials. That’s a lot of work. But he admits that, as he grows older, the way he selects projects has changed as well.

    “In the past I used to be more ambitious about wanting to choose award-winning roles. But I slowly realised that as an actor, you’re very passive to the whole process. You cannot control what happens in the end. A lot of times, you put a lot of hopes and dreams into one project and it doesn’t turn out the way you think it would. It’s disheartening,” the 43-year-old shares.

    Now, the American-Chinese actor chooses to fit the filming schedule around his family’s needs. The project must be extremely compelling for him to want to do it. For Tomb Raider, it was because he wanted to work alongside Alicia Vikander. “I fell in love with her in Ex Machina. I thought she was great and I was telling myself that I really want to work with this girl.”

    Into the Badlands was another kind of opportunity. Wu saw a chance to fill a void on the small screen. He wanted to translate the big-budget fighting sequences you typically saw in cinemas into the medium of television. There are two reasons why no one has done it. One was the money. Secondly, the tight filming schedule typical of a television series meant that fight choreography had to be short and snappy.

    Wu’s solution was simple and solved both problems―bring in his own team from Hong Kong, who is used to working on a smaller budget and on a short timeline.

    The show’s first season was a great hit. Viewers loved the action. What Wu didn’t anticipate were the huge cultural waves the show made. There was the fact that an Asian male, Wu himself, was the lead. More importantly, Wu had a legitimate romantic interest. And even made out with her.


    Shirty by Levi's; jeans by Dior Homme; Vanguard Chronograph in polished steel by Franck Muller.

    THE RISE OF THE ASIAN MALE

    It is startlingly rare for an Asian character to be seen romancing another character in the American entertainment universe. The New York Times op-ed, funnyman Aziz Ansari could only come up with two instances that an Asian man kissed someone in television and film―Steven Yuen in The Walking Dead and Daniel Dae Kim in Lost.

    “For many years, the Asian male has been emasculated in American culture. Roles like mine help to change that. When the show came out, we had support from all over America―black Americans, Asian Americans, even Hispanic Americans. I was proud of it, especially since the last time you saw an Asian man and a black woman on television together was in Romeo Must Die with Jet Li and the late Aaliyah. But they only hugged in the end, and that was it,” says Wu, laughing.

    “Daniel Dae Kim once told me the true test of whether Asians have made it in Hollywood is when an Asian is the lead actor in a successful rom-com,” I put forward. The reasoning behind this is simple. If the film is financially successful, it means that the audience is comfortable and willing to pay to watch an Asian protagonist win the heart of his female co-star.

    “Absolutely,” Wu agrees. I can practically see him nodding his head somewhere in Oakland. “It’s a role most people don’t think of for an Asian male simply because it’s not in the American psyche. As the audience, we must create that demand because honestly, Hollywood just goes where the money is. And right now, the Asian American audience is very vocal.”

    He pauses.

    “Truthfully, they might be a bit too vocal, a little over the top,” he says, half-jokingly. “I think cultural appropriation is a bullsh*t thing to call out because it’s like saying that only Asians can do martial arts or only black people can play basketball and rap.”

    Wu proposes that diversity in entertainment is inevitable as the world becomes more globalised, and it makes sense. The older head honchos are handing over the reins to a younger generation who grew up in more diverse environments. These are people who have travelled, interacted with different people and realised that the world isn’t just shades of white.
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  2. #137
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    Continued from previous post


    Shirt by Levi's; jeans by Dior Homme; shoes by Louboutin; Vanguard Chronograph timepiece in brushed stainless steel by Franck Muller.

    ACTOR, ARCHITECT, ASIAN DAD

    Wu and I have been chatting for close to 30 minutes now, talking at length about Hollywood and its foibles, his preference for the Hong Kong film industry and the reasons behind it, his disdain for generic superhero films, and even his love for design.

    For the record, Wu studied architecture for five years―he graduated in the top 10% of his class―before becoming a thespian. He still loves the world of design and was devastated when Zaha Hadid passed away. But he remains private about his creative side for one reason: Kanye West.

    “I could be a multi-hyphenate but I don’t want to because people have associated that with Kanye West. He’s ruined it for everybody,” Wu says, laughing boisterously. “Sure, he does some cool things design-wise but he’s not a genius. He’s no Marc Newson.” A beat.

    “Or even Marc Jacobs.” Chuckles.

    But what I really want to know about is how he is like with his family behind closed doors. We generally put celebrities like Wu on pedestals and hold them to a higher standard, as though they are impervious to any of life’s curveballs.

    Wu, I find, is not much unlike you and I. He has his insecurities. He peppers his speech with curse words. He is trying hard to cut sugar out of his diet but loves iced lemon tea too much. He hates plain water. He works out four days a week. And he wants to be the best possible father he can be to his four-year-old daughter, Raven.

    “I’m beginning to be like my own father. The stuff I hated hearing from my dad, I’m now saying to Raven,” Wu says. “There are many aspects of my upbringing that made me who I am today so I am trying to transfer that to my daughter. You should be physically and mentally present. I don’t want to be that dad at the playground looking at crap on his phone while his daughter is playing. I see those fathers all the time.”

    Wu tells me about an episode in Malaysia. He was at the mall with Raven and his wife Lisa S when he saw a family of four―mother, father and two kids―at a restaurant. The dishes were on the table. But only the father was eating. The remaining three were on their phones, “God knows doing what”. There was no conversation, only the swish of thumbs on digital keypads and the occasional clanking of the father’s fork against his plate.

    He nudged Lisa and pointed at the family. “I told her, ‘We will never end up like that family.’ We make a conscious effort to engage and be with each other.”

    That includes limiting the amount of screen time Raven is exposed to. Wu only occasionally takes the iPad out of cold storage for Raven on long-haul flights or as a reward. “I think the iPad is an easy way out. The problem is that parenting now seems to be about shoving something in front of a child’s face to entertain them or keep them busy. Kids should be playing outside to foster their creative minds instead of staying indoors and staring at a screen all the time.”

    THE FIRST CHINESE AMERICAN PRESIDENT

    And then we veer off on another tangent, this time about Wu’s mother. I suppose that’s how a creative mind works, in zigs and zags, with no purpose in sight, merely the pleasure the journey afforded.

    Apparently, the late Madam Wu was slightly sad that Raven was born in Hong Kong instead of the US. “She thought that meant Raven couldn’t be the president of the United States until she found out that that you’re still an American citizen even if you were born overseas as long as you have an American parent.”

    It was a long-running joke that started with Wu, the first member of the clan to be born on American soil. His mum used to tell him that he could be the first Chinese president of the United States and for the first decade of his life, he thought he could.

