Category Archives: Television

HBO renews ‘Girls’ for a third season

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High off its recent Golden Globe wins for Best Comedy and Best Actress (Lena Dunham), HBO’s Girls has been renewed for a third season. The premium cable network ordered 12 episodes for the next season–that’s an additional two half-hours more than the first two seasons received. Star/creator/executive producer/director/writer Lena Dunham let the news out early on Thursday when she told Alec Baldwin on his podcast that “We’re starting season three at the end of March. I’m so excited.”

Girls airs Sunday nights at 9PM on HBO.

TV teasers: ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3.5

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The second half of The Walking Dead season 3 is set to debut February 10 and AMC is building up to that day with a couple new teasers that feature new, exciting material. In the 30-second spot above, Rick and The (one-eyed) Governor anticipate war. After the break, a slightly longer clip reveals (don’t call him) Phillip’s plan to release Andrea back into Rick’s camp at the prison. After watching, you’re gonna wish it was Feb. 10 tomorrow. Continue reading TV teasers: ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3.5 →

‘Mad Men’ receives a return date

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Mad Men returns Sunday, April 7. There it is. The sixth season premiere is two hours in length, written by series creator Matthew Weiner and directed by executive producer Scott Hornbacher. The two-hour “movie” airs at 9PM on AMC. Also made public is that the second episode, which will air in Mad Men‘s regular 10PM slot, is written by Weiner and Matthew Igla and directed by star John Hamm. This marks Hamm’s second time helming an episode; he previously served double-duty on season five’s “Tea Leaves.”

In an interview with EW, Weiner briefly spoke about the highly anticipated premiere: “If you like the show, there’s a good chance you’ll like the premiere…It is different than last year’s in a sense that it was my idea and I was just trying to give bang for a buck to an audience that I didn’t want to lose because we’d been away for so long. This year it’s really constructed like a film. It is its own story and hopefully it foreshadows the rest of the season.”

When asked when exactly the new season will pick up following Don’s apparent flirtation with deviating outside his marriage, Weiner was typically coy with the NYT: “It will advance in time, as it does. I can’t say how much or how little. We’re coming off a period in Don’s life where he’s trying to normalize, and trying to have this relationship – a real relationship with this woman that he fell in love with. She expressed her desires, and that was a surprise for him. On this show, it’s a very rich, full orchestra, and we like to follow what is the next stage in these people’s lives.”

Check out new season 6 cast photos provided by AMC in the gallery below.

Ryan Murphy teases ‘American Horror Story’ season 3

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Ryan Murphy is still being tight-lipped about the clues he dropped in the final few episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum that shed light on what’s to come in season 3 of the anthology horror series. But at a recent screening of the Asylum finale, he did open up to reporters about who’s signed on to come back and he gave a very big picture preview of the upcoming season.

When FX renewed AHS for a third season in November, it was revealed that Jessica Lange (Constance then Jude) would return for the third time in a row to star. Since then, Murphy has let slip that Sarah Paulson (Billy Dean then Lana) and Evan Peters (Tate then Kit) are also coming back as newly fleshed out characters for the new season. Also on tap to return is season 1 star Taissa Farmiga; she played Ben and Vivian Harmon’s daughter Violet. Murphy told EW: “I missed her this season. There wasn’t really a role for her. I feel very protective of her and I didn’t want her to go back into the loony bin—it was too dark. So I thought well ‘I want Taissa to be one of the leads next year.’ I called her up and pitched her the character for the season and she loved it and she said, ‘Yes let’s do it.’ So we’re in negotiations for her to headline season 3.” Rejoining the gang behind-the-scenes is director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon who helped some of the best episodes this season including “I Am Anne Frank (Part 2),” “Spilt Milk,” and the finale “Madness Ends.” Murphy said he’s signed on to direct every third episode next season and that he will have a creative hand in every episode produced.

As far as plot details go, Murphy isn’t diving in just yet but here’s what we’ve got so far. The third season will be “more historical in nature” and take place in modern day across three different cities (on location), though time will jump into the past as it did in season one. The show will continue to harp on our horrors but overall the new season will be lighter in tone than Asylum; it will feature more comedic elements and a romance story. The major arc will revolve around Lange’s character who Murphy hypes to be a “glamour cat leading lady” who will be privy to “hair and makeup and the best designer gowns ever.” Next year’s major monster following season 1’s Rubber Man and season 2’s Bloody Face will be “a great icon–and it’s a woman,” Murphy teases. In fact he says that a big theme in season 3 is going to be “female power.”

