Category Archives: Television

‘Arrested Development’ is starting production, exec producer confirms return in 2013

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Now everybody scream hallelujah! Executive producer Dean Lorey took to his blog earlier this week to share morsels of information regarding the start of production on the return of Arrested Development to television and the big screen. This is it:

We’re really doing this thing.  Mitch Hurwitz, Jim Vallely and I are off writing the new season of ARRESTED to premiere on Netflix in 2013.  The original cast is back.  There are offices and parking spaces.  We’re shooting this year.  I wish I could give more specifics but, for the moment, even the schedule is being kept under wraps.  But it’s happening and it’s great to be back with my pals from the show.  More later as it becomes okay to release further details…

It’s not much, but official word like this will at least quell the fears of Arrested fans and reassure them that headway is being made on the revival of the cult hit show. They have parking spaces set up, people! Like Lorey concluded, more as this story develops.

[Via Dean Lorey]

TV teaser 2: ‘Game of Thrones’ season 2

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Happy Sunday, everyone! Here is the sneek-quel to the “Cold Winds Are Rising” peek at the second season of HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones. In “You Win or You Die,” listen very carefully to Lord Varys’ words for “a very small man can cast a very large shadow.” The stakes are pushed higher in this extended look at what’s to come in George R.R. Martin’s epic tale of warring Houses.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 1.

‘The Office’ spin-off starring Dwight Schrute in the works at NBC?

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Yes, a spin-off series to The Office is in development at NBC. According to Deadline, Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein (who also executive produces and plays Toby) and star Rainn Wilson are imagining a new show with Dwight Schrute at the center of it. The spin-off would take place at Dwight’s beet farm, which also serves as a bed & breakfast. “Paul and Rainn have been joking for years about Dwight’s life on the farm, his family and how ill-suited he is to run a B&B,” spills a source to Deadline. “A while ago, it started to feel like a show to them. NBC agreed, it’s been further developed to include multiple generations, many cousins and neighbors. At its base it will be about a family farm struggling to survive and a family trying to stay together.” If this all comes together, Lieberstein and Wilson will executive produce along with Office producers Ben Silverman and Howard Klein; Office creator Ricky Gervais and developer Greg Daniels will not be involved with the project.

Once NBC gives the green light, viewers will soon become aware of Dwight’s departure from the Dunder Mifflin Sabre office. Per Deadline an episode will air later this season set at Schrute Farms that will introduce the spin-off. Dwight will be featured in season nine (if The Office is renewed for another season, of course), and he will make his grand exit just in time for a 2013 midseason spin-off premiere. Wilson recently told critics that “We’re talking about a Dwight spinoff that could be really cool.” He added, “It would have a crazy menagerie of characters. It would be even more far out and weird than The Office.” Mose better be one of those characters.

The Office has been admittedly lackluster since Steve Carrel left the show last year. With a major character such as Dwight potentially leaving next year, does this spell the beginning of the end for the long-running series? Office fans, sound off in the comments below.

[Via Deadline; TVLine]

TV reminder: ‘Touch’ preview event airs tonight on FOX [Update: solid ratings]

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Tonight FOX is airing the pilot episode of Tim Kring’s new drama Touch ahead of the show’s official March 19 premiere. Kiefer Sutherland (24) stars as Martin Bohm, a man who is estranged from his autistic son. In Touch, the Heroes creator tells an emotionally and spiritually uplifting story about a mute child who communicates with numbers and discovers patterns that connect seemingly unrelated events around the world. Though the show will take place in a myriad of locales and touch the lives of strangers, at the heart of this series is the relationship between Sutherland’s character and his gifted son. Watch the extended trailer once and you should immediately start anticipating tonight’s one-hour preview event. And then the wait until March will become all the more unbearable.

Touch airs tonight at 9PM on FOX.

Update: The ratings are in and it turns out many people were touched by Sutherland’s new show last night. The Touch pilot attracted 11.9 million viewers and scored a 3.9/10 among adults 18-49. This makes it the second highest rated new drama series this TV season. (ABC’s Once Upon a Time premiere still remains the highest rated drama series this season so far: 12.8 million viewers, 4.0 demo rating among the 18-49 crowd.) This bodes extremely well for Kring’s latest. People are positively buzzing about the show, and anticipation is high for the spring premiere. Did Touch grip you last night? Spill your thoughts in the comments section below.