    Now, he would never wish the crown upon his daughter’s head. “Look at Barack Obama. Do you remember how he looked like before he became the most powerful man on Earth? His whole head is grey now. Nobody in that position ever has a good time,” Wu laughs.

    It’s hard to imagine but Obama is only a decade older than Wu. Perhaps it’s the Asian genes or perhaps it’s his disdain for taking on the presidential role, but Wu looks no different than when he first started out in 1998 in the film Bishonen after being casted on the strength of a clothing advertisement.

    Sure, the eyes have gained the thousand-yard stare one acquires from experience and the hairline might have crept up a little higher but those dreamy eyes and strong jawline from his youth are still there.

    And the hair remains as black as ever.

    Get a copy of August Man Malaysia, May 2017 for the complete spread.
    Great article from Augustman on Into The Badlands star Daniel Wu. He'll be our special guest at Grandmasters LIVE!, our cover masters demo for KFTC25 AF.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #138
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    In general, I like the show and the choreography....but the finale was annoying....

    First, I am not a fan of the two sai vs. whatever sets.... It just never did much for me....but that aside...

    So, excuse the spellings... Bajie gets almost done in - because he ASSUMED the enemy was dead and turned his back on him....

    Why do they ALWAYS do that... It is so simple to make sure.... after all, they went in to kill them and they KNEW that they were going to be killed if possible. A simple check would have taken ZERO time...but not let the character pass out at the end...

    And then, Sonny.... does the EXACT SAME THING with Quinn...... REALLY....could they not afford better writers. Even a musical fugue has variation....

  4. #139
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    Some random facebook photos of Daniel Wu and me

    You know, I saw Daniel on Wednesday and at Grandmasters LIVE! on Friday, but I didn't take a single selfie with him. However, I got pulled into a few other people's pix, and they've been tagging me on facebook.





    I quite enjoyed the Season Two finale, but clearly I'm biased as a huge fan of the show and a friend of Daniel's.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  5. #140
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    Interview on JetLi.com

    Into the Badlands – How to Train Like Daniel Wu
    By Sean Tierney 8 hours ago in Entertainment 11 min read

    Following our exclusive interview with actor and martial artist Daniel Wu about his extensive film career in Hong Kong, China the US and movement into the TV world, in this article he discusses the details of his training and preparation for filming a stunt intensive TV show like Into the Badlands.


    Photo Source: Into The Badlands Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IntoTheBadlandsAMC/

    Interview About Training For Into The Badlands

    WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WORKOUT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU WHEN GETTING READY FOR INTO THE BADLANDS?

    For the pre-season, I start about four to six months out. So I’m preparing for Into The Badlands Season Three now. I do one 2-3 hour session a day, six days a week. Three of those days are martial arts, two days are Yama Yoga. Because I’m getting old and I need my body to be more flexible.


    - Into the Badlands _ Season 2, Fight Camp Training
    Photo Credit:AMC/Susan Morelock

    IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR TRAINING CHANGED SINCE YOUR EARLIER CAREER?

    Yes, this is one thing I really want to talk about in this interview: training for older people. How do you keep performing at a high level and not degrade your body well into your 40’s? In the past, I would do 100, 200 kicks a day, maybe even 500. Now I don’t want to do that, because the more I do, the more it degrades my muscles and tendons and everything. With my Yama yoga trainer Matt Lucas, I’ve adopted a completely different mentality. I do all my kicks really slowly, and I only do 5-10 repetitions.

    For example, I’ll do a side kick that takes 3 seconds to extend. Then I hold it for 3 seconds, and then 3 seconds to return. So one kick takes almost 10 seconds. It develops strength without shocking your system all the time, because if you’re snapping out 100 kicks, there’s significant wear and tear on your joints, your tendons, and your bones.

    At 42, I don’t have a lot of peak years left, so I want to preserve what I have left as much as possible. What I’m really concentrating on now is strength conditioning and movement, being able to move freely, more than martial arts, like making sure the muscles in my lower back are loose. Muay Thai and boxing tightened up my back a lot. Even wushu, which makes you very flexible in certain ways, makes you less flexible in others. So the Yama yoga really pointed out where my problems were, and started to fix those problems, and I started to balance myself out.

    I discovered that my lower back was weaker, and I was using my abs to mask that weakness. Once I realized that, I could work on my lower back and fix that. Now I have a lot less lower back pain. I’m able to train full days without having much pain or stiffness. It’s usually 2-3 hours/day, six days a week.


    - Into the Badlands _ Season 2, Fight Camp Training
    Photo Credit:AMC/Susan Morelock

    Yama is a lot like Shaolin, very line-based, but it almost looks like Shaolin and Yoga combined. You go a bit deeper in poses, and do more twisting. It really stretches your waist and hips and knees. It’s something I like a lot, and I feel that it’s really helped me as I get older.

    I’ve also discovered the importance of a martial arts system. With UFC and MMA, everyone’s cherry-picking all the best things from different martial arts, so there’s no system any more. They train really hard, and by 40 their bodies are really damaged. The importance of a Kung Fu system like Shaolin or Taiji or Qigong is that you do the hard stuff when you’re younger, and then you do the softer stuff when you’re older. That way you experience the whole gamut of experiences and training to keep you interested and also keep you active and able to do things across your lifespan.

    My first Kung Fu master, YC Chang, just died last year. He was 98, and he could still touch his toe to his chin. So I’ve re-examined the system I came from, and I’m starting to go back to it. In my youth, I did what a lot of MMA guys are doing; I studied Muay Thai and boxing, and others, to get the best from each, but it degrades your body to do nothing but the most intensive things.

    If you put racing fuel in a car and run it flat-out all the time, you’re going to destroy the engine pretty quickly. So for me, it’s a matter of finding the right ways to train without hurting myself. Especially for this show, because I fight a lot. This past season I did, I think 20 fight scenes. In a movie, you’re in, at most, 3-4 fights over a 4 to 6-month period. I did those 20 fights in 5 months.

    The next season is going to be 16 episodes, so it’ll be even more! You’ve got to be smart about how you use your body. I train smart, and I give it my all when we’re filming the show. I train hard, but I don’t do crazy stuff like I did before. I don’t try to jump as high as possible; I don’t do flips, or back flips, or anything like that. I just try to maintain good, fluid body movement.