And here’s good news for fans of the series. Murphy sees it going for years and years. “I hope this show goes for 10 years because I have so many different kinds of horror that I would like to write about,” he says. “But, I love that you can jump periods and you can play with different actors.  I know the actors love playing different characters. So, it’s something that we’ll always stay with.”

American Horror Story reboots next fall.

[Via THR; TVLine; Collider]

HBO expresses interest in ‘Bored to Death’ movie, series creator Jonathan Ames on board

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Bored to Death is making a comeback. The critically acclaimed entertaining neo-noir series from Jonathan Ames has a development deal at HBO Films that could result in a feature-length TV-movie airing on the premium cable channel. Ever since its cancellation in December 2011, a Bored to Death revival-as-a-movie has been rumored and now the project is swimming much closer to reality.

The logline goes like this: “Jonathan, Ray, and George reunite to fight crime, commit crime, lose their minds and fail at love in a Bored to Death feature-length slapstick adventure.”

Ames will pen the script and serve as executive producer along with Sarah Condon and Stephanie Davis. Stars Jason Schwartzman, who played a fantastical version of real-life Jonathan Ames as a novelist and private eye, Zach Galifianakis, who played Jonathan’s best friend Ray, and Ted Danson, who played Jonathan’s pot-smoking boss George are not officially signed on for the project yet, but all three have expressed interest to team up again and bring these characters back to life.

More as this exciting, slightly unexpected story develops.

[Via THR]

FOX pulls ‘Ben And Kate’ and ABC yanks ‘Apt. 23’ from their schedules, effectively canceling them

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Breathe, breathe. It’s tough news, I know. This week FOX and ABC pulled low-rated comedies Ben And Kate and Don’t Trust the B—- In Apartment 23 from their respective schedules. Ben And Kate, a freshman single-cam sitcom, managed to find its comedic groove early on but it never gained a foothold in the ratings. A dynamic cast led by the-one-and-only Nat Faxon delivered an absurd mixture of funny and heart week in and week out. In fact, FOX championed its creativity in October when the network expanded its original 13 episode order to 19. “Ben And Kate [has] everything we want to stand for in comedy: smart writing, hugely appealing casts and comedy that feels contemporary and real–which is why we’re confident [it] will continue to build on what is already an appointment comedy night for young, influential audiences on Tuesdays,” said FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly. Though its numbers hovered in poor territory, FOX gave it time to find an audience and unfortunately it never quite found one broad enough to stay on the air. B&K averaged a 1.5 rating in the all-important 18-49 adult demographic, and that’s with 7-day DVR playback included; in so many words, not good enough. In a statement FOX says they plan to air the remaining six episodes at some point in the future. [Update: FOX has stopped production on the show so only 15 episodes will be produced meaning there are 2 unaired episodes that may or may not screen in the future.] And even though the net isn’t confirming cancellation, a sudden yank from the sked like this pretty much seals the deal.

The same goes for ABC’s wild comedy Apt. 23. But in this case you could really see the axe coming. Though the show certainly managed to grow creatively from its shortened first season, the viewers at large didn’t seem to notice and didn’t latch on. The way in which ABC aired the show was an ominous sign for fans. Many episodes that were originally produced for season one bled into season 2 and made storylines jump all around the place; this would introduce confusion for newcomers. After ABC pulled 666 Park Avenue from its Sunday lineup, the net decided to run Apt. 23 and Happy Endings twice a week, in the Sunday 10PM hour and on their regular Tuesday night. This experiment only lasted so long; Apt. 23 has been abandoned (its most recent ep drew a low 1.1 demo rating) and (thankfully) Happy Endings will continue its run on Tuesdays. No word on whether or not the remaining eight unaired episodes of Apt. 23 will see the light of day. For now, it’s goodbye peachy June, goodbye creepy Eli, goodbye obsessive Robin, goodbye hopeless Mark, goodbye infectious Luther, goodbye James Van Der Beek, and so long Chole. We’ll miss your bitchy ways.

