Greetings and salutations! Here is what I found this week…

On the 15th, Zoe Thomas talked about how Supernatural fans have influenced the show over at Film School Rejects:
“Most TV series that exceed one season try to include an Easter egg here or there as a tribute to their loyal fans. Some even keep a character around longer than expected because of audience reactions. With ‘Supernatural’, the creators took this idea to the next level by creating entire plotlines for the Winchester brothers based on their fans. This choice creates an intimate connection between the series and the audience, making the viewers feel like they are as strong an influence on the show as are the producers.”

Tom Brueggemann analyzed why Bohemian Rhapsody became a blockbuster for Indiewire on the 16th:
“’Bohemian Rhapsody’ (20th Century Fox – its final blockbuster) has passed $900 million in total gross worldwide. That makes it the sixth-biggest 2018 release overall — placing it ahead of recent hits like ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ ‘Batman v. Superman'” and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.’ The film’s final push came from its current modest play in China (in a gay-free truncated version, which apparently presumes audiences don’t mind major plot holes).
It also is #4 among 2018 releases in foreign sales. At $685 million, it stands behind only ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ ‘Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom,’ and ‘Aquaman’ in popularity. That remarkable placement makes it the most surprising success of last year. Let’s look at some of the unusual aspects of its reception.”

Also on the 16th, Julie Kosin discussed how stupid and sexist the rivalry between Sansa and Daenerys on Game of Thrones is for Harper’s Bazaar:
“What’s far more difficult to comprehend is Sansa Stark’s inherent distaste for Daenerys, a rivalry baked into their relationship from the moment they lock eyes. These aren’t merely blink-and-you’ll-miss-it interactions; the show takes the time to underscore Sansa’s disgust before they even speak to each other, the camera lingering on distrustful stares and hostile side-eyes between the two women throughout the episode.”

Laura Bradley interviewed Chad Michael Murray about playing a teen on a teen show, then playing an adult on a teen show for Vanity Fair on the 17th, and made me feel very old:
“One of the greatest joys of ‘Riverdale’ is its zeal for booking former teen idols to play its adult characters—a list that includes the late Luke Perry, Skeet Ulrich, and Molly Ringwald. This season, the show hit the motherlode by landing former ‘One Tree Hill’ star Chad Michael Murray to play Edgar Evernever—the leader of ‘the Farm,’ the cult that has become the bane of Betty Cooper’s existence.”

Also on the 17th, Mitchell Hadley at It’s About TV reflected on while the internet made Game of Thrones what it is, it also made it difficult to imagine another show like it:
“I started this off by mentioning how unlikely it would be to run across anyone who wasn’t aware of ‘Game of Thrones’—I have no doubt that somewhere in the middle of the rain forests of the Congo, there was a viewing party riveted to last weekend’s events—but it would be good to put things in a bit of perspective. The numbers that the program pulls in are modest when compared, say, to the ratings for ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ back in the mid ‘60s, and it isn’t as if we haven’t had this kind of excitement and anticipation over a television series before: look at the ‘Who Shot J.R.?’ era of ‘Dallas,’ for example.”

Finally, on the 18th, Frida Garza of Jezebel mourned the loss of so many women’s magazines:
“Since 2014, Ladies’ Home Journal and Lucky have both closed; Glamour, Teen Vogue, Redbook, and Self have ceased printing physical issues and gone digital-only, and Seventeen now only prints ‘special issues.’ In the last five years or so, the staffs at women’s magazines—including Cosmo, Elle, W, and Women’s Health—have endured layoffs, lost resources, and now face precarious futures. In 2016, Hearst Media consolidated the fashion and beauty departments for five women’s brands at the company, and in 2018, it was reported that Condé Nast was considering selling off three titles, including Brides and W. “

Enjoy!