Category Archives: Television

Bryan Fuller’s NBC ‘Munsters’ reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ is dead

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Since we saw it coming, I’ll be brief. Pushing Daisies creator imagined a modernized Munsters reboot starring Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, Mason Cook as their son Eddie, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn. Ultimately network brass decided not to move forward with the making of the series called Mockingbird Lane. But instead of throwing out the expensive pilot directed by Bryan Singer, NBC aired it as a Halloween special in late October. On a Friday night at 9, a respectable 5.4 million viewers tuned in and the episode scored a 1.5/5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. With decent ratings and additional scripts already written, those who enjoyed the sneak peek at Fuller’s vision for The Munsters hoped that NBC would give it a chance on their schedule. Today Fuller broke the bad news in a single tweet:

“I tweet with a heavy heart. NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support.”

It wasn’t meant to be. But for Bryan Fuller it’s on to the next one: he’s hard at work producing another NBC drama Hannibal that stars Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lector in the role made famous by Anthony Hopkins in the classic 1991 film Silence of the Lambs.

‘Community’ clip: Joel McHale introduces an upcoming Christmas-themed scene with Dean Pelton

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Community star Joel McHale is here to spread holiday cheer with an exclusive look at the upcoming fourth season of his cult comedy. McHale introduces a clip from a future Christmas episode that prominently features the one and only Dean Pelton. He quickly manages to turn his gift giving of adorable little pups into a creepy moment thanks to his ongoing obsession with Jeff Winger.

We are reminded that Community returns to NBC at last on February 7, 2013.

Fans vote for their favorite ‘Fringe’ events, grab inspired posters to benefit charity

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Do you want to own a piece of Fringe lore before the series comes to its epic conclusion? FOX, Gallery 1988, the Paley Center for Media, and The Mission Continues are teaming up to make that possible. The “Fringe Benefits Project” lets fans of the show vote for their favorite Fringe events and the top five moments will be reimagined by local artists and designers as pieces of art in the form of hand numbered limited edition poster prints. Once the five scenes have been selected, they will be showcased at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills will also have the artwork on hand beginning January 9. Buy up the fan-made posters and all proceeds will be donated to The Mission Continues, a charity that encourages and aids volunteerism by disabled and wounded veterans.

To vote from 31 of the most memorable Fringe episodes, head over to the Fringe Benefits website. The first poster (pasted above) is already highlighted and it celebrates the complete awesomeness that was the season 2 episode “White Tulip.” The limited copy is yours for $30. Fringedom, have at it.

[Via EW]

AMC picks up ‘The Walking Dead’ for a fourth season, showrunner Glen Mazzara will not return

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First, the good news: The Walking Dead is coming back for a fourth cycle next year, obviously, since it has been maintaining record high ratings all season long. And now, the hauntingly disconcerting news: Showrunner Glen Mazzara will not be involved in the making of season four and beyond. When the second half of season three wraps he’s stepping down as showrunner due to creative differences. Typically Dead is renewed for a new season shortly after its record-breaking ratings are posted following  a season premiere, but this year the news came later and the decision to let Mazzara go was most likely the major holdup here. A series of released statements from Mazzara, the cable network that airs the show AMC, Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and executive producer Gale Anne Hurd make it sound as if the parting of ways was amicable, but industry sources say Mazzara was not enjoying his time at the helm of the show as of late. The statements can be read in full after the break.

I say this is disconcerting news because it has happened before. Series developer Frank Darabont exited the show on less “amicable” terms early in season 2, also due to creative differences with the network. The Walking Dead started off strong in its abbreviated debut season, the action slowed down when the farm was introduced in season two, and when Darabont handed the reins to Mazzara things kicked into high gear and never looked back. The current season is arguably the best one yet, and fans have Mazzara’s touch to thank for that. How will the show forge on without him come season four? It managed to reach new heights when Darabont left so it’s still fair to believe that the show will continue to see success with a new showrunner at the helm (the search is on); Kirkman and Hurd–executive producers who have their hands firmly planted in the show’s creative department aren’t going anywhere. But still (and I’m going to use this word one more time) it’s extremely disconcerting, for the team behind the show and viewers alike, to see The Walking Dead be handed off from one showrunner to the next. A show with this magnitude of ratings (and recently creative) success doesn’t deserve to be shaken up so much on such a regular basis. In the end this may really hurt the show in terms of its overall direction and sense of cohesion.

