“Big Love” has always mirrored the heartbeat of real-life polygamist culture, something Mr. Olsen and Mr. Scheffer plan to continue doing in season three as Roman Grant goes on trial following his arrest in last season’s finale. Real figures often serve as inspiration for characters. Hollis Green and his transgendered partner in crime, whose identity is “to be revealed,” are based on a real murdering polygamist and his sister wives, who are still out there today with guns and a hit list. One sister wife was recently arrested for trying to cross a state border, the creators said.

It is a very interesting article, and a video of the panel should be available at The Envelope website in a day or two. This will have to do until the 11 January 2009 premiere.

Because of timing issues, “Big Love” was left out of last year’s nominations. I agree with L.A. Times’ Mary McNamara:

“Big Love” deserves at least nominations in dramatic series, writing, actor and with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin, it should own Outstanding Actress in a Dramatic Series and I don’t want to hear any nonsense about them “canceling each other out.”

I think it’s a tossup between Ginnifer and Chloë. What do you think of Big Love’s chances at the Emmys? Who deserves an award?

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Unfortunately the strike really pushed back production on season three. Our fans will have to wait until January for our new season, which just started production. It’s a great season, though, and I hope it will be worth the wait.

Margene has a remarkable season. First off, the baby’s here, and she’s beautiful. But Margie’s focus is on work. She’s in love with selling for Weber Gaming, but the family’s circumstances force her to sacrifice her ambition. If I said anything more it would be a spoiler.

Originally, there was hope that it would continue in the fall, but now it’s pushed to 2009. I think “Big Love” works best as a summer show, but I’d rather not wait an entire year, so I will take what I can get.

Will also confirms what I expected, Margene’s pregnancy is continuing during the hiatus. Do you feel cheated that so much time will have passed off screen? As I’ve said before, I enjoy the character development on the show, and with so much time and events passing, I fear that these will be different characters come January. What do you think?

UPDATE: According to Margene’s Blog, the baby has been born.

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In his feature film debut, director Bryan Gunnar Cole imagines an otherworldly America in the not-too-distant future where the draft has been reinstated to fight the global war on the terror and a new generation is face with the prospect of military service. In the center of it all are three conflicted friends: Aaron (Elija Wood), a budding novelist; George (Chris Klein), a corporate lawyer; and Dixon (Jon Bernthal), a cab driver.

The Good:
Elija Wood’s performance was excellent (of course). He played the conflicted, dual-personality writer with perfection. He has a way to make himself so much part of the character that draws you completely in. Ginnifer Goodwin, for her brief time on screen (see the bad), was simply engaging. Every scene she was in, your focus was completely on her. Also, Jon Bernthal put forth a performance I hadn’t seen from him before. His strong, conflicted character was the star of the movie, even given some of the terrible dialog he had to say.

The Bad:
Chris Klein was dreadful in this movie. His expression never changed, and I was never able to identify with him at all. Ginnifer Goodwin was wasted playing his wife. Her longest scene was relegated to one not part of the narrative (video tape). The editing was all off. We jumped from place to place, time to time, without much guidance. Also, being called “Day Zero”, I would have expected at least a feeling of how many more days they had until ‘the day’. We only got 3 points in a time-line: 30 days, next Saturday, and tomorrow.

What could be good or bad was the lack of a single message in the film. It bounces, unconvincingly, from pro-war to pro-peace, sometimes in the same scene which takes you out of the film. Having both sides of the issues represented in the movie would have worked, if they hadn’t made the arguments so weak.

Conclusion:
“Day Zero” had allot of potential. One could imagine that it would have been better had it been picked up for theatrical release and had a second look. I get the feeling what we got on the DVD was the directors cut. I give it a “Good to See”.

For another review, go here.

I’ll give more of a family update next time. I just wanted to say hello, I’m sorry, and I’m back. I hope that’s ok. Roman’s trial is starting in the next few months so that’s got everyone on edge, but Bill wants us to try to stay out of it all?which is hard on Nicki and easy on me. But, again, I’ll get into all of that next time.

I hope that they continue to update the blog this off-season. It is a great way to keep die-hard fans interested in the show during the long Hiatus. I’m still waiting for news of Season 3 production. It was rumored to be rushed because of the impending writer’s strike, so I would expect we should be hearing something soon.

Margene’s blog hints at Roman’s trial. I really do hope that they don’t spend the bulk of next season on the trial. I’d much rather see more character evolution from the rest of the family.

We've got the jump on HBO Home Video's formal announcement, with word of a December 11th planned release date. The first season set came out almost a year ago, at a $99.99 SRP. This time, HBO brings the price down significantly, with a list price of $59.99 for 12 hour-long episodes.

The gem of the season one DVDs was the excellent commentary tracks; most notably the commentary by all three sister-wives for the season finale. I would expect the season 2 commentaries to be equally good.  We can also expect the shorts and specials that were shown on HBO & HBO.com to be part of the set. Myself, I waited until the set came down in price ($29.99) before I picked up season one, and I may do the same for season two. But, I will definitely be getting this one.

This week, Bill resorts to a new tack to try to bring down his nemeses. Preparing for the festivities surrounding Salt Lake City's Pioneer Week parade, the Henricksons are rocked by the appearance of an unexpected guest. Margene comes clean to Ana about her relationship with "Phil" and then takes up her cause with her sisterwives–and Bill.