    - Into the Badlands _ Season 2, Fight Camp Training
    Photo Credit:AMC/Susan Morelock

    WHEN WORKING ON SEASON ONE OF INTO THE BADLANDS, YOU MENTIONED ON SOCIAL MEDIA THAT YOU HAD TO BULK UP A LOT FOR THIS ROLE. HOW DID YOU APPROACH ADDING MASS WHILE GETTING IN SHAPE? HOW DID THAT ADDED MUSCLE WEIGHT AFFECT YOUR MARTIAL ARTS AND STUNT WORK? IS IT HELPFUL OR HURTFUL OVERALL?

    After I did it, I realized it was a mistake. I did all the weight training first, and then went to fight camp. I added 18 pounds, but when I got to camp, I couldn’t do half the things I could before. My spinning back kick was horrible, I couldn’t do it. My glutes had gotten bigger, but also much tighter. I lost several inches off my jumps. I wasn’t just 18 pounds heavier; it was also that my muscles were tighter. So I actually spent the entire fight camp trying to undo what I had done with the weight training.

    From that point, I decided I wasn’t going to do the Olympic-style weight training at all. I just do functional weight training. I’m not trying to get bigger any more, I’m just maintaining 170 pounds, and that’s fine. I’d seen all these actors getting bigger for superhero roles, and I felt like I needed to do the same thing. For a martial artist, that was the wrong thing.

    For the second season, I just did functional weight training, like kettle bells, sledge hammer, tire flipping, that kind of stuff. Sort of like CrossFit training but not at the CrossFit pace. Doing as many reps as you can in 30 seconds when you’re 40-something is not something you should be doing. You can do it in your 20s, but in your 40s you’re just going to rip your joints apart.

    I do all those exercises, but I take my time with them. The interesting thing is, I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt in my life. Before I could bench press and dead lift a lot, but now I feel like I have better core strength. I move really well, and really smoothly. Issues like my back pain have gone away.


    - Into the Badlands _ Season 2, Fight Camp Training
    Photo Credit:AMC/Susan Morelock

    THE SHOOTING SCHEDULE FOR INTO THE BADLANDS SEEMS VERY GRUELING. DO YOU CONTINUE TO DO MAINTENANCE TRAINING WHILE YOU ARE ON LOCATION?

    It’s maintenance training, because we’re fighting 10-12 hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week. If we’re doing drama scenes that week, I will find a day or two to do some maintenance. I’ll hit the gym, do some cardio, and stretch a lot. I stretch every day. No matter what, I keep stretching. That’s part of my daily routine. If I’m just sitting around on set, or resting at home, I’ll put a leg up on something and stretch it out. We’re doing martial arts stuff all day long, so that keeps us in shape.


    - Into the Badlands _ Season 2, Fight Camp Training
    Photo Credit:AMC/Susan Morelock

    CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE FIGHT CAMP YOU HAVE THE CAST GO THROUGH BEFORE SEASON 2 STARTED?

    It happens five weeks before we start filming. All the actors come in, and it’s really intense. It’s from 9-6 every day. We train the actors from 9-3, and from 3-6 Master Dee Dee and the stunt crew work with us on specific choreography. Those 5 weeks are long days. It’s pretty hard for the other actors. I’ve trained in China, where all day is the norm. But for people who haven’t done it, it’s pretty daunting.

    I enjoy the training, but I’m used to it. I try to stay in shape all the time anyway, because if I’m not shooting Into the Badlands, I’m probably shooting a movie somewhere in the world. I find it’s much easier to stay in shape than to get in and out of it. And as I get older, I find that it really helps me prevent injuries from happening and keep doing what I love.
    I imagine we'll take this thread up again next year.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  6. #141
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    Somewhat Related

    BreakProof Back® Back Health & Athletic Performance
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    "Who dies first," he mumbled through smashed and bloody lips.

  7. #142
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    Variety's Best TV Shows of 2017

    There's a pic for each show but I'm only copy&pastin the one for Into the Badlands.

    The Best TV Shows of 2017 (So Far)
    Maureen Ryan Chief TV Critic @moryan
    JUNE 22, 2017 | 01:08PM PT

    One of the most notable things about this list is its omissions. So many good shows debuted, returned or continued good seasons this year that it’s difficult to keep up. I’ve surely left off one or two or three of your favorites off this list (and I will continue to spend every spare hour trying to finish — or start — seasons of shows I haven’t seen).

    Even so, coming up with 20 entries for this list wasn’t difficult — I actually had to prune back my first attempt at a roster (and once again, my end-of-year lists will likely once again contain up to 60 TV series). For the first half of the year, though, here’s an alphabetical list of the programs that made the strongest impressions impressions on me.

    One Day at a Time
    In this era of random reboots and greedy IP grabs, here was a Netflix revival that got the DNA of the original right and then improved on that formula. Anchored by a great cast, “One Day” (pictured, above) told stories that were heartwarming but never overly sentimental, and it was consistently funny, poignant and wise.

    American Gods
    Nothing is more American than a road trip, and this meditative Starz drama depicted one of the trippiest journeys to ever grace the small screen. A fantasia and a fever dream all at once, this adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel found both poetry and brutality in the cultures and belief systems that came together to create this strange dream called America.

    Better Call Saul
    Every year, the performances in this AMC drama grow richer and the character predicaments more complex, and this season was lent a special poignance by the unforgiving brother-vs-brother battle of Chuck versus Jimmy. This solidly crafted show continues to mine all it can from its core character’s shifty, striving backstory and from its dependably versatile cast.

    Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
    This musically enhanced CW comedy contains more than its share of bittersweet drama, which isn’t surprising, given its lead character’s problems with denial, co-dependence and depression. Adding Scott Michael Foster as Nathaniel in the second half of the season was a brilliant move (he’s an excellent foil for Rebecca, with whom he has a lot in common), and the show’s witty, smart explorations of Rebecca’s ability to put obstacles in her own way continued to be singularly entertaining.

    Dear White People
    A bracing, thoughtful and funny Netflix series that created a series of character portraits that won’t soon be forgotten. Like many of the best half-hour shows, “Dear White People” pulled no punches on the social-commentary front, but it was always considered, self-aware and curious.

    Girls
    The series finale wasn’t great and seems even more frantic and out of sync in hindsight. That said, the final season of the HBO show contained some of “Girls” most accomplished storytelling and insightful moments, and that’s saying something, considering this groundbreaking show came out of the gate strong all those years (and all those thinkpieces) ago.

    The Handmaid’s Tale
    The quiet intensity of this show’s aesthetic, not to mention a string of stellar performances, made the world of Gilead frequently transfixing. Any adaptation of a work this well-known and beloved is bound to encounter a few bumps in the road (or disagreements about execution), but there’s little doubt that this was a smart, worthy endeavor, and one that finally put Hulu on the map in the realm of original drama series.



