Simon Spotlight Entertainment (a division of Simon & Schuster) are behind the release of the book and, for the most part, its an okay, breezy read. Emphasis on the word ‘okay’. For something that shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to plough through, it makes for an okay snack. Unfortunately, fans of the show keep being told that Moodys book was a highly regarded text. And this book certainly is not that.

Back of the book Synopsis
A wry literary masterpiece, God Hates Us All is a coming-of-age tale for the apathetic generation. Hank Moody’s self-loathing yet darkly likeable narrator is a college drop-out-turned-accidental-drug-dealer enveloped in a world of contradictions. His boss — a bong-hitting, dreadlocked Pontiff figure — runs a remarkably organized and ingenious illegal trade patronized by, among others, a sweater-set-wearing Upper East Sider, a Wall Street hotshot, and a wannabe rock star with a hard-to-resist model girlfriend. The lonely narrator yearns for more than the tenuous but intimate thread he shares with his clients. To escape his mother’s desperate expectations, his father’s endless disappointments, and his certifiably insane ex-girlfriend, he moves to the city’s mecca of ambitious slackers — the Chelsea Hotel — where the pursuit of lust (and the rock star’s girlfriend) sends him on a series of well-intentioned misadventures that lead him right back where he started. Told in a unique and subtle voice, God Hates Us All is ironic, optimistic, and unforgettable.

The Content
For the book to succeed, “God Hates Us All” needs to succeed on two fronts. First of all, like any novel, it needs to be a cracking read. The second is a far more formidabble task. For a book that is trading off its very meta existence, it needs to sync with what we know of the book from the television show. This is where the book fails dismally.

From what we understand of Hank Moody from the television show, he’s like a hard rocking Bret Easton Ellis. While Ellis generally has a point to his writing (usually regarding notions of excess, or the malaise that develops around a sense of privilege and entitlement), ‘God Hates Us All’ is completely lacking in substance. Instead, the reader is provided what seems to be the skeletal structure of a strong and worthy read. The books protagonist works as a drug dealer, however has nothing to say about the drug trade, his interactions with clients, or the role that his job actually plays in his life. Ultimately, the protagonist could be working as a regular courier and it changes nothing about the character. Considering the fact that Hank Moody is supposed to be a writer in the league of Ellis, Jay McInerney, or Charles Bukowski, ‘God Hates Us All’ is remarkably flat.

The back of the book tells us the novel is “God Hates Us All is ironic, optimistic, and unforgettable”. None of this is, in fact, true.

Another aspect of the novel that fails when one considers the understanding of the book we have from the show is that the story simply doesn’t work when you consider the book was supposedly re-worked into a lousy rom-com entitled ‘A Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. There’s just nothing that exists within this book that makes sense in the film existing as a Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes vehicle.

What we know about the book from the show feels like a lie. Plus, the book itself simply doesn’t live up to the promise that a writer such as ‘Hank Moody’ offers.

The Package
The front cover is striking and beautifully emulates the cover as depicted in the show. Unfortunately, a giant red circle with ‘As featured on the hit Showtime series Californication’ printed on it ruins the fun of having Hank Moody’s book actually in ones hands. Its a shame that this didn’t exist as a sticker, so that once it serves its purpose in stores, it can be removed by the consumer.

Likewise the back cover, despite being given the wanky synopsis that I’ve cited already, ruins the illusion of the books existence by featuring a low-key image of the shows cast.

Inside, the faux-reality of the novel is maintained with a legitimate-feeling Dedication and Afterward. It’s cutesy, but really, that’s why one buys a book like this.

Ultimately, ‘God Hates Us All’ by ‘Hank Moody’ works beautifully as a mild novelty. Unfortunately the publishers didn’t take the gimmick far enough to provide a genuine experience for fans of the show – possibly pushing the book into the world of legitimate literature. A book based on a respected fictional book in a TV show becomes a respected book in real life? That really would be deliciously meta. Instead, this is just a bland way to waste some time.

[thr's live feed] posters, posters posters!

Posters/”key art” came out for Mad Men, The new Melrose Place [punny], and Chuck. Pretty sexy stuff.

[<a href="http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2009/07/24/full-go-schedule/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter">Media Spy]The full schedule for Nine’s second digital channel, Go!, is available to view in the Media Spy forums.

We talked about in on air, but this links to the full listings on the media spy forums. Very close to the “soft launch” so keeping an eye out for more.

[mUmbrella]TV viewers reject Australia’s Perfect Couple for World’s Strictest Parents: Nine’s second evening in a row with a new reality format ended the same way that Dance Your Ass Off did the night before – with a sub-800,000 audience for Australia’s Perfect Couple on Wednesday night.

Oh dear, Nine. Oh dear. Which segues nicely into ….

[mUmbrella] Guest post: Time for Nine to start winning back viewers’ trust: For decades, Channel Nine enjoyed a relationship with the Australian people that the Seven and 0/10 networks could only dream about. Nine logoWhen capital city dwelling members of the Australian public turned their televisions on, practically all of them automatically tuned it to Nine – not because they had the best shows (although more often than not, they did) but because of the trust and the affection for the brand that had built up since they first flicked the switch in 1956. Nine’s logo was one of the most recognised and trusted brands in the land. [...] For the past 15 years or so, Nine has been pissing away the one big advantage that it held over its competitors – audience trust.

[youtube] ‘Dexter’ Season 4 Comic-Con Trailer:

A New Trailer was screeninc at Comic-Con this weekend, and for Dexter fans, this is a VERY big deal. In other Dexter news: Showtime to launch an animated online Dexter “prequel”.

If you’re one of these latter types, you may get a kick out of The X-Files: I Want To Believe (in cinemas nationally now). Unfortunately, that is all the film really has going for it.

The X-Files television series ran for nine seasons (1993 – 2002), featuring a variety of plots that regularly switched between monster of the week and its ongoing alien-focused governmental conspiracy storyline. As the series went on, stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson phased out their involvement with the series, with new cast members given the task of taking over the franchise.

Given the opportunity to bring back the franchise for a second feature film, creator Chris Carter has opted to drop the conspiracy plot that served as the spine of the series and hindered the watchability of the first XF feature film ‘Fight The Future’ for anybody other than die-hard fans. Now, while I’ll admit that as a viewer the conspiracy storyline was what kept me enthralled with the series initially, the episodes now serve as a chore to watch when viewed again.

All of which brings us to this new film. ‘I Want To Believe’ picks up several years after the conclusion of the series. It is confirmed for viewers that Mulder and Scully have in fact coupled up and are living life together in their secluded home. Scully is working for a church-run hospital where she is seeking to find a cure for a muscle-degenerative disease that a young patient of hers has, while Mulder is, well, clipping out newspaper stories and stroking his new-found bushy beard. When an FBI agent goes missing and a psychic proves to be the only lead in the case, the FBI seek out Mulder to assist in the search.

There are a few great positives to the film. Firstly, it is great seeing Duchovny back on screen as Mulder. The character seems a natural extension of the actors personality and it fits him like a glove. Anderson, not so much. The charm maintained in the TV show feels lacking in this film, giving way to a woman that feels a little shrew-like. Admittedly, this may be more a fault of the material the actress had to work with, rather than her.

The easy temptation with the film would be to ignore a lot of the history of the show and just pick up the series again with Mulder and Scully investigating the paranormal from the FBI. To his credit, Chris Carter has avoided this and taken up the challenge of moving the story of the characters forward. For this, he should be commended, but I’ll admit that a part of me really wanted to watch the characters as I remember them to be.

Instead, we have characters that have developed in the time away from the screen. Both characters, burnt by their experiences within the FBI have sought to pave a new path in their lives (even if Mulders is woefully ill-defined). It was certainly an unsettling, but welcome experience to see the characters ten years in the future. Acting older and more seasoned. And looking much older too.

Bill Roe puts in an amazing effort in regards to the films cinematography. While it isn’t particularly flashy, the mood of the film is established nicely and it remains visually interesting. At times it felt like the stark reality of the early seasons of the show, and not, ironically enough, like the seasons of the show that Roe had been involved with.

The film has significant problems, however. most of these can be attributed to the films co-writer and director, Chris Carter. Writing has never been Carters strong point and it really comes to show in this film. The man simply cannot create engaging dialogue, nor does he know how to establish character motivation without having lengthy and inane conversation about their intent. Carter was never one of the stronger writers on the film, but his flaws were often masked by the short running-time of a television episode. On the big screen in a feature-length story, his flaws are seen for what they are. His direction, however, is serviceable.

The storyline itself felt poorly chosen. While it is appreciated that they opted to choose a smaller, more personal tale for the protagonists, the film simply doesn’t play well enough to the strength of what the franchise is about – Mulder & Scully vs the monster of the week. The ‘monster’ in this is not of supernatural origin, but rather is a group of Russian scientists involved in experiments on humans. While that is ghastly in its own way, it simply wasn’t enough for a film that needed to reboot the franchise.

Additionally, the romantic relationship of Mulder & Scully simply didn’t quite ring true. It wasn’t exactly forced, but it certainly did feel un-natural. Perhaps it would have worked better had the characters retained a friendship, but seen as two people for whom a romantic relationship didn’t work out. Instead, the romance felt like the third wheel in their relationship.

Now, while I didn’t care for the film, I do feel there is still life left in the franchise. But, Fox, for heavens sake, eliminate Chris Carters involvement next time. The man is simply dead weight to the franchise at this point. The X-Files has matured to the point where it no longer has to be tied to a single mans vision. Instead, it would be great to see different writers and directors get to take a shot at bringing Mulder and Scully to the screen in unique and different ways. The shows concept has such fluidity that it can adapt to multiple genres and takes on the characters.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe is worth watching if you’re a fan of the show, or are just after a diversion in your day. Unfortunately there is little to it that will resonate with either die-hard fans, or the casual viewer.

Television, despite moving past the excess of reality programming, is in a very dull place right now. With the exception of a few programs scattered across the schedule, there’s very little on for people who expect a certain level of quality and intelligence behind what they watch.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip seeks to change this. And now, YouTube have a six minute preview of the series waiting for you to watch it. Click here