Category Archives: Entertainment

TCA 13: Mitch Hurwitz reveals new storytelling format for ‘Arrested Development’ revival

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Now this is what you’ve been waiting for: more details to come out of the Arrested Development revival. Today at the TCAs series creator Mitch Hurwitz led a panel that included most of the brilliant ensemble cast–namely, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Jessica Walter, Alia Shawkat, and Jeffrey Tambor. David Cross and Tony Hale, unfortunately, were not present. Hurwitz is still keeping a heavy veil of secrecy on top of the plot, but he did manage  to shed some light on what viewers can expect in the new batch of episodes in terms of how they will play out.

Before we get to that, though, the most important news to come out of the panel: Arrested Development premieres on Netflix this May and all 14 episodes (the original order was 10, so this is a more-than-welcome surprise) will go live and be available on Netflix Instant streaming at once. Like installments from its original run, episodes will come in at just under 30 minutes and even though it wasn’t a requirement, curse words will be silenced with the famous Development bleep. So, still no hard date, but May is the month.

It leaked months ago that the new episodes would feature a new storytelling format, and today Hurwitz confirmed and explained the changes. “The only way we could get everyone together for what we’ll call, loosely, an anthology series, was to dedicate each episode to a different character’s point of view,” he said. “That became a fun, entertaining challenge, because we started finding out that the stories would intersect. It’s kind of an evolution of the storytelling that was necessary.” Essentially, viewers should not expect scenes that include all of the Bluths interacting with each other at once. In the old days, such scenes were typically the best ones; stuffing all the Bluths under the same roof made for some classic moments. But Hurwitz is quite confident that the new format will provide equally hilarious moments for fans to discover. “So, you’ll see a scene in one [episode], and then you’ll see a scene again from the other perspective [in another episode] where you’ll get all this new information,” he explained further. De Rossi shared an example without giving too much away. In her character Lindsay’s episode, “We had a great scene where I interpreted my mother’s tone as sarcasm,” she said. “But [we later see in someone else’s episode] she intended something entirely different.” Bateman chimed in as well. “Everybody sort of intermingles throughout each individual person’s episode. There’s plenty of the regular cast that filters through there. But it is a ‘Lindsay’ episode or a ‘Gob’ episode that we guest star in.

So much more after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: Mitch Hurwitz reveals new storytelling format for ‘Arrested Development’ revival →

TCA 13: FX’s ‘The Americans’ will have you rooting for the KGB

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FX has an intriguing drama up their sleeves ready to premiere at the end of the month. The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Russian KGB spies undercover living in Washington, D.C. married with two children set in ’80s during the Cold War. During a TCA gathering, creator Joe Weisberg said that his new series is inspired by the fairly recent real-life story about the sleeper Russian agents living in America that were exposed in 2010. “That was absolutely the inspiration for the show,” he said. “I got a call from DreamWorks TV about trying to create a TV show from that event.” The show really started coming together when Weisberg made the decision to plant the KGB spies not in modern day but rather in the 1980s, “a time when we were really enemies with that nation.”

Then executive producer Joe Fields landed this one on the audience: “It might be a little different to believe and get used to, but we want you to root for the KGB,” he said. “They’re going to try to get the Soviets to win the Cold War.” Can U.S. audiences sympathize with the KGB? “If you tried to tell a story like this about al-Qaeda now, it would be impossible no one would want to hear it,” Fields added. “I feel even the same could have been said up to ten years after the cold war ended.” The producers believe that “Enough time has passed where people are willing to look with their hearts and try to understand.”

Weisberg, a former CIA agent, will work in some of the most emotionally delicate experiences he faced during his years working for the government. “One specific thing that I never really got over in a way, is how CIA officers can’t tell their kids what they do,” he said. Even if they live abroad, they can’t tell their kid because the kid would go and blab it to all of his friends and blow their cover. Then maybe when they’re teenagers and old enough to know what mom and dad do for a living, it’s like this big day where they get sat down and told, ‘This is what we’ve kept from you your whole life: We work for the CIA.’ Sometimes, the kids are fine with finding out. Sometimes, it turns their lives into a big mess. But I’d always just found the whole idea incredibly powerful and made me want to go tell the story about the impact this has on a family.” He went on to say that “The show is about marriage, and that marriage in an allegory for international relations. And international relations are an allegory for marriage.”

The Americans will have you rooting for the KGB spies, but at the same time Weisberg and Fields do want viewers to take into consideration both sides of the coin. “These were these really competing value systems,” said Weisberg. “And there’s no question that repressive socialism failed, but unbridled consumption hasn’t exactly led to great satisfaction — and one problem is how do we express that dramatically.”

The Americans premieres Wednesday, January 30 at 10PM. Watch a trailer embedded above.

[Via THR; Deadline]

TCA 13: Preview Netflix original series ‘Hemlock Grove’ from author Brian McGreevy and Eli Roth

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Arrested Development isn’t the only Netflix original programming heading to the streaming service this year. In addition to David Fincher’s House of Cards which debuts the first of next month, a supernatural series from horror master Eli Roth is on tap for spring. Hemlock Grove, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Brian McGreevy, revolves around the murder of a young high school girl in Hemlock Grove, a former steel community, and centers on the bizarre collection of characters connected to it — who each have varying reasons for getting caught up in it. Roth, McGreevy, Lee Shipman, and Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) serve as executive producers. Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, and Dougray Scott star.

At the TCAs McGreevy hyped his new series by saying that the emotional violence will play just as big a role as the physical violence on screen. “There’s no shortage of monsters on the show and they tend to fall on different varieties — like what separates a human from a monster,” he expanded. “The short answer to how supernatural the show is, is very.” He went on to describe the show like this: “This is like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? with more people getting mauled, actually.”

Working with Netflix to bring the adaptation to life ultimately ended up being the perfect decision, McGreevy shared. He admitted that he and his team originally pitched the series to the “more conventional premium networks, but we were holding out for Netflix because they were the most exciting partners.” The levels of violence, nudity, and other risque material featured in Hemlock Grove is comparable to what viewers come to expect on premium networks like Showtime and HBO, he said.

“The architecture of Netflix’s model, when you’re writing a pilot and trying to get that sold, you approach story different than when you’re looking at essentially a 13-hour movie,” McGreevy said. “It’s novel for TV to have a beginning, middle and end when you start out and we really embraced that. It’s like a long 13-hour movie as opposed to episodic television,” Verheiden added. Shipman later revealed that the 13 episode first season deals with most everything that goes down in McGreevy’s book and that there are plans to expand on the story in additional seasons if Netflix approves.

Hemlock Grove premieres on Netflix with all the episodes available for streaming simultaneously as is the Netflix way starting April 19. Watch the trailer embedded above.

[Via THR; Deadline]

TCA 13: Creator Kevin Williamson discusses his serial killer thriller ‘The Following’

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The Following is arguably the most anticipated new drama this television season. In so many words, it’s an edgy, fast-paced thriller from Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) that stars Kevin Bacon as an FBI agent attempting to stop a Edgar Allen Poe-obsessed jailed serial killer played by James Purefoy from recruiting a cult of followers who are committing violent acts on behalf of Purefoy’s intellectual but deadly character. Phew! At the TCAs Williamson talked up his new show for FOX, maintaining its integrity even when bombarded with questions fueled by the recent acts of violence in real life including the theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

“Who wasn’t affected by Sandy Hook? I’m still disturbed by Aurora,” Williamson shared. “I think we all worry about it. We sat in the writer’s room and we were all traumatized by it. There’s a moment where it becomes too real.” But he went on to assure the audience that The Following is, in fact, a work of fiction. It’s a story, he admits, that is influenced by previous works like The Silence of the Lambs and real-life terrors such as the Columbine incident. “I know what happens in the real world affects me,” he said. “It finds its way into what I do.” Later: “We don’t sit around and think of ways to kill people. I’m sitting around thinking of the drama…[After writing] some episodes, I’m like, ‘Wow a lot of people died this week.’ And then no one will die the next!” He noted that FOX has not asked him to fiddle with the amount of violence in the show; for now, it is what it is. Continue reading TCA 13: Creator Kevin Williamson discusses his serial killer thriller ‘The Following’ →