    Into the Badlands
    This action-oriented AMC series more than delivered on the promise of its 2015 debut in a wild, exciting and gorgeous second season. There are very few series that provide witty escapism, a feast for the eyes, brisk storytelling and roundhouse kicks. This post-apocalyptic delight did all that and more.

    Jane the Virgin
    How do you take a show that’s great and make it even better? You smartly weave in heartfelt and intelligent commentary about grief, growth, parenting and the therapeutic benefits of a superficial fling. “Jane’s” efficient, beautifully orchestrated combinations of form, function and emotion would perhaps be more jaw-dropping if we weren’t so used to them — but that’s not to say we should take the CW show for granted.

    The Keepers
    Not just another true-crime documentary, but a meditation on what it does to a community — and individuals within it — when those in power not only allow crimes to be committed but cover up and dismiss evidence of gross abuses. The power of Netflix’s “The Keepers” comes from the doggedness of its quiet but tenacious amateur investigators, and even more so from testimony of the survivors at its core.

    The Leftovers
    This HBO show grew increasingly confident over its three-season run, and it was perfectly calibrated when it rolled into its third season. “The Leftovers” continually found ways to bring parables, metaphors and dreams to life, sometimes with imaginative and moving storytelling gambits, sometimes by simply training its cameras on the faces of its exceptional cast. This was an eight-episode run for the ages, topped by one of the all-time great series finales.

    Legion
    FX’s trippy superhero tale felt like a mash-up of “Quadrophenia” and an early Pink Floyd album. Dan Stevens’ empathic performance anchored a show that took a lot of flying leaps, many of which landed in strange but weirdly compelling places.

    Mary Kills People
    A sleeper that more people should seek out, this Lifetime drama followed the increasingly tricky balancing acts of a doctor who helped terminal patients end their lives. Was she doing it as an act of mercy or an assertion of power? The show wisely never answered that question definitively, but it supplied a lot of taut drama and even fizzy fun along the way.

    Master of None
    One of TV’s buzziest shows got even stronger in its second season, paying homage to cinematic legends while deepening the core characters and their relationships. It doesn’t hurt that in a world of bloated episodes, each installment of Netflix’s “Master of None” was crisp, concise and lasted just long enough.

    National Treasure
    A dark tale that avoided bleakness for something more ambiguous and true, Hulu’s “National Treasure” told the story of a beloved actor who was actually a sexual predator — or was he? Answers arrive by the end of the story, but not before the four-part drama told an incisive tale about the messed-up power dynamics that can exist within families — and within the allegedly glamorous entertainment industry.

    Review
    Finally, we got the last three episodes of this delightfully demented Comedy Central show, which served as a meticulous parable about the dangers of going to extremes — a warning that has just a little bit of relevance to the times we’re living in. There were only three episodes in Forrest MacNeil’s swan song season, but they were perfect. Five out of five stars.

    Shots Fired
    The accountability of the police to the communities they serve is a life or death issue, and Fox’s “Shots Fired” incorporated that truth into a complex narrative that resisted the creation of one-dimensional villains or superficial solutions. A very able cast did fine work in a drama that occasionally sprawled but frequently had smart things to say about how different kinds of power are used — and sometimes abused.

    Silicon Valley
    Each update — sorry, season — of this HBO show finds it honing its characters and tableaus even more sharply. Each season is a meticulously constructed device built to efficiently skewer various tech-world types without relying on bland caricatures. To be clear, some characters are caricatures, but they’re usually hilariously douchey, and ripe for the satirizing. Every time you think Silicon Valley will save us from some social, cultural or political ill, force yourself to watch this show; most likely you will laugh and nod your head while you secretly wonder if we’re all doomed.

    Superstore
    There’s a heartening array of mainstream comedies on the broadcast networks that are willing to take on all kinds of hot-button topics, and NBC’s “Superstore” — which is never preachy or predictable — fits right into that category. Its array of characters has only gotten more amusing over time, and hanging over each deftly constructed relationship and believable aspiration is the thought that maybe, just maybe, the American dream already passed these workers by.

    The Young Pope
    Shows that feature walk-on — well, hop on — roles for kangaroos are just going to get more points than the average prestige drama. That’s just how it goes. In truth, very little about this HBO show was average. It was playfully serious, hilariously grave, surreally cynical and a feast for the eyes, and Jude Law embodied “The Young Pope’s” sly, serious mischievousness with impressive facility.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  8. #143
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    5-0 up

    Curt Into the Badlands reference in more of the 5-0 story on our yellow face/white washing thread. Interested to see what Kim and Park might say eventually, but I do respect them playing it cool by being quiet about this so far.

    In Hollywood, Asian American actors see few lead roles, and pay discrepancies when they land one


    Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park have quit the CBS show "Hawaii Five-0" in a dispute over claims they were paid less than their white counterparts. Pictured are Scott Caan, left, Alex O'Loughlin, Park, Kim and Chi McBride. (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    Meg James and David Ng

    Korean American actor Edward Hong has played characters in dozens of TV shows and movies over the years, including as “Math Olympian Dude,” “Chinese Man #2” and, in a top-rated network sitcom, “Male Night Nurse.”

    Soon, he will appear in the independent film “Please Stand By” as the “Cinnabon Guy.”

    “In Hollywood, there are a lot of opportunities, but it is always for small roles with one-liners,” Hong said in an interview. “If you want to be a store owner, the nail salon lady or the IT-tech guy, those are the parts, but rarely do we get a chance to be the main character.”

    He’s not bitter, he said, just realistic about the plight of being an Asian American actor in Hollywood.

    Decades of racist caricatures — think Mickey Rooney playing the buck-toothed Mr. Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” — have given way to an industry that is more inclusive, but where leading roles remain scarce. This week served as a stark reminder that even those who have reached some of the highest levels in the entertainment industry still face obstacles. Two prominent actors — Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park — quit CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” amid claims they were paid less than their white counterparts.

    The controversy has motivated actors to be more vocal about what they say have been decades of inequities.

    “The path to equality is rarely easy,” Kim wrote in a message on Facebook, thanking fans for supporting him on “Hawaii Five-0.”

    Two years after the #OscarsSoWhite campaign shined a harsh light on Hollywood’s hiring and casting practices, some progress has been made. The film and TV industries have shown a heightened awareness of diversity and greenlighted more films with diverse casts. Television programs headlined by minorities, such as Fox’s “Empire” and ABC’s “black-ish,” have turned in strong ratings performances. Netflix’s “Master of None” stars the popular comedian Aziz Ansari, whose parents emigrated from India.