Mazzara’s vision of The Walking Dead continues when it returns with new episodes Sunday, February 10. Continue reading AMC picks up ‘The Walking Dead’ for a fourth season, showrunner Glen Mazzara will not return →

ABC will NOT air remaining episodes of ‘666 Park Avenue’ this winter

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ABC is teasing its viewers and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. When the alphabet network cancelled their two new high profile fall dramas 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort in November, they assured fans that their respective 13 episode arcs would be played out. Additionally, the show’s creators came out and said that they’d have time to tweak the endings so that viewers can get proper closure before they bite the dust. After receiving news of cancellation, 666 exec producers David Wilcox and Matt Miller claimed their show “is building to a powerful and surprising series finale, where all your questions will be answered. We hope fans of the show continue watching all the way to the end of Jane and Henry’s incredible journey to the dark side.” Unfortunately we won’t be getting that ending this winter as previously planned. ABC has decided to pull the remaining three episodes of 666 from its schedule. The net plans on airing them in the summer, but it is quite possible that they may never see the light of day. It’s unfortunate for the people who invested their time in the seductively suspenseful thriller, but this is the kind of thing that can happen when ratings are so dreary. Thankfully, however, ABC is still on track to deliver the final episodes of Shawn Ryan’s Last Resort which promises a “no-holds barred kick-ass ending.”

The Sunday night at 10PM slot will be filled with new episodes of ABC comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23. Viewers will receive a double dose of these show as the network will also air first-run episodes in their regular Tuesday night time periods.

FX renews ‘The League’ for fifth season

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Holy Chalupa Batman, Batman! On the very day of the Shiva Bowl, FX has renewed The League for a fifth season of play. Pete, Kevin, Rodney (people call him Ruxin), Andre, Taco, and Jenny will return for 13 more episodes next fall featuring all the wacky antics that spawn from their fantasy football league competition. And the good news doesn’t stop there; a statement released by the network says that FX envisions the show sticking on their schedule beyond season five.

FX EVP of Original Programming Nick Grad: “The League is flat-out one of the funniest shows on television. Co-creators Jeff and Jackie Schaffer have such a perfect take on the material and the show has an amazingly talented ensemble cast of stars. Another season was an easy decision and we hope to have it on our schedule for many more years to come.” (!)

Series co-creator Jackie Schaffer also commented on the pickup: “It’s a dream job — we get to make a show we love with a brilliant cast on a fearless network. If the Mayans and Dirty Randy are right and the world ends tomorrow, at least we can say we made it to Season 5.”

Some stats: The current season averages 1.63 million total viewers and 1.45 million in the adults 18-49 demo. On a multi-run total basis, the season is delivering 2.43 million total viewers and 2.09 million adults 18-49 per week.

FX airs The League‘s season four finale tonight which is comprised of two back-to-back episodes, “A Krampus Carol” and “The Curse of Shiva.” Guest stars include Andre’s fiancé Trixie (Jayma Mays), Pete’s not-girlfriend Gina Gibiatti (Brooklyn Decker), Ruxin’s dad (Jeff Goldblum), and Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad) joins the roster as an adversary for Rodney. The one hour event starts at 10:30PM.

‘FRINGE’ poster teases “the final battle” when four episodes remain

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There are only four episodes of Fringe left. What better way to ring ’em in than with a shiny poster? The elegantly harrowing image puts the season’s big bad baldie Captain Widmark front and center; his eyes remain transfixed but divert the gaze of the viewer. His stoic nature is intact, but he’s beaten up with black-and-blue patches and red blood seeps from his nose and mouth. The fedora donning mind-wiper has a bleak future because we have to believe that Olivia and the Bishops will in fact save the world by ridding it of The Observers. The final battle is imminent.

Fringe airs one more episode this Friday, December 21 titled “Anomaly XB-6783746” before going on its final hiatus as we gun for the new year. It returns January 11 and the week after that the final two episodes will air back-to-back culminating in the series finale “An Enemy of Fate.”