TCA 13: FOX’s Kevin Reilly admits a poor fall, plans for a bolder future

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FOX’s entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly took the stage today at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in Pasadena, California to discuss his network’s programming slate. The tides have turned against FOX this round; while The Voice and Revolution helped NBC jump to #1 in the coveted 18-49 demo this fall, FOX’s dead-out-of-the-gate Mob Doctor and its creatively sound but low rated Tuesday night comedy block (including Raising Hope, Ben and Kate, New Girl, and The Mindy Project) contributed to the net’s 24 percent decline in ratings (falling from #1 to #3) for the 18-49 crowd. Reilly came out and admitted the obvious after a critic messed up a question aimed at the network exec: “We all screw up — look at my fall,” he said and the audience erupted in laughter. “Here at FOX we are leaping into the new year, [and] no one is happier than us to turn the page.” And with that he focused the remainder of the session on specific shows like The X Factor, Glee, the upcoming thriller The Following and the violent themes surrounding it, and he shared the fate of the In Living Color reboot and when you can expect The Goodwin Games to air. Follow the bullet-points after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: FOX’s Kevin Reilly admits a poor fall, plans for a bolder future →

TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside)

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When Smash returns for its second season this February, it won’t feel all that different but you should know that the musical drama has undergone significant behind-the-scenes changes in the interim. Right off the bat, Smash creator and Broadway vet Theresa Rebeck has stepped away as showrunner and taking her place is former Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran. Also, you will surely notice the absence of many season one characters including Raza Jaffrey (Karen’s boyfriend Dev), Jaime Cepero (Eileen’s annoying assistant Ellis), Brian d’Arcy James (Julia’s husband Frank), and Will Chase (Julia’s old-time crush Michael). But even with all of these players out of the picture, the show won’t deviate from its roots.

“I don’t think its changed that much,” said Safran. “It’s still the same Smash, just bigger with more music and younger in regard to some cast members.” New additions include Andy Mientus (from Broadway’s Carrie) who plays a poor kid from Brooklyn with dreams of writing for Broadway; Jeremy Jordan (from Broadway’s Newsies) plays a Brooklyn-born singer with a self-destructive streak, Krysta Rodriguez (from Broadway’s The Addams Family) plays Karen’s fun and spunky new roommate who is looking for her big break on Broadway; and Julian Ovenden (from TV’s Foyle’s War) will be Bombshell‘s John F. Kennedy. The season will also welcome many talented and musically-inclined stars including Jennifer Hudson (as Veronica Moore, a threat to Karen and Ivy), Liza Minnelli (as herself), Sean Hayes (can you say Will & Grace reunion!?), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order), and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me). Also, Bernadette Peters returns as Ivy’s mom.

“There’s more than one original song per episode: bigger [and] more is something we played with,” added Safran. “We have more original songs [per episode] and diverse musical styles. I kind of wanted to represent the bigger theatrical worldview on the show this season.”

Executive producer Neil Meron admitted that the first season had its ups and its downs. “First seasons of shows need time to find themselves, to lock into what they are, especially with a show like Smash,” he said. “There are so many moving parts to figure out the mechanism. It’s a fantastic machine. When certain moments worked in season one, I dare anybody to say what could be better.” Then: “There were certain story lines that were pinpointed that you’d say, ‘Yeah, they’re right it could be a little bit more impactful.” Confirmed at a previous junction: Debra Messing’s hideous scarf collection has been tossed in the garage (and the crowd went wild). Now only if they’d get rid of her depressing son… at least Ellis the terrible has made an exit stage right.

Will Smash‘s Broadway musical Bombshell actually inspire a real show in New York City? “When we watch Bombshell moments, we think wouldn’t that be great on Broadway? But that’s where we leave it,” Meron said. “Our first priority is to make the show. It will inspire more conversation, but have we done anything about it? No.” Take that as a maybe! Announced at TCA panel was a soundtrack featuring 22 cast-recorded songs from Bombshell that will release February 12.

Smash returns Tuesday, February 5 with a two-hour installment. The space after the break is home to a brand new season 2 preview and a behind-the-scenes clip. Continue reading TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside) →

TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside)

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Revolution is on break until March and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke accept the extended with a positive attitude and they think viewers should as well. “When we were doing Lost, that [scheduling] helped us enormously,” Abrams said. “So when the idea came up for Revolution I was really relieved. I thought, and still think, that it will get us to a place where it will be the best possible way for the viewer to watch the show.” Added Kripke: “The little break has afforded us the ability to take a breath, look at what we’ve done, really analyze it, and make adjustments. It also supplied us a natural break point between the season’s first half and second half, and the second half sort of lives as its own continuous piece.” While Kripke maintained that “we learned that we did a lot of things right,” he also admitted that “the pace of the shocking surprises were a little too slow.” So what can viewers expect next?  The “second [half will be] bigger, better, more exciting and [with] more revelations–at the same time maintaining the format.” The shock factor will increase as well.

What else? When Revolution returns this spring, the action will continue “exactly” where we left off. “Giving [Monroe] power was more about making him an unstoppable force,” said Kripke. “We start to deliver on the promise of the title. The revolution begins.” Kripke fed the questions, “Can [the Matheson family] stick together in the face of these overwhelming odds and danger? And can you maintain your soul when you’re a warrior?”

Kripke went on to say that he’s definitely planning ahead for upcoming seasons of the show, but they’re at the “cocktail napkin sketches” state at the moment. “Because [the world is] so expansive, there’s no end to the stories we can tell,” he said.

Revolution returns March 25. Get a glimpse of what’s to come in a new trailer after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside)

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Do No Harm is a high-concept show coming to NBC later this month that can be viewed as a modern take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In short, it follows protagonist Dr. Jason Cole (say it fast: “Doctor J. Cole”–get it?) who has a mysterious dual-personality. Every day at 8:25PM his dangerous, adventure seeking alter ego Ian Price consumes his body; 12 hours later he returns to his “normal” self. At the TCAs today, executive producer David Schulner talked about his new series which he originally pitched as “Dexter meets House.”

“I think ultimately you can only write the show that you want to watch, and this was a show that I wanted to see on TV,” Schulner said. “I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be thrilling. I wanted it to be a roller-coaster ride. And I wanted it to have stakes. I also wanted there to be a love story at the center of it. Hopefully those ingredients will make it different than what has come before.”

What has come before are NBC shows that ring similar to Do No Harm and they are last season’s fantastic but short lived Awake and before that there was My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater. “I took lessons from those shows, and this is a show you’re going to want to watch. It’s thrilling and fun. That’s the big difference.” I’d say that Awake was all of those things as well, so you’ll have to tune into Schulner’s take on the fractured personality theme to see how it really compares.

How will Steven Pasquale’s Jason Cole/Ian Price interact with one another? “Ian’s a little bit like a cat,” Schulner proposed. “The cat wants to play with the mouse. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse and chess match.”

Determine if Do No Harm is a show you want to watch when it premieres January 31. Click after the break to watch a new trailer.

Update (1/7): Today David Schulner announced that actor James Cromwell (who is coming off his stint as American Horror Story: Asylum‘s Dr. Arthur Adren) will be joining the cast of Do No Harm as “Jason’s mentor, who may or may not have his best interests at heart.” Just another reason to tune in. Continue reading TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season