‘The Walking Dead’ returns February 12, sneak a peek at the midseason premiere inside (VIDEO)

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The first half of the second season of The Walking Dead ended with a literal BANG when (spoiler) Rick Grimes was forced to shoot and kill a character that we all thought had gone missing but instead was turned into a deadly zombie. Life is about to dramatically shift on Hershel’s farm when the show returns from its winter hiatus next month. Gander at the official midseason premiere poster hanging above; it shows Rick pointing his revolver squarely at a target, little Sophia perhaps? Next, jump after the break to watch two scenes from the upcoming episode titled “Nebraska.” In the first, two strangers stumble upon Rick and Hershel; in the other Rick and Shane are shown in confrontation not for the first time.

The Walking Dead returns February 12 at 9PM on AMC.

[Via AMCTV] Continue reading ‘The Walking Dead’ returns February 12, sneak a peek at the midseason premiere inside (VIDEO) →

‘Sherlock’ will return for a third series

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There’s still four months before the second series of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of Sherlock Holmes airs in the US, but the co-creators of the critically acclaimed show just couldn’t keep their traps shut. “Yes of course there’s going to be a third series — it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!” tweeted Moffat. This news became widespread shortly after the second series finished airing its three-episode arc in the UK on BBC. The one question that now remains, of course, is if Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Holmes) and Martin Freeman (Watson) will return to reprise their roles. Both are blowing up in the biz. Cumberbatch recently starred in War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and soon he’ll be in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit (alongside Freeman) and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel. But don’t be alarmed. A UK rep told Deadline and reassures fans, “I’m sure he [Cumberbatch] would love to do a third series. It’s very unlikely they would have Sherlock without Sherlock.”

Sherlock fans, rejoice! Series 2 premieres in the US on PBS on May 6.

[Via Deadline]

‘Mad Men’ returns March 25

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It’s official: Mad Men returns to AMC from its (insanely long) hiatus on March 25. More good news: the season 5 opener will be the series’ first two-hour premiere. Take in the minimalist and grand new artwork above; it features a free-falling, silhouetted Don Draper displaced from the show’s famous title sequence. Now whip out your calendar and mark the 25th of March in red and black, you know you want to.

2012 Golden Globe winners: ‘Homeland’, ‘Modern Family’, ‘The Descendants’ & ‘The Artist’ big winners

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The Golden Globes came and went last Sunday, so let’s take a quick look at the big winners. On the TV side of things, premium cable channels dominated the field. Showtime’s Homeland won Best TV Series Drama and Claire Danes took home the Best Actress (Drama) award for her role in that show. Kelsey Grammer won the Best Actor (Drama) award for his role in the Starz series Boss and the great Peter Dinklage was crowned Best Supporting Actor (TV Series, Miniseries, or TV Movie) for his portrayal as Tyrion Lannister in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones. Matt LeBlanc won the Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) award for his lead role in another Showtime series Episodes. Enlightened‘s Laura Dern took home the Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) award for her work in the new HBO dark comedy. The PBS Masterpiece series Downton Abbey won Best Miniseries or TV Movie. Also of note, Jessica Lange (American Horror Story) rightfully accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress. And then there was Modern Family, the only show from the big networks (read: CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC) to win a Globe. Modern Family beat out FOX’s Glee and New Girl and Episodes and Enlightened for Best TV Series (Comedy).

In the movie categories, The Descendants and The Artist were named Best Picture in the Drama and Comedy or Musical sections, respectively. George Clooney (The Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist) won Best Actor Globes, and The Artist‘s Ludovic Bource was also recognized for his original score. Other notable wins include… Meryl Streep won Best Actress for her turn as Margret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, Octavia Spencer (The Help) nabbed Best Supporting Actress, Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) won Best Supporting Actress, Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actor (Beginners), Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris won Best Screenplay,  Martin Scorsese won Best Director for Hugo, and The Adventures of Tintin was named Best Animated Film.

Click here for the full list of winners.

