Author: Tim Goodman

Comedy Central; Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS

Stephen Colbert; David Letterman

With haste and impeccable taste, CBS picked the best possible candidate to replace the retiring legend, David Letterman. Hiring Stephen Colbert, whose agile mind, insanely quick wit and impressive interviewing skills will fit perfectly in the late night talk show universe, was never less than the sublimely obvious thing to do.

NBC, take note. This is what an orderly transfer of power looks like.

If ever there was a no-brainer for such an important slot at the network — and despite what you might think about the late night talk show environment, it’s still a marquee gig when judged from within — then hiring Colbert was it. He has a built in following which will likely grow when he drops his faux right wing persona that was the cornerstone of his time on The Colbert Report. He is insatiable about pop culture, politics, music — pretty much anything in the zeitgeist. And he has the ideal mind for taking in those information streams, weeding out what’s important and then commenting on them.

EARLIER: CBS Approached John Oliver for Late Night Show as Major Shuffle Looms

Put into a position where he can have a guest on The Late Show who falls into one of those categories, he will no doubt manage to bring something thoughtful and entertaining to the task. That’s a textbook example of what you want in a host. And rarely have I thought there’s been a more perfect match of job opening and candidate.

Colbert’s hiring also makes a ton of sense for CBS. It gets a host who skews young enough — and with Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon in the mix at ABC and NBC, the trend at 11:30 p.m. is to get younger — without having to embarrass itself by trying out candidates who are too young or too old in some awful faux-competition. By being proactive and spot-on, it drains the internet of speculation (a good thing) and allows the network publicity machine to start ramping up both for Letterman’s victory lap and for Colbert’s coronation.

And while Comedy Central, which recently lost John Oliver to HBO, will need to gear up for a partner to Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” – please be Aisha Tyler – that channel is infinitely better equipped to get the right mix of age, humor and persona for that slot. Translation: CBS could easily have choked, failed to get Colbert and found itself in a carnival of misguided “tryouts” for the job, especially if it was, “trying to go young.”

Now that task falls to Comedy Central (which will hopefully nail it) and CBS comes off as decisive and smart about its late night strategy.

Yes, fans of Colbert “in character” will miss his show, but the truth is that the format, despite being an excellent vehicle that launched Colbert to stardom, was far too limiting for Colbert’s talent. He’s absolutely going to blossom with this new freedom. From his time on Strangers With Candy to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, he’s shown his comedic talent in various forms with an improve performer’s fluidity. Those are traits that will make him instantly watchable doing his own taped (and live) skits on The Late Show, plus they will serve him well behind the desk doing interviews.

Having interviewed Colbert at length before, I can only imagine that in some ways The Colbert Report was a golden-handcuffs type situation for him. This opportunity to take over for Letterman and branch out in a new direction should truly inspire him. An inspired Colbert? Gold.

And if you have any worries that CBS will somehow “tame” Colbert, fear not. Or, put another way — give the network more credit. It’s not going to hire him and then shackle him. That’s just bad business and CBS is already the best run broadcast network in existence — it knows what it is doing. There’s no need to shape Colbert. There’s no need to break him in. He will not be awkward or mistake prone. He’s a pro. He’s going to invigorate CBS’s late night presence. And he’s going to validate, right out of the gate, the network’s smart and swift decision to hire him.

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine

HBO’s sprawling, epic fantasy drama hit Game of Thrones returns for its fourth season on April 6, and the one thing fans will realize – as they do every year – is just how many plates are spinning in this series.

It’s incredibly impressive.

The initial realization that Game of Thrones is one of the most densely packed stories on television and filled with what often seems like an endless parade of castmembers, is sometimes truly daunting. Viewers have to recall allegiances, deceitful and otherwise, plus remember all the backstabbing plans that have been put in motion from the start of the show. Barring a rewatching of season three, a really long and involved “previously on” might be the greatest gift HBO can give to viewers.

PHOTOS: ‘Game of Thrones’: 20 Best Quotes

Once up to speed, however, that old feeling returns rather quickly – a nagging addiction to the myriad stories and incredibly well-written interplay between them all. Those plates stay spinning – not wobbling – because series creators and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – along with George R.R. Martin, the man who dreamt it all up in book form (and writes episodes as well) – are masterful at what they do. That just can’t be overstated.

Fans who haven’t read the books, which is likely the majority, learned in season one what the book fans already knew: Nobody is safe. Major characters are killed off with regularity – the clock is always ticking on someone. (In fact, the slogan for season four is “All men must die”.) That creates a sense of unease for viewers. By creating a world where anything can happen, the drama is ratcheted up, giving Benioff, Weiss and Martin a lot of room for creative string-pulling.