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The Television Critics Association is back for its winter tour. It’s the time of year when the major networks and their shows talk about their fall performance and preview what’s to come midseason and beyond. Of the big four networks, NBC was up first today and man-o-man was the Peacock’s chairman of entertainment Bob Greenblatt happy to see a sea of press because this marks the first time in a long time that his network has something positive to really talk about. NBC’s had a great fall as they currently find themselves the #1 network in the adults 18-49 demographic and #2 in total viewers (still trailing CBS). “What a difference a year makes, right?” he exclaimed toward the crowd packed with press and critics. “I’m going to bore you with statistics because I’m not sure when I’m going to have the chance to do this again.” The major stats are as follows: for the first half of the season, NBC is up 24 percent and 19 percent in the 18-49 demo and total viewers, respectively. The net can thank the ultimate Monday pairing of The Voice and Revolution for their recent success, as well as high ratings for Sunday Night Football and their surging sitcom Go On. In 2012 FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly accused the heads of the other major nets of having their heads up their asses. Greenblatt responded directly today with the most publicist quote to come out of his panel: “I can guarantee you, we don’t have our heads up our asses,” he said.

Greenblatt and NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke used the rest of their time to discuss specific shows, new ones and old. Jump after the break for the bullet-point breakdown. Continue reading TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season →

TV reminder: Midseason TV is incoming

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Unlike the fall, there really is no “official” start week for new midseason TV programming. The big networks typically trickle in new dramas, comedies, and reality shows as they see fit. For instance, this week sees the premiere of NBC’s soap Deception and sitcom 1600 Penn. FOX’s highly anticipated thriller The Following won’t begin until January 21. And looking even further into the future, ABC’s National Treasure-esque conspiracy drama Zero Hour arrives February 14. For this reason, I advice you to bookmark this post and check back at your convenience so you’re aware as to when new shows like Red Widow and Do No Harm and returning favorites like Community and Smash come back to air. Here are quick links to my previously posted 2013 Midseason TV previews & schedules:

FOX // ABC // NBC // CBS // THE CW

Like always, I’ll be back to remind you about select premieres on cable periodically through the winter and spring. Happy watching!

Skrillex releases new 3-track EP called ‘Leaving’ and it may surprise you

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Skrillex has cooked up three new tracks and the producer/DJ is bundling them together in his latest Extended Play titled Leaving. Whether or not he meant this by the EP’s title, Skrillex (whose real name is Sonny Moore) leaves behind his typical affection for loud, grinding dubstep and replaces it with a calmer, more fluid take on the underground-turned-mainstream musical genre. Listeners will especially notice the difference on the track “Leaving” which features heavy drums and will put you in a trance. “The Reason” is more up-tempo to call itself a dance track. Where you might find some of the old Sonny is in “Scary Bolly Dub,” a mix with a reggae vibe that he’s played countless times live. Overall, however, if you’ve been waiting for Skrillex to release tunes that are easier on the ears now is your time.

As of today, the EP is not available for digital download via iTunes and the like. You’ll have to stream it from YouTube, but don’t complain, that makes it free! Jump after the break to listen to all three tracks. There you’ll also find Skrillex’s latest music video for “Summit” off his last EP Bangarang, a collaborative effort with his now ex-girlfriend Ellie Goulding.

What’s next for multiple Grammy winner Sonny Moore? In a recent interview with Billboard, he promises more music is on the way. “I have so much music. I have too many songs to even know what to do with. I just always make music anyway… But I want to make a record. I just haven’t had enough time to really sit down and idle myself and clear my mind and go, ‘OK, what’s the next thing I want to say? How’s it different from what I said before?’ and think of all these things. I have so much inside me, so many ideas, I’m more excited than ever to make music again, ’cause I haven’t done that for, like, two years.” Continue reading Skrillex releases new 3-track EP called ‘Leaving’ and it may surprise you →

New ‘Evil Dead’ red-band trailer is goretastic, ups the ante again

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WARNING: If you scare easily turn away now.

This new look at Fede Alvarez’s remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult classic horror film Evil Dead is scarier, gorier, more disturbing and disgusting than the teaser trailer that came before it. Suburgatory‘s Jane Levy stars as a young girl possessed by a demon that comes out of the woods. Raimi and the original movie’s star Bruce Campbell serve as executive producers.

Fans of the original have been mostly split about whether or not it needs a modern remake. After watching this nearly two-and-a-half minute clip, though, the tide will shift with excitement and pure adrenaline as we head toward Evil Dead‘s April 12 release.