    There are few other Asian Americans in leading roles beyond ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat,” loosely based around the experiences of an Asian immigrant family in the 1980s, ABC’s “Designated Survivor,” which depicts a determined FBI agent played by Maggie Q and AMC's martial arts drama “Into the Badlands,” which stars Daniel Wu as a talented warrior.


    Grace Park, left, and Daniel Dae Kim quit CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" amid claims of pay inequity. CBS says both were offered "significant salary increases." (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    But problems persist, particularly for Asian Americans. Filmmakers have tried to fend off charges of “whitewashing” even as they continue to rely on white actors to portray Asians on screen. Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of a Japanese manga, “Death Note,” stirred controversy when a producer, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, said the production searched for Asian actors but “couldn’t find the right person,” in large part because actors from Asia “didn’t speak the perfect English.”

    That came after an outcry over Scarlett Johansson’s casting as the heroine in “Ghost in the Shell,” this year’s remake of a classic Japanese anime. In Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” last year, Tilda Swinton played the Ancient One, a character that is an Asian man in the original comics. Even the starring role in the big-budget Chinese period action film “The Great Wall” went to Matt Damon.

    “There is a bias against Asian Americans,” said Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociology professor at Biola University who studies race and ethnicity in film and television. “I feel like we are invisible in society. We are nondescript and in a way dehumanized by not existing in scenes or having speaking roles. We are just part of the backdrop.”

    Asian actors have been getting more work these days, in large part because of the flow of money from China. Movie studio executives hoping to enhance a film’s financial prospects in China, the world’s second-largest film market, have rounded out their casts with Asian faces. But those are often background roles.

    “The Chinese actors say: ‘We are just flower vases. We don’t speak; we just stand there and look pretty,’ ” Hong said.
    Asian Americans say they face unique challenges because of ingrained stereotypes, including a perception that Asians are not complainers and thus will show up and dutifully do the work. “We are always the model minority,” Hong said.

    The Chinese actors say: ‘We are just flower vases. We don’t speak; we just stand there and look pretty,’ ”
    — Edward Hong, Korean-American actor
    Several people interviewed said part of the problem is that Asians don’t fit the studio chiefs’ vision of a leading man.

    “I don’t believe people in showbiz are inherently racist,” said Christine Toy Johnson, a New York-based actress who has a recurring role on FX’s “The Americans” and recently appeared in guest spots on CBS’ “Madam Secretary” and USA’s “Mr. Robot.”

    “There are different lenses with which we see things,” she said.

    Ren Hanami, chairwoman of the SAG-AFTRA guild’s Asian Pacific American Media Committee, said she believes the problem is “systemic.”

    “Most of the heads of studios are white men, and there will be some women and people of color,” Hanami said. “And then you have the creators of the show — most come from writing and Ivy League schools. All the people making those decisions are writing about themselves.”

    USC’s Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative last year found that just 28.3% of all speaking characters were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups — a much lower percentage than the population at large. Asian Americans were particularly invisible. At least half of movies and TV shows, including on streaming services, “fail to portray one speaking or named Asian or Asian American on screen,” the USC report found.

    Hollywood executives are “still stuck in a mid-20th century mindset,” said Chris Tashima, an L.A.-based actor and Oscar-winning short-film maker. “It’s the default for the creators of content to think ‘white’ when they’re thinking of stars.”

    “Why aren’t there any Asian American stars? You need to cast the person for it to happen,” Tashima said.

    CBS has been blistered by criticism before for its formula of casting white men in lead roles, then building shows around them. Although “Hawaii Five-0” boasts a large and diverse cast, the network considered Kim and Park supporting actors to the show’s two white leading men, Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan.

    Both had major acting credits before landing their parts on “Hawaii Five-0,” a 2010 reboot of the popular 1960s detective show that consistently ranks in the top 20 in ratings. Kim was a fan favorite on ABC’s “Lost,” and Park, a Canadian actress, was a main character on “Battlestar Galactica.”

    “CBS promoted ‘Hawaii Five-0’ from the outset as an ensemble show with four co-stars, and it was clear that the two Asian American co-stars played absolutely crucial roles in the series,” said Daniel Mayeda, an entertainment attorney at Leopold, Petrich & Smith. “Without them, there is little to distinguish ‘Hawaii Five-0’ from any other cop show on the air.”
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  9. #144
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    Continued from previous post


    CBS considered Kim and Park supporting actors to the show’s two white leading men, Scott Caan, left, and Alex O’Loughlin. (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    Contract renegotiations stalled this spring when the television studio, CBS Productions, tried to lock in deals to bring the actors back for the show’s eighth season, which begins production next week. Both refused after being offered less money per episode than O’Loughlin and Caan.

    This week, CBS and producers rejected the notion that Kim and Park were treated unfairly. Kim, for example, was offered a huge jump in salary — to about $195,000 an episode, which was $5,000 an episode less than what Caan and O’Loughlin receive, according to a person close to the production who was not authorized to divulge details of the sensitive negotiations. Kim also was offered a new production deal on CBS’ lot in Studio City. His pay before the offer is not known.

    “Daniel and Grace have been important and valued members of ‘Hawaii Five-0’ for seven seasons,” CBS said in a statement. “We did not want to lose them and tried very hard to keep them with offers for large and significant salary increases.”

    Kim and Park declined to comment.

    Peter Lenkov, co-creator and executive producer of “Hawaii Five-0,” on Thursday stressed that the show was proud of its large and inclusive cast.

    “The truth is this: Both actors chose not to extend their contracts,” he said. “CBS was extremely generous and proactive in their renegotiation talks. So much so, the actors were getting unprecedented raises, but in the end, they chose to move on. No one wanted to see them go — they are irreplaceable.”

    Park, who lives in Vancouver when not shooting the show in Hawaii, had asked to dramatically reduce the number of episodes she appeared in, according to the knowledgeable source. “After being away from her family for seven years, I understood Grace’s decision to leave,” Lenkov said.

    Critics on social media said the studio’s insistence it had offered the actors significant raises illustrates they had been underpaid for years.

    There is little hard data proving Asian Americans in Hollywood are systematically underpaid. The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said it doesn’t track compensation beyond union minimums because the information is often kept under wraps by the studios, agents and individual actors.

    Experts said this week’s furor over the “Hawaii Five-0” salary gap, and Kim’s taking a stand on the issue, could mark a turning point.

    “Five years ago, this wouldn’t have gotten this kind of attention,” said Janet Yang, producer of “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “The Joy Luck Club.” She and others credited the #OscarsSoWhite controversy for encouraging Asian Americans to stand up for their rights.

    “More people are emboldened now,” Yang said. “The African American community has led the conversation for so long, and now it’s expanded to other minorities.”