But this series doesn’t lean too hard on the swords, arrows, knives and machetes (and let’s not forget a certain someone’s dragons), giving equal weight to the considerable verbal arsenal of many of the main characters, some of whom display a special fondness for cutting one-liners and malice-filled threats.

PHOTOS: ‘Game of Thrones’: 15 New Stills From Season 4

The writing has always fueled the series, but Game of Thrones is criminally neglected when it comes to Emmy recognition not only in that area but also in the acting categories. While everyone is essentially a supporting actor on this show, not even a fraction of the deserving are given their due.

Heading into season four, Benioff, Weiss and Martin start ratcheting up the ominous threat of all-out war. It’s been coming for three seasons, and the fact that the Lannisters have managed to drastically reduce the threat of the Starks and Baratheons doesn’t mean that all is well or that war, in and of itself, is over. The battle for power is ever ongoing in Game of Thrones.

Reminder: “All men must die.”

Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and her dragons are rolling up huge numbers of soldiers and will likely be able to get the ships they need to sail to Westeros and restore the Targaryen glory. Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) and his Wildlings are closing in on the Night’s Watch at The Wall, with even more ragtag types joining their ranks (and the White Walkers are certainly not giving up their advance, either). Meanwhile, a new threat arrives from Dorne, with Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) wanting to avenge past injustices by the Lannisters.

In short, all hell is breaking out and nobody is safe.

PHOTOS: ‘Game of Thrones’ Stars Invade New York for Season 4 Premiere

Having seen the first three episodes – which contain enough twists and shocks to make pretty much all fans happy – it’s hard to express enough appreciation for the complex successes of Game of Thrones. To keep this massive story afloat is a sublime feat, and the series even manages to minimize the issues endemic to such a sprawling epic. For instance, the story’s myriad moving parts often mean viewers are only given very short amounts of time with certain integral characters, which can be frustrating. But the show manages to make maximum use of that time, with characters like Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and The Hound (Rory McCann) getting some run, and good old Jaime Lannister (Nikolas Coster-Waldau) being as riveting as ever. Also effective: shifting the emphasis to other characters who maybe were bit players in the previous season while that part of the story was being told. It’s a difficult task to satiate the hard-core fans, but writing sparkling dialogue that the actors in turn nail (within the short scenes where they are featured) alleviates much of the frustration.

Game of Thrones also does much of its best work visually – it often masters dense, dark interior scenes where crisp dialogue slays a family member or foe, or a knife or blow to the head (sometimes repeatedly) reiterates the cruel world that the diverse Thrones characters are populating.

The series also echoes the breadth of the stunning opening credits by transferring a sense of expanse to the viewer with well-choreographed exterior shots that give a sense of place and scale. Along those lines, scenes that take place in forests or rolling hills, darkened seas or dry, foreboding deserts always convey that those who run in the kingdoms of the world are seeking to unite them and are thus rushing inevitably toward one another. Without this visual composition of a vast and seemingly limitless exterior world, viewers would be without essential information on how difficult it would be for, say, Daenerys to complete her journey and exact revenge or how soon the Wildlings and the people beyond The Wall will be at another’s doorsteps. By being deft with external and internal visuals, Thrones gives viewers the scope they need to absorb the magnitude of the story.

The first three episodes are predictably spot-on – action-packed, terrific scenes full of searing dialogue bumping up against others where volumes are spoken with facial features or silence. The consistent excellence in Game of Thrones is truly something to behold. Even in three episodes, viewers will sense things tightening up – that winter and war are coming and they are coming on full-stop. If there’s anything to complain about with Game of Thrones it’s the 10-episode seasons, which cry out for 13 episodes given the immense world that Thrones inhabits. But since that’s unlikely to happen (for a number of reasons – none of which I find very compelling), what’s left are just enough hours to prove the series’ power and allure, thus leaving viewers dying for more the next season. As a strategy, that’s not a bad one.

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine

Gene Page/AMC; Bryan Randall

“The Walking Dead” at Terminus (Inset: Gareth).

[Warning: Spoilers ahead for the season finale of The Walking Dead.]

As someone who hasn’t read the Walking Dead comic books — just as I haven’t read George R.R. Martin’s books that form the basis for Game of Thrones — I take in all the information simply as it’s doled out, without being privy to older nonshow references or working with the knowledge of what’s ahead.

But I didn’t want the finale and the group’s trek to Terminus and what that foreshadowed to slip away (the onslaught of Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Fargo and others is near) before revisiting it. When first introduced to Terminus — at the end of a journey the season was leading viewers along — I got the distinct feeling (as others did, or at least should have), that Terminus is no sanctuary. Rather, hints abounded that a modern-day Soylent Green story was unfolding.