Spoilers

No cliffhanger? That was my first reaction. I've been so accustomed to cliff hangers in season-enders that it felt strange not to have one. But, it was nice to have many of the numerous open storylines come to a close. I'm glad Barb didn't leave, but instead reasserted herself as 'boss lady'. Who would have guested that Adaleen would provide Barb with the advice that she needed. Though the speech to Pam was supposed to be Barb's big scene, Margene stole it away with the huge gaping expressing on her face.

The revelation that Lois had been the mastermind behind Wanda's attempted murder spree was anti-climactic. I didn't expect that Wanda was going to poison Roman, and it appears that they've closed the door on it. The Wanda sub-plot was a very entertaining this season, it is too bad it appears to be over. Evil Lois is a compelling character and we might get to see her more often in season 3.

As Don Embry said, Bill "pulled it off". I was a little to neat for me; I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in the last 2 minutes. It appears they want to start next season with a semi-clean slate. With the family now being more public, will Sara now feel more of the strain? Will Bill and Ben have problems at work? Will the Embry's get outed? Is Alby crazier than his father? In all it was a good ending to a terrific season.

Love was always a little hit-or-miss with me, but these last seven episodes have made me a believer. Easily the best show of the summer. And can we just take a moment to bask in the awesomeness that is Ginnifer Goodwin? That girl is acting her ass off this season. I've already reserved a spot on our 2008 Dream Emmy Ballot for her. Ditto GraceZabriskie, who brings such joy to my life I almost want to hand her a wad of cash every time her nutzilla alter ego shows up on my screen.

Ditto I say! Ginnifer (Margene) and Grace (Lois) are absolutely unbelievable this season. I dare to say that there has been no better acting on television this entire year. Although, I think that it is too much to hope that Love will get any Emmy 'love' this year. The show is so smart, and the acting is so superb, it is a shame that it'll probably go unrecognized.

Do you love Margene and Lois as much as I do? You have to agree they steal the show whenever they are on screen. What are Margene's chances at an Emmy? Does she deserve it?

This week, Bill makes Alby a tempting offer in the wake of Nicki's disclosure about Weber Gaming. Barb learns that her mother Nancy is getting remarried, and decides to use the occasion to try to make peace with her estranged family–and provide traditional guidance to Ben.

Potential Spoilers

What hit me about this episode was the way they completely took you 180 degrees from where they've been leading you. Sara warming up to the idea of being in a plural relationship, going as far as asking Nicki for advice. I loved Nicki's response; basically telling Sara to become a tease. Although Sara's speech to Bill was cold and unexpected. I felt sorry for Bill, I couldn't imagine hearing such hurtful words from my daughter.

They built the tension for the confrontation at the wedding very well. I felt every inch of tension in those scenes, as much as dreading the outcome myself. Everything this season has led me to believe that Barb would leave the family if she was confronted with it. Now, withMargene changing her tune from not staying in the marriage without Barb, to "just let her leave", I was sure that they were setting up for her to tell her mother she was leaving. But instead, she admitted that she is in the marriage for herself, not Bill.

I will admit, not knowing much if anything about Mormonism, much of the conversations in the driveway at the wedding confused me. I was unable to interpret what Barb and her mother meant when they were speaking to each other at the end (the symbolism, not the words). It was her "final test", but test for what? For salvation? For her marriage? Either way, EllenBurstyn was excellent as Barb mother, and I hope we see more of her next season.

This season ending tragedy is gearing up to make last year's BeeHive incident seem very tame. Bill's made of mess of his family and his business. Can it get any worse?

This week, rebuffed by Barb, Bill asks Margene to accompany him to a Bar Owner's trade convention. Alby realizes that Juniper Creek has been robbed, and thinks he knows by whom.

Each week I get more and more excited about this terrific show. All three wives were very much in the forefront for the entire episode. Usually I have a favourite, but this week Barb, Nicki & Margene were excellent.

(Potential Spoilers)

I really believe that they are gearing up for Barb to leave (or threaten to leave) the family, and take Sarah and Teeny with her. Barb is ashamed of her lifestyle, which was emphasized when Bill 'came out' at the bar convention. For Barb, I believe that the impact that polygamy has on her kids is really what is pushing her away. If Sarah opens up to Barb after her discussion with the social worker this week, I think that would push her over the edge.

I've tried to stay spoiler free for the most part, so I could be way off. What do you think? Will Barb leave the family this season? It would be an interesting season finale, and we could start next season with Nicki acting as first wife.

A lot of people ask things about Nicki and one person even said they even wished Nicki had a blog. Well, keep dreaming. That ain’t gonna happen. But, I wish she would too because then she could answer some of your questions about her. She was married once before, but I don’t know ANY of the details about it because she’s as tight lipped about that as anybody I’ve ever seen.

Nicki was married once before? Did I miss something, or is this the first time we've heard of this? Sometimes these online blogs don't have any bearing on the actual show, but Margene's blog always seems to be relevant. If this is a new nugget of the Big Love tale, I would really like to see it explored more on the show. Nicki has become somewhat one-dimensional this season and a storyline about her previous marriage would be interesting. What is your take?