    Social media and the rise of niche entertainment channels, YouTube and streaming services such as Netflix also have spurred traditional Hollywood players to be more inclusive.

    “Because you have so many platforms where people can tell stories from underrepresented faces and voices, audiences are driving all these decision-makers to reevaluate all the things they greenlight,” said Adam Moore, SAG-AFTRA’s national director of equal employment opportunity and diversity.

    Johnson, the actress, couldn’t recall auditioning for a lead in any pilot in the 20 years before “Fresh Off the Boat.” “That tells me a lot about where we are,” said Johnson, though she says there’s still room for improvement.

    Tashima, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, agreed. “Growing up, I always felt second-rate because I wasn’t like the kids you saw on TV,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of change now. It’s not as much as we want.”
    What bugs me the most about this is that it's Hawaii, which is so Asian. Imagine if this were a show about Chinatown. It's kind of like that.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  10. #145
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    ITB S:3 auditions

    Copied from Rudolf Vrba's facebook:



    Hi Guys

    Just putting out an invitation for any stunt performers or martial artists who are interested in coming along to an audition day, and show us your skills to consider you for work on the AMC show 'Into the Badlands' in Ireland. It is a full on martial arts show and a very high level of fighting skills, weapons and reactions are required.
    I will be in the UK with Vi-Dan Tran and Andy Cheng (Jackie Chan Team) on Saturday the 19th of August in London to consider you for the show. I say again, we are looking for a very high standard of Hong Kong style skills from both male and female, so please only apply if you think you have what we want.

    We have confirmed now the audition will be at UELSports
    University of East London, E16 2RD. Please arrive from 11.30am onwards and the audition will begin at 12pm.

    You can send me your details and CV to :
    stuntsintothebadlands@gmail.com prior to the auditions.
    Please share with your martial arts friends.
    Thank you
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  11. #146
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    Season 3 is shooting now

    I'm still hoping for Friar Sandy. Could that be Pilgrim?

    ‘Into The Badlands’: Sherman Augustus, Babou Ceesay & Ella Rae-Smith Join Season 3 As Series Regulars
    by Denise Petski
    September 26, 2017 9:30am


    Rex/Shutterstock/IMDB

    Sherman Augustus (Westworld), Babou Ceesay (Guerrilla) and Ella-Rae Smith (Clique) have joined the Season 3 cast of AMC’s Into the Badlands as series regulars, and Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones) and Lewis Tan (Iron Fist) are set for recurring roles. They join series stars Daniel Wu (Sunny), Aramis Knight (M.K.), Emily Beecham (The Widow), Orla Brady (Lydia), Ally Ioannides (Tilda), Nick Frost (Bajie) and previously announced new series regular Lorraine Toussaint (Cressida).

    Augustus returns as a regular after being introduced in Season 2 as Nathaniel Moon, the former regent who lost his hand to Sunny. In Season 3, Moon joins forces with The Widow in her war against Baron Chau in the hope of avenging his feud with Sunny. Ceesay plays Pilgrim, a zealous warlord who is on a quest to recover a mysterious artifact from Azra that could tip the balance of power in the Badlands. Smith plays Nix, a teenager whom Pilgrim loves like his own child. He uses her dark abilities to enforce his will.



    Rex/Shutterstock

    Chapman plays Castor, a teenager whom Pilgrim loves like his own child and uses his dark abilities to enforce his will. Tan plays Gaius Chau, who was imprisoned by his older sister, Baron Chau, for liberating her cog slaves. Gaius becomes a reluctant player in his sister’s war against The Widow.

    Into the Badlands was created by executive producers/showrunners/writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is executive produced by Oscar-nominated producers Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg, along with David Dobkin, Stephen Fung, Michael Taylor and Daniel Wu.

    Augustus most recently appeared on Westworld, American Odyssey, Colony, Low Winter Sun and Legit. He’s repped by Concept Talent Group and Jeff Goldberg Management.

    Ceesay’s credits include Guerrilla, BAFTA-nominated Damilola, Our Loved Boy, BAFTA-winning miniseries National Treasure and Free Fire. Repped by Troika and Management 360, he recently wrapped production on The Best of Enemies.

    Smith most recently appeared in Clique, Butterfly Kisses and the upcoming feature The Commuter. She’s repped by United Agents LLP.

    Chapman played King Tommen in Game of Thrones and appears in the upcoming features Breathe and The Commuter. He’s repped by Troika Talent in the UK and WME in the US.

    Tan most recently appeared in the TV series Iron Fist, Rush Hour and Hawaii Five-O and can be seen in the upcoming film Den of Thieves. He’s repped by ICM Partners Management and Luber Roklin Entertainment.
    ‘Into The Badlands’: Lorraine Toussaint Joins As New Regular For Season 3
    by Nellie Andreeva • tip
    August 14, 2017 5:14pm


    Rex/Shutterstock

    Former Rosewood co-star Lorraine Toussaint is set as a new series regular in the third season of AMC’s hit martial arts drama series Into the Badlands.

    Toussaint will play Cressida, a self styled Prophetess and mentor to Pilgrim. She is his spiritual guide, political counsel and chief military strategist.

    Toussaint had been in demand since she recently became available following a two-season stint on Fox’s procedural drama Rosewood. She fielded film TV and theater offers, ultimately sellecting Into the Badlands for her next TV series gig.

    Into the Badlands received an expanded 16-episode Season 3 order last April for premiere in 2018.

    Loosely based on the Chinese tale Journey to the West and set in a land controlled by feudal barons, Into The Badlands tells the story of a ruthless, well-trained warrior named Sunny (Daniel Wu) and a young boy, M.K. (Aramis Knight), who embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.

    The series was created by executive producers/showrunners/writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is executive produced by Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg, along with David Dobkin, Stephen Fung, Michael Taylor and Daniel Wu.

    Toussaint played Donna Rosewood on Rosewood. She also recently guest-starred on Shots Fired and appeared in the feature Girls Trip. Toussaint’ll next be seen on the big screen in drama thriller Fast Color opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She’s repped by Innovative, Frontline and Del Shaw.
    Gene Ching
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  12. #147
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    VR Badlands

    Ally Ioannides in New ‘Into the Badlands’ Virtual Reality App
    By Joanna Kalafatis - Oct 24, 2017



    AMC recently announced that it has launched a new VR app where fans of “The Walking Dead” and “Into the Badlands” can immerse themselves in the worlds of their favorite TV shows right along the shows’ stars, including Ally Ioannides.

    The channel made its first foray into the virtual reality world after the Season 8 premiere of “The Walking Dead” on Sunday, October 23, when AMC released a 360-degree extended scene video of the episode’s final scene.

