Can this please be a thing?

So, over the past few weeks, I've been seeing this ad on BBC America:



Fables is a completely fantastic comic, and unlike almost so many other comics that I've seen lately that attempt to bring back fairy tale characters, it's not just about drawing the characters so as to make it seem like their suddenly ginormous boobs are going to leap free at any second. It's just about people trying to manage a city. And the people include Snow White. And the city is kind of magic. And there's a war. And a possible rebellion. Look, a lot goes on. You should just read it. And then fall in love with it. And then make everyone you know read it.

Here's my question, though: could this be about testing the waters for an adaptation? I have absolutely zero in the realm of insider knowledge, so this is just speculation fueled by hope, but it would kind of make sense. Comic book adaptations are becoming more and more widespread, and with the upcoming (hopefully awesome) Scott Pilgrim vs. World and the recent (supposedly terrible) Jonah Hex they're spreading past superheroes more and more. AMC is making zombie-comic extraordinaire The Walking Dead in to a TV show right now, so why not Fables? Because I would watch that. I would watch that twice, and then force other people to watch it. I guess even if it's just to sell more comics, I'm happy to see it get more promotion. But maybe if a lot of people buy copies, and then wish, or clap hard or whatever they'll turn it into a super-awesome TV show.

If not, then I guess I can just Netflix 10th Kingdom.


I'm sure this goes without saying, but neither Netflix nor anyone involved with Fables paid me anything to write this. Because they have no idea who I am. And paying off someone who's blog has like, 10 readers isn't exactly a good investment.

We can leave out the shoulder pads, though.

Can someone please bring back Designing Women? Franchises that are younger than your average fifth grader are being remade and rebooted, so why not the Sugarbakers? Television is faced with a tragic shortage of kicky broads just being awesome, and Designing Women is the obvious cure (well, ok Golden Girls is probably the actual obvious cure, but there are somethings that one simply doesn't screw around with). Know one could ever quite live up to Dixie Carter, but I'd like to see someone at least try.

I can't really think of a show since the 90s that's really been a bunch of women hanging out and being awesome. Desperate Housewives seems to be (I've seen it about .65 times) having sex/scandals/drinks. All of which has it's place on television and in my heart, and my interest in the show is certainly elevated by the fact that both the late Dixie Carter (Queen of Awesomeness) and John Barrowman have done guest spots, but what makes Golden Girls and Designing Women great is that the dating stuff always felt kind of...secondary.

That's the main reason I can't really support the idea of Sex and the City as having been a full-on heir to the throne. Yes, it had a group of women as central characters, and yes they rejected the idea that a good boyfriend is all it takes for a girl to be happy (though I've read reviews asserting that the new movie has embraced the man-as-ultimate-goal idea pretty strongly), but it seems like - though all of the characters mattered - Carrie and Carrie's relationships were at the core. A lot of major arcs seemed (and I say this having been a fairly casual viewer of the show) to be about the development, growth and failure of serious relationships. Viewers were supposed to know if they wanted an Aidan or a Big. And it's not that that stops it from being a good show, it just stops it from fitting the Designing Women/Golden Girls bill. Seriously, for all the dating that took place on Golden Girls I can't name five boyfriends. I only get to five because I know Miles, Stan (which feels like cheating), George's brother and that guy Leslie Nielsen played. Was it Leslie Nielsen? I think it was, so we're just going to go with it. Even with Designing Women I mostly remember that Hal Holbrook was Reese and Scott Bakula was Mary Jo's ex.

It's not that I'm opposed to manufactured reality TV drama, or scripted salaciousness. Those things are awesome. It's what most of my Sundays are made of. It's just that awesome female characters can get a little sparse, and a new Julia Sugarbaker could do a hell of a lot to change that.