This week in NEW TV: ‘Alcatraz’

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MONDAY

Alcatraz — FOX — 8PM

Another show from mastermind J.J. Abrams is about to premiere on network TV and that show is Alcatraz. Though chunks of the story take place on an island and one of the show’s leads is Jorge Garcia, Alcatraz and the intrigue that oozes from the promotional lead up to tomorrow night’s premiere is far different than what fans know from Lost. First, a quick mention of the plot: The show tells a story where Alcatraz inmates disappear from their cells in 1963 and mysteriously reappear in modern day society. A secret task force led by Sam Neill (of Twin Peaks fame) and Parminder Nagra (ER) manage to round up Sarah Jones who plays a homicide detective and Garcia who’s an Alcatraz expert and together they investigate the reappearances and ultimately try to unravel the mystery behind it all. In a tw0-part interview conducted by FOX, Abrams admits that when Lost was on, people were either invested in the show and watched every week or they likely didn’t watch at all. With Alcatraz he thinks that it plays more like a procedural (think inmate reappearance of the week) and because of this people will have an easier time jumping into the show even if they had missed previous installments. And for avid viewers who get hooked with the pilot, there will certainly be nuggets planted that tie episodes together for a more serialized feel. Having watched the pilot twice at Comic Con, I can say that the two-hour pilot will definitely hook Lost fans and at the same time it should help distance it from Abrams’ ABC hit. In this way Alcatraz will make room for newcomers to the procedural/serial hybrid and to the genre fare outputted under Abrams’ Bad Robot banner.

If you’re looking for a new show with mystery and intrigue and smarts, tune into the Alcatraz premiere Monday night at 8PM on FOX. Next week it falls into its regular 9PM timeslot airing after House. Check out stylized cast photos below and hop after the break to watch the two-part Abrams interview.

Continue reading This week in NEW TV: ‘Alcatraz’ →

Fall 2011 network pickups & cancellations (UPDATED 1/15)

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This is an “evolving post.” This means that I will be coming back to it throughout the fall TV season and updating it accordingly when news breaks concerning the fate of new programming. Get it? Got it? Good.

*Bolded shows denote the latest updates

CBS

Pickups: 2 Broke Girls, Unforgettable, Person of Interest

Cancellations: How to Be a Gentleman

Other: A Gifted Man (received 3 additional scripts on 11/15, season will contain 16 episodes total)

NBC

Pickups: Up All Night (episode count increase to 24 on 11/21), Whitney, Grimm

Cancellations: The Playboy Club, Free Agents, Prime Suspect

Still waiting on:  (received additional 6 scripts on 10/12)

Sophomore status: Harry’s Law (received full season order on 11/15)

FOX

Pickups: New Girl, Terra Nova (before the season started FOX committed to do 13 episodes), The X Factor

Cancellations: Allen Gregory

Still waiting on: Napoleon Dynamite, Alcatraz

ABC

Pickups: Suburgatory, Revenge, Last Man Standing, Once Upon a Time

Cancellations: Charlie’s Angels, Work It

Still waiting on: Pan Am* (received 5 additional scripts on 11/3, 1 additional script on 11/29), Man Up! (pulled from schedule on 12/8, 8 of 13 episodes produced have aired)

*ABC released this statement: “Pan Am will wrap production on its first season in early January after completion of its 14th episode. A decision about about a second season will be made in May.”

*At the 2012 TCA winter press tour ABC said regarding Pan Am: “We have new and original shows right through February.”

Sophomore status: Happy Endings received full season order on 11/3, season will contain 22 episodes total; Body of Proof received full season order on 11/18, season will contain 20 episodes total

The CW

Pickups: Ringer, The Secret Circle, Hart Of Dixie

Cancellations: H8R

A&E has a ‘Psycho’ prequel series in the works

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Cable network A&E has announced it is developing a new series based on the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. The show is titled Bates Motel and it will serve as a prequel to the 1960 black-and-white film which starred Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. It is currently in script development with Anthony Cipriano holding the pen. The official announcement:

“Bates Motel” will give viewers an intimate understanding of how Norman Bates’ psyche developed from his childhood through his teen years. Fans will have access to the dark, twisted back story and learn first-hand how his mother, Norma, and her lover damaged Norman, helping forge the most well-known serial killing motel owner in history.

In the ’80s multiple Psycho sequels were made but simply couldn’t live up to the cