New releases provide excitement for audiences
By Anna-Maria Thalassinos ’14
The Walking Dead
The mid-season four premiere of The Walking Dead recently aired on Feb. 9. Season four left viewers with the death of The Governor, who was stabbed by Michonne and then later shot in the head by Lilly. Receiving about 16.1 million viewers for the season four premiere, The Walking Dead has become the most-watched drama series in basic cable history, according to TV by the Numbers. The fourth season was well received by critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, season four received an average 93 percent overall “Certified Fresh” approval rating and the website states the fourth season of The Walking Dead to be, “consistently thrilling, with solid character development and enough gore to please grindhouse fans.”
Divergent
The first movie of the Divergent trilogy, Divergent, will be released March 21. Divergent is based off of the series by Veronica Roth that has sold over 10 million copies since Jan. 1, 2014. Set in a futuristic Chicago, the people are divided into five different factions based on their personalities and at the age of 16, teenagers must decide to stay in their faction of birth or leave their family behind and transfer to another. Protagonist Beatrice “Tris” Prior, however, discovers that she is Divergent, which means that she does not fit into any one faction, and soon unveils a deep secret that threatens her seemingly-perfect society. Featuring Shailene Woodley as Tris, this science fiction adventure film is highly anticipated with a 98 percent “want to see it” rate on Rotten Tomatoes.
Late Night with Seth Meyers
This upcoming hour-long late night talk show, airing at 12:35 a.m. on NBC, will be hosted by actor and comedian Seth Meyers, who is also an alumnus of Saturday Night Live. Premiering Feb. 24, Meyers will be taking Jimmy Fallon’s place on the Late Night because Fallon is now hosting The Tonight Show, previously hosted by Jay Leno. According to the NY Daily News, Meyers revealed that his new talk show on NBC will be reminiscent of SNL with a few comedy bits. Similar to his role as anchor of “Weekend Update” on SNL, Meyers told T.V. writers that he will have two interview spaces— one for real people and one for fictional people. Meyers’ 13 years on SNL ended with his last “Weekend Update” bit on Feb. 1, however, his comedic past will intertwine with his new show.