[Image via TVLine]

‘The Twilight Zone’ eyeing a comeback with Bryan Singer on board

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In my book and most others The Twilight Zone is categorized as one of the best TV shows ever made. It was a suspenseful show that mixed and matched all kinds of genres including psychological thriller, science fiction, and horror. It entertained, with its wild, out of nowhere twists and turns. It fascinated by holding a mirror to society in discreet and sometimes blatant ways. It premiered in 1959 with inventive creator and narrator Rod Serling; its original run lasted until 1964 after 156 episodes aired. Since then, the series has been revived twice in 1985 and again in 2002, and in 1983 Steven Spielberg produced a feature film based on the show. The TV revivals did not have the same spark and tenacity as the original run with Serling, but producer/writer/director Bryan Singer thinks third time’s the charm.

The Twilight Zone is looking to make another comeback. Singer, who is best known for directing the first two X-Men movies in that franchise and the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as the pilot for House and the recent Mockingbird Lane special, has signed a deal “to develop, executive produce and possibly direct a reboot” of The Twilight Zone, scoops Deadline. The site reports that the new drama series project is in the “early stages” of development, so we may be eyeing a fall 2014 debut or later at this point (especially with Singer being so busy with his film career at the moment). Though the reboot hasn’t been pitched to networks yet, it is being surmised that CBS will be its home since it owns the rights to the original series. Currently it’s set up at CBS TV Studios, they’re looking for a writer to come up with a pilot script, and Singer hopes to direct it.

Are you looking forward to new installments of The Twilight Zone? Can it ever reach the same levels of success and permeate people’s psyches the way it used to without the ever-present Mr. Serling at the helm? Do you think an anthology series could work on network TV today? FX has proven it can with American Horror Story, so perhaps.

[Via Deadline]

‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 to air longer episodes; plus a series-inspired beer is in the works

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March might not feel so close right now, but I’m about to make the wait a bit more bearable. Today EW broke news that the third season of Game of Thrones will feature longer episodes than ever before. Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff explain the situation thusly. “There’s almost another full episode’s worth of extra minutes spread across the season,” says Weiss. “One of the great liberties with HBO is we’re not forced to come in at a specific time. We can’t be under 50 minutes or over 60, but that gives us a lot of flexibility.” So what are we talking about exactly? “Last year we had a lot of 52-minute episodes. This year is a lot of 56, 57,” adds Benioff. This should come as a pleasant surprise for not only fans of the show but also the readers of the books on which the series is based. Season 3 plans to cover approximately the first half of George R.R. Martin’s thickest Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Storm of Swords. “A super-sized season, as befitting Storm of Swords,” Benioff exclaims. Additionally, EW reports that a jam-packed season 3 finale will likely exceed an hour in length provided HBO gives the fantasy series the go-ahead. In sum, though HBO still caps the episode count at 10 it will feel like there’s 11 when all is said and done. “So for people clamoring for another episode, it’s in there,” Weiss elaborates. “It’s just been cut into tiny pieces.”

Game of Thrones premieres March 31, 2013. To learn about the series-inspired beer, jump after the break. Continue reading ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 to air longer episodes; plus a series-inspired beer is in the works →

Showrunner Alex Gansa talks ‘Homeland’ finale

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–SPOILER ALERT–

Did you watch last night’s episode of Homeland? “The Choice” served as the second season finale and what played out was certainly unexpected. Everything we witnessed Abu Nazir do was a ruse, believe it or not. It was not until after he died did his ultimate plan come to pass. Showrunner Alex Gansa discusses the exciting finale in the video embedded above. In the discussion he makes a very interesting point regarding the Quinn situation: had Estes’ shooter gone through with the plan to assassinate Brody, Nazir’s plan would have been foiled! Gansa also teases season three and we learn that Saul is indeed the “acting director of the CIA” and he will be rebuilding the institution with Carrie at his side when Homeland returns in 2013.

2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: FOX

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As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason FOX is adding six series to its schedule, two of which include a new drama and a new comedy. The buzziest new midseason drama is The Following, a psychological thriller from Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries, Scream) starring Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy. When a serial killer (Purefoy) escapes from death row, he embarks on a new killing spree and forms a cult of believers and a former FBI agent (Bacon) is tasked with putting a stop to the madness. Bacon’s character has a unique connection to Purefoy’s–he is the one who was responsible for locking him up before in 2003. Critics who have seen the pilot describe it as a terrifying thrill ride. Some say it’s the scariest pilot ever aired on network TV. We’ll see how it compares to the likes of cable offerings such as American Horror Story and The Walking Dead when The Following premieres Monday, January 21 at 9PM. Watch an extended trailer after the break.