    Viewers could access the scene and learn more about the storyline and the characters than they did in the series.

    Mac McKean, an executive at AMC, released a statement about the AMC VR launch, explaining, “with the launch of AMC VR, we are pleased to bring shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Into the Badlands’ to life in an immersive and experiential way. Viewers want to enter the worlds they watch on AMC, and this app brings them there.”

    The AMC VR app will also include two “Into the Badlands” VR experiences, one of which is called “Virtual Reality Fight Camp”, and features series stars Ally Ioannides, Daniel Wu, and Aramis Knight in a choreographed fight teaching you martial arts moves.

    You can access AMC’s new virtual reality app on iOS, Android, Gear VR and Google Daydream to check it out for yourself.

    In the meantime, watch the video AMC released on YouTube above to get a taste of the 360-degree experience; make sure to watch it in a browser compatible with 360-degree viewing.
    Might have to get that app.
    Gene Ching
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  13. #148
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    #11

    I cut to the chase with this article and just featured Into the Badlands. I had the honor of going on another set visit there two weeks ago, but am under embargo for the next few months until Season 3 starts. Sooooooo, more to come.

    DECEMBER 8, 2017 1:41PM PT
    Maureen Ryan’s 20 Best TV Shows of 2017
    By Maureen Ryan @moryan Maureen Ryan
    Maureen Ryan
    Chief TV Critic
    @moryan


    CREDIT: VARIETY

    Half of the showrunners of the programs in the list below are women. Women are 51% of the population of this country.

    This is not boring math. What’s finally occurring in TV is a long-overdue revolution.

    A decade ago, I would have been hard-pressed to find a single female showrunner within shouting distance of my end-of-year best-of list. Not because there weren’t women who had stories to tell and the skills to bring them to life. There have always been plenty of those women around. But the precincts of ambitious, adventurous TV — and all too often, huge sections of regular, meat-and-potatoes TV — were pretty much a dude-fest. (It’s still usually this way in TV; look at the stats.)

    But as I perused my very long list of possible Best TV contenders, it was heartening to see that women were not only making a lot of incredible, funny, gripping, provocative programs, but also that female characters predominated in so many of the shows.

    More than a dozen programs on my Top 20 roster are about groups of women, and these programs frequently depicted how women relate to each other, to the world and to the men in their lives. For decades — with a few exceptions, of course — it often felt like nobody who had real power in TV cared all that much about female friendship (and enemy-ship, and mentorship, etc.). Again, it’s a systemic thing, because most creators and showrunners are men, who are of course capable of making good and great TV, but a sizable percentage aren’t all that interested in relationships among realistically complicated women. As much as I loved “Mad Men,” “Deadwood,” “Breaking Bad” and shows like it, they rarely depicted bonds among women with any kind of sustained depth or dazzling complexity.

    But look at the year’s most buzzworthy, acclaimed TV shows: Many of them, from “Big Little Lies” to “Handmaid’s Tale” to “Insecure” to “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” were fantastically curious about the interior and exterior lives of women. Solitary women and groups of women. Women driven by an enormous array of motivations, dreams and ambitions. There were any number of ways in which these varied programs depicted women’s friendships, commitments and challenges, and the compromises women — especially women of color and queer women — have to make in order to fit into the narrow categories society has prepared for them.

    The evolutions didn’t stop there. One of the neatest spectacles of the last few years was watching “The Leftovers’” and “Halt and Catch Fire’s” showrunners — white guys! — realize that the most interesting arcs on their shows belonged to the women who had been more or less on the sidelines at first. The sagas wanted to go there, and the storytellers followed.

    We’re not in the promised land, of course. The parade of sludgy, derivative prestige imitators continues, and when it comes to that kind of fare, allow me one mini-rant: I remain generally unimpressed by TV episodes that run more than about 50 minutes. (If I had a nickel for every 2017 episode that dragged on for more than an hour and actually justified that running time, I would have… three nickels. Five at the most.)

    A much more important gripe: Only a few shows below were created or run by people of color, and only one is run by a LGBT creator. We need more voices, more stories, more perspectives, more of the fresh and vital excitement that comes from examining points of view that are typically ignored, minimized or depicted in stereotypical ways.

    There’s still much work to be done. As we now know, with brutal accuracy and heartbreaking specificity, much of Hollywood gives free reign to powerful men who abuse without consequence, and many reforms need to be made before most or all employees in the industry will routinely feel physically and psychologically safe from assault, harassment and bias. As hard as it is, we need to keep thinking about what it cost for these women and men to come forward and tell their stories, and what actions will help in a sustained, meaningful manner. We can either get to the root of the interlocking problems arising from the rampant abuse of power, and we can make sure that promising creative people are not driven out by predators, toxic bullies and harassers. Or we can give in to the way things have always been. That’s simply not an option.

    The best programs contain small but sturdy beacons of hope in their DNA. In a year that was often demoralizing, and in which stories of predation, exclusion and oppression dominated the news — in a year in which Americans often felt ground down even on the non-terrifying days — these shows found joy in heartbreak, and vice versa. As I looked at my final list, it felt good to realize that, all year long and well before that, a hardy band of men and women with bold ideas and big hearts were in writers’ rooms, on sets and in the world, doing their best to fight an enormous tide of cruelty, rage and stupidity. We got a Tasmanian sex boat, the Trolley Problem (twice!), a musical about Juneteenth and the best quinceañera ever. If there is a culture war raging, it is being fought with solid jokes, with specific and memorable characters, with spectacular visions, with daring ideas executed with care and precision, with minds and passions and inspirations.

    These shows gave me food for thought and sustenance for the soul in a tough time, and there were belly laughs too. I’m grateful for all of it.

    A couple of housekeeping notes: If something you really liked isn’t on my main list or in my rosters of Honorable Mentions, you can assume I didn’t get to it (there’s too much TV!). Or you can assume I did not like it as much as you did. Go with whichever assumption prevents you from “but what about”-ing me on Twitter. Also, I have not finished “Twin Peaks,” but what I’ve seen so far was suitably destabilizing. (And, per a recent online debate, “Twin Peaks” is not a movie. It is a TV show. Long live television.)

    ...

    11. “Into the Badlands,” AMC

    This is a post-apocalyptic story that doesn’t ignore the challenges its characters face, but it also doesn’t sink into dull gloom or repetitive storytelling ruts. It’s a lot of engaging, badass fun, and it has proven to be an excellent showcase for its game cast. If that isn’t enough, it’s easily one of the most gorgeously filmed shows on television, and it has the best martial arts and action anywhere on the small screen. Five reasons why “Into the Badlands” is awesome.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  14. #149
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    Season 3

    Into The Badlands added 5 new photos.
    2 hrs ·
    Get ready. #IntotheBadlands Season 3 is coming 2018. Check out the first look here 👇



    I got so many spoilers, but I'm under a NDA.
    Gene Ching
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    We covered 3 of these here.

    Top Breakout TV Stars of 2017
    By Joe Otterson @JoeOtterson
    TV Reporter

    CREDIT: NETFLIX/CBS

    As 2017 draws to a close, Variety takes a look back on some of the fresh faces in television who helped us survive another year.

    Of course, fresh can mean many things. In this list, we honor people appearing on new shows, people who joined returning shows, as well as people who made the jump to TV this year. Take, for example, relative unknowns like “Young Sheldon” star Iain Armitage or the young cast of “Riverdale,” who all exploded in popularity this year.

    Then there are veteran actors like Sean Astin and Rachel Brosnahan, who took on new roles this year to great fan and critical acclaim. Brosnahan stole hearts and laughs for her powerhouse performance in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Astin, meanwhile, became part of the phenomenon that is Netflix’s binge-worthy series “Stranger Things.”

    Read the full list below. Each of those mentioned, in their own way, made us want to keep watching.

    Iain Armitage, “Young Sheldon” (CBS)

    It was the closest thing to a sure thing you could get that “The Big Bang Theory” prequel series “Young Sheldon” would be a hit. The burden of continuing the legacy of the incredibly successful parent program fell largely on the pint-sized shoulders of Iain Armitage, who plays the child version of Jim Parsons’ Dr. Sheldon Cooper. The young Armitage pulled it off, though, and the series has proven to be number one new comedy of the 2017-2018 season in the Nielsen ratings.

    Sean Astin, “Stranger Things” (Netflix)

    The original Goony appeared in “Stranger Things” Season 2 and quickly proved to be one of the most lovable characters on television in 2017. Astin played Bob Newby, the boyfriend of Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and would-be stepfather to her two sons. Astin brought a tear-jerking amount of humanity and heart to the role, playing Bob as a normal guy who stepped up in the biggest way possible when the people he loved were in danger.

    Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon)

    Rachel Brosnahan is no stranger to TV audiences after recent turns on “House of Cards” and “Manhattan,” but her starring role on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” gives the talented actress her best role in years. Brosnahan effortlessly inhabits Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a 1950s New York housewife who discovers a talent for stand up comedy. The series is the brainchild of “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, providing Brosnahan with no shortage of snappy dialogue. Her onscreen friendship with Alex Borstein as talent manager Susie is also the stuff of TV gold.

    Nick Frost, “Into the Badlands” (AMC)

    Nick Frost joined AMC’s martial arts series for its second season this year, injecting a welcome dose of comic relief. Frost starred as Bajie, a fast-talking hustler who spends the beginning of the season literally chained to Daniel Wu’s Sunny. “Into the Badlands” truly seemed to hit its stride this season, and Frost was a major component of that. Pairing him with the no-nonsense character Wu portrays allowed for a fantastic odd couple dynamic that provided balance to the show’s breathtaking fight sequences.

    Jessica Henwick, “Iron Fist” (Netflix)

    Jessica Henwick turned out to be a rose among a lot of poorly-reviewed thorns in the first season of the Marvel-Netflix series “Iron Fist.” Henwick played Colleen Wing, a martial arts master who becomes the ally and lover of the titular hero, played by Finn Jones. Despite the show receiving a rash of negative reviews upon its release, Henwick was one of the few elements of the series to earn real praise. Hopefully, her role will be expanded going forward. The chances of that look good, as Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb teased Wing would team up with Det. Misty Knight (Simone Missick) in a future season in keeping with the comic books.


    Sonequa Martin-Green, “Star Trek: Discovery” (CBS All Access)

    Sonequa Martin-Green made the leap from one massive series to another this year, leaving “The Walking Dead” to take on a starring role in “Star Trek: Discovery.” Despite a lot of negative news coming out ahead of “Discovery’s” premiere (including multiple premiere date delays), Martin-Green deftly took on the challenge of leading the new installment of the iconic sci-fi franchise. Her portrayal of convicted Starfleet mutineer Michael Burnham made the new show truly binge-worthy.


    Jonah Ray, “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return” (Netflix)

    “Mystery Science Theater 3000” remains one of the most popular cult TV shows of all time. After a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, the show was brought back for a new season on Netflix with comedian Jonah Ray stepping in as the host. Ray had a big jumpsuit to fill, taking over a role previously held by series creator Joel Hodgson and later Michael J. Nelson, the original show’s head writer. But with Hodgson’s blessing, Ray took to the task with apparent ease, riffing on movies with the best of them.

    The Cast of “Riverdale” (The CW)

    “Riverdale,” the dark twist on the classic Archie Comics, has quickly become a force to be reckoned with on The CW in just under a year. The young cast includes: K.J. Apa as Archie, Lili Reinhart at Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones. The first season launched on CW in January and was subsequently released on Netflix. With the streaming service helping the show reach a much bigger audience, the second season has skyrocketed past the first in ratings to the tune of nearly 50 percent in the key demo and nearly 60 percent in total viewers.

    Frankie Shaw, “SMILF” (Showtime)

    Frankie Shaw took the short film she entered into the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and turned it into a TV series that she stars in, writes, directs, and produces this year. Shaw stars as Bridgette, a broke single mother trying to make ends meet for herself and her infant son in South Boston. Shaw has earned critical acclaim for her performance, with many praising her portrayal of a young, flawed woman and the way in which she authentically captured life near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in America. She was nominated for two Golden Globes for the show’s freshman season.

    Jimmy Tatro, “American Vandal” (Netflix)

    “American Vandal” perfectly skewered the true crime documentary genre and Jimmy Tatro was at the very heart of it. Tatro played Dylan Maxwell, a high school student who is expelled on shaky evidence that he vandalized over two dozen faculty cars. Tatro’s deadpan (and braindead) delivery made Dylan a lovable loser you couldn’t help but root for. But when the show took unexpected dramatic turns, particularly in its final episodes, Tatro proved more than up to the challenge.

    Reese Witherspoon & Nicole Kidman, “Big Little Lies” (HBO)

    Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman both made the jump from film to series television this year with the critically-acclaimed series “Big Little Lies.” Both women won Emmys for their work as executive producers on the show, with Kidman also winning the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. All told, the show won eight Emmys and was recently nominated for six Golden Globes. Both women will return as stars and executive producers for the show’s second season.

    Into The Badlands
    Iron Fist
    Star Trek: Discovery
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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