‘Revolution’ expands into webisodes in six-part animated series

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While Revolution is on its long hiatus until March, here’s something to bide the time. NBC is releasing six webisodes that take place in the world where power is everything imagined by creator Eric Kripke and executive producer J.J. Abrams. The animated installments star Sgt. Joseph Wheatly, the Militia Corporal from the show played by Reed Diamond who turned on our rebel group and shot and nearly killed Charlie Matheson in the underground tunnels leading out of the subway in Philly. The first webisode titled “Wheatley’s Letters: May 7th” is embedded above. A new one will release every Monday through February 18; you can find them at the show’s official YouTube channel. Also available for viewing today is the pilot featuring commentary by Kripke and director John Favreau; watch it here.

Revolution returns March 25 on NBC.

Behind the scenes: ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 [Update: cast photos]

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As we sprint toward spring the next season of Game of Thrones looms on the horizon. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at season 3 with commentary by the cast and the producers. “This is the rise and fall season because there are so many characters who come into the season with power of some kind who lose everything, and other characters who enter with almost nothing and achieve great power,” says executive producer David Benioff. “It’s still very much about power and very much about family,” adds Benioff partner D.B. Weiss. “I also think that this is a season of tremendous reversals of fortune. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and horrified in equal measure.” Star Peter Dinklage says, “The show keeps expanding and breathing more deeply.”

Game of Thrones returns March 31 at 10PM on HBO.

Update (1/25): HBO has released a slew of cast photos from the upcoming season. See new faces and old in the gallery below.

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‘Fringe’ fans: You can own September’s Notebook, out this March

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Fringe is but a memory today as its spectacular series finale aired last Friday. The show and its unforgettable characters will always live on in our hearts and reruns…and in September’s Notebook. From publisher Insight Editions and authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry (the duo that penned the Lost Encyclopedia) comes an official TV tie-in book that’s filled with all kinds of Fringe lore. The 192-page hardback notebook briefly showed up on screen in episode 510 “The Boy Must Live” and it can be yours to keep come March.

Fringe: September’s Notebook — The Bishop Paradox charts all five seasons of the show and is described as “an essential, and fully sanctioned, part of Fringe‘s mythology.” Words are disseminated from the perspective of our favorite Observer known as September and then Donald and the book includes “lush in-world storytelling and thousands of never-before-seen images that provide new insight into the series.” In other words, this is a true must-have for fans of the series because it actually expands on what we’ve seen happen over the course of the show. If you still have lingering questions after watching the finale, perhaps this book will shed light on your ongoing theories.

Moreover, the book is “overflowing with September’s handwritten observations, covert photographs, personal sketches and musings, as well as extensive FBI case files and hyper-detailed Massive Dynamic intel. Fans will even be able to interact with September’s movable notes, salvaged elements, and highly classified tangible elements.”

September’s Notebook, which also includes a forward by Fringe showrunners J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner, is up for preorder today and goes on sale in March for $50 at Insight Editions. Explore pages from the book at that link, too. Also, the book’s official site features some really great Fringe wallpapers for desktops and smartphones. [Update: Amazon‘s got it for $31.50.]

The perfect gift for the cult Fringe fan.

The ‘FRINGE’ finale airs this Friday, get the tissues ready (EPIC trailer inside)

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In three days the final episode of Fringe will come and go. What better way to anticipate and celebrate the final installment of the FOX cult sci-fi series than with a brand new promotional poster and one last epic trailer. Similar in design to the one that came before it, this poster features an Observer with a bad nose bleed but that’s the least of his worries. With Walter and Donald’s plan set in motion, it’s only a matter of time before the baldies go down. Last week anomaly Michael gave himself up to the Observers to ensure the safety of Olivia, Peter, and Walter, so now we’re stuck asking ourselves how will the plan proceed without its most important piece? After the break you’ll discover the final Fringe trailer that sheds some light on what we can expect this Friday. The most intriguing bit? Cortexiphan is back and Olivia is going to harness it to travel back to the other side! The incomparable John Noble narrates.

Exec producer J.J. Abrams describes “An Enemy of Fate,” episode number 100, written and directed by showrunner Joel Wyman, as “highly unexpected, incredibly emotional and a fitting conclusion to the series.” He added, “I mean, the script is unbelievable. [The episode is] beautifully done by Joel and the writers. “If it’s not satisfying, I don’t know what satisfying is.”

John Noble, who plays fan favorite Walter Bishop (and who better not bite the dust), also shared his admiration for the last hurrah. “I can honestly say that it was everything I had hoped it could possibly be,” he told TVLine. “It tied up our character lines, it tied up the great story arc… I was extremely elated. It’s certainly going [out] with a bang. I hope history will judge it as one of the great finales of all time. I really believe they will.” On his character’s fate he continued, “If you had asked me in Season 1 where I thought Walter should finish up, it would have been exactly where he does. That’s the remarkable thing — it’s the perfect arc for Walter.”

Fringe airs two back-to-back episodes (“Liberty” and then “An Enemy of Fate”) this Friday, January 18 starting at 8PM. Continue reading The ‘FRINGE’ finale airs this Friday, get the tissues ready (EPIC trailer inside) →

TV reminder: ‘Workaholics’ resumes Wednesday at 10PM on Comedy Central

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Adam, Blake, Ders, and the rest of the raunchy, laugh-out-loud cast of Workaholics returns for the second half of the series’ third season this Wednesday, January 16 at 10PM on Comedy Central. The first of ten new installments is called “Booger Nights” and in it the guys are determined to be the funniest bunch at the office roast. Preview the episode in a clip inserted after the break; watch as the guys try their hardest to convince Alice that they’re funny enough to play in the roast. And no, they haven’t lost their spark.

In related news, Comedy Central renewed Workaholics for two more seasons each consisting of 13 episodes. “When I realized Workaholics is not a reality show, it made me appreciate the guys’ talent that much more,” said the network’s head of original programming and production Kent Alterman. “It only seems right that we would renew for two seasons.”

You know you want to say it… LET’S GET WEIRD!

*The image above, don’t forget, comes from the show’s very first episode when Blake asks Anders “Who can make the smallest face?” Clearly Adam was the victor. Continue reading TV reminder: ‘Workaholics’ resumes Wednesday at 10PM on Comedy Central →

2013 Golden Globe Awards: ‘Argo’, ‘Django’, ‘Les Mis’, ‘Game Change’, ‘Homeland’ & ‘Girls’ big winners

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Tina Fey and Amy Poehler proved to be phenomenal hosts of the 70th Annual Golden Globe awards. If you missed it, you can watch their laugh-out-loud opening monologue at YouTube. The only disappoint was that they weren’t on stage doing their schtick long enough. The most entertaining presenters (by a long shot) had to be Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig; you can tell they are both from the same SNL family. Watch their banter at YouTube, too.

Now let’s get to what you came here for: the night’s big winners. Let’s switch things up and look at the movie categories first. Argo, which took home two statues, won Best Motion Picture Drama and Ben Affleck was named Best Director. (Surprisingly he was not nominated for an Oscar so it’s nice to see him being recognized here.) Django Unchained also collected two trophies; Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor (beating castmate Leonardo DiCaprio who also wasn’t nominated for an Oscar) and Quentin Tarantino nabbed a Globe for Best Screenplay. Les Misérables was the winningest film of the bunch taking home three Globes for Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical, Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), and Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway). As expected Daniel Day-Lewis and Jessica Chastain won Best Actor and Actress for the roles in Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty, respectively. And to round things out Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) won Best Actress Comedy/Musical, Michael Danna won for Best Original Score for his in work in Life of Pi, Adele’s “Skyfall” was named Best Original Song, and, Brave was crowned Best Animated Film.

Moving on to the television categories next. HBO movie Game Change and Showtime’s Homeland swept gathering three Globes each. Game Change took home Best Miniseries/Motion Picture for TV, Best Actress (Julianne Moore), and Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris). Homeland beat Breaking Bad to be named Best Drama and stars Damian Lewis and Claire Danes were recognized for their lead acting roles. Another HBO program Girls fared well winning two Globes for Best Comedy/Musical and star Lena Dunham won Best Actress. Elsewhere Kevin Costnerwon Best Actor in a Miniseries for his turn in Hatfields and McCoys, Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) won Best Supporting Actress, and Don Cheadle (House of Lies) surprised almost everyone and beat Louis C.K. and Jim Parsons to nab the Globe for Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy/Musical.

Jump after the break to view a more digestible list of all the night’s winners. Continue reading 2013 Golden Globe Awards: ‘Argo’, ‘Django’, ‘Les Mis’, ‘Game Change’, ‘Homeland’ & ‘Girls’ big winners →