The new FOX comedy waiting to enter the fold is The Goodwin Games from the executive producers of How I Met Your Mother Carter Bays, Craig Thomas, and Chris Harris starring Scott Foley, Becki Newton, Felisha Terrell, and Melissa Tang. The wacky single camera sitcom follows three estranged siblings forced to reconnect after their father’s death while competing against each other to inherit his vast fortune. Now because FOX’s Tuesday night comedy lineup is packed with shows that all received back orders this fall (namely Raising Hope, Ben And Kate, New Girl, The Mindy Project), the network has not decided when it will add The Goodwin Games into the mix. Since Ben And Kate has the smallest episode count this season at 19, FOX will likely replace it with The Goodwin Games after its finale airs. Speaking of episode count, FOX cut Games‘ original 13 episode order to 7, also due to there being little wiggle room in the schedule. With the HIMYM auspices behind it, I wouldn’t count it out just yet. When a premiere date is announced, you’ll know it.

My recommendation: Do not miss The Following. If you’ve only got room for one new drama, this is it. And even if you don’t, make room. And whenever The Goodwin Games airs, I’d say give it a go. Though if it doesn’t perform well out of the gate, it probably won’t last long.

Shows that are returning to FOX’s schedule include Tim Kring’s Touch starring Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz, and Mario Bello (premiering Friday, February 8 at 8PM), American Idol is back with a new judges panel including Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban (Wednesday, January 16 at 8PM), Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, and Cops.

Jump after the break to view the full schedule.

Look in the gallery below for key art (aka TV promotional posters).

Continue reading 2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: FOX →

2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: ABC

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As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason ABC is adding eight series to its schedule, six of which include two new dramas, comedies, and reality shows. The network’s two freshmen drama series both look intriguing. First there’s Zero Hour, a conspiracy thriller executive produced and written by Paul T. Scheuring (Prison Break) starring Anthony Edwards, Scott Michael Foster, Michael Nyqvist, Jacinda Barrett, Addison Timlin, and Carmen Ejogo. The plot involves a treasure map, deciphering symbols, saving humanity. Though the Declaration of Indepenence isn’t at stake here, Zero Hour sure sounds like its borrowing a bit from National Treasure. Whether or not this is a good thing… The trailer, posted after the break, comes off as more corny than cool but for all you conspiracy theorists out there this is one worth checking out. Zero Hour premieres Thursday, February 14 at 8PM.

Next up is Red Widow. It’s from creator Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, the Twilight saga) and stars Radha Mitchell, a stay-at-home mom who gets tangled up in a bloody and dangerous tale involving her husband’s death, organized crime, and the criminal underworld. Though it might sound complicated, the trailer (posted after the break) is quite good and it looks like Mitchell will find herself on a distinct yet similar path to Emily Van Camp’s over on ABC’s soap Revenge. Red Widow premieres Sunday, March 3 at 9PM.

A new comedy starring Sarah Chalke has a very long title: How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life). It’s about a recently divorced single mom (Chalke) who moves back in with her parents (Elizabeth Perkins and Brad Garrett). It premieres Wednesday, April 3 at 9:30PM.

The other new comedy is Family Tools, a show based on the British sitcom White Van Man from Adrian Poynton. It stars the very funny Kyle Bornheimer, J.K. Simmons, and Leah Remini and it follows the mishaps of what happens when you mix family with business. It premieres Wednesday, May 1 at 8PM. Due to scheduling concerns, the show’s original 13 episode order was reduced to 10.

If you’re into reality shows, ABC has a cooking competition show The Taste and Celebrity Diving on tap. They premiere Tuesday, January 22 at 8PM and Tuesday, March 26 at 9PM, respectively.

My recommendation: Definitely check out Red Widow and give Zero Hour a try. In terms of new comedy, I’d take Family Tools over How To Live With Your Parents, but maybe that’s just because I’m a big supporter of Bornheimer (Perfect Couples) and J.K. Simmons.

Shows that are returning to ABC’s schedule include Body of Proof (premiering Tuesday, February 5 at 10PM) and Dancing with the Stars (Monday, March 18 at 8PM).

Jump after the break to view the full schedule. Continue reading 2013 Midseason TV preview & schedule: ABC →