And though it’s pretty clear there’s cannibalism going on at Terminus, the producers are being coy about it.

STORY: ‘Walking Dead’ Dissection: Scott Gimple, Robert Kirkman Talk Terminus, Preview Season 5

In the episode where Glenn and Maggie, etc., walked into the welcoming arms of Terminus, red flags were everywhere. The people at Terminus had an awful lot of meat, first of all. The grill — with its willing grill-master — was always framed prominently and was the first stop to gaining interior access to Terminus. Just by positioning it right there in the open, out front, the Walking Dead brain trust was making the grill and all that might conjure, a significant visual element. Then it was,  “Hey, grab a plate, have yourself a meal. You’re welcome here.” But was that meat from unseen calves or pigs — or was that Beth, or others?

Of course Terminus seemed pretty desolate for a major destination meet-up for wandering survivors. The “Those Who Arrive Survive” signage would certainly indicate more people should be hanging around — unless those people are surviving in spirit, as sustenance. And the Terminus explanation of why in the hell anyone would be so generous, letting in hordes of freeloaders — “the more people become part of us, we get stronger” was certainly a big hint.

With a plethora of clues turning up, the one that probably sealed it was the quick shot (but not too quick) of what looked like the stripped carcasses of humans (and later an altar room to remember them for their sacrifice).

PHOTOS: ‘The Walking Dead’s’ Most Shocking Deaths

I’m fine with the cannibal notion — it’s not revolutionary for the zombie genre and all through the series I’ve been wondering when the hungry hordes of survivors would finally go Hannibal on the weaker of their number. In the finale, so much portent about hunger and trapping was afoot. But I don’t think it was overkill — the writers rather adeptly handled the storyline of Rick showing Carl how to trap a rabbit with the Terminus parallel hanging over it like a noose. Our group of plucky core members were being led, just like the rabbit, down a chute to their own demise.

Whereas my most nagging thought after the finale was how the hell Rick and company would get out of the cattle car and overtake a larger group of vastly better-armed adversaries, the actual scene that stuck in my head was the last five minutes of herding.

That was impressively done — and made up for the literal last shot of Rick announcing revenge in an all-too-pat blockbuster movie kind of way.

In the scene, as the snipers are shooting at the feet of Rick and Daryl, etc., my initial reaction was a slight groan about the poor marksmanship so prevalent on TV and in movies — but it then  becomes clear that the shooters are missing on purpose. They’re not trying to kill, they’re trying to herd. It was the start of something that became really something to behold, not only for the execution itself but for the level of detail and research that went into it.

SsTORY: ‘Walking Dead’s’ Andrew Lincoln: ‘We Ran Into Hell’

Alternatively shot from above — emphasizing power and giving viewers a long shot of the railroad/cattle car at the top of the frame and the futility of Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Carl in the foreground — we then got the crowning elements. Gareth, the leader of Terminus, is going to walk them to slaughter (though it’s important to remember this is all implied — the finale made no hard nod toward cannibalism). Still, the scene all but seals it. If you research how cattle are killed, the optimum approach is to have them take a series of corner turns before getting close — if they see they’re being led to slaughter, chaos ensues. The camera follows Rick and company in a circular route through Terminus until they get out into the clearing.

Cattle are also, as they near slaughter, guided in single file — something Gareth did meticulously with each character, leading them to the railroad/cattle car in the short distance. There is also a “correct handler position for driving cattle” — and director Michelle MacLaren set up the final scene by positioning Gareth in a perfect, textbook handler position.

STORY: ‘Walking Dead’ Season 4 Finale: Trapped at Terminus

She also created maximum tension by showing the distance between Carl, the last of the group to be herded toward the rail car, and Rick. The panic that arose on Rick’s face as Gareth forced him to be first while keeping Carl behind in a vulnerable position, was captured superbly by MacLaren. Proper handling procedures also indicate that calves go last (or, if you will, parents go first — reversing it causes panic and a chance the cattle will disperse). And lastly, what the scene captured in a kind of haunting by-the-book approach, is that cattle go forward in a single-file line but shouldn’t actually see livestock in front of them — which is why Glenn and Maggie and the others were shunted to the rear of the car.

All of that was both chillingly calculated and beautifully constructed (and the powdered milk containers — clearly being used to fatten everybody up — were a nice touch). I may have wished for a more dramatic cliff-hanger (a shoot-out, or perhaps reinforcements to use those guns Rick buried), but I did, especially on further inspection, appreciate the artistry in the construction of that finale scene.

Now all that’s left to find out when season five begins is who gets slaughtered — or maybe who already has been slaughtered (and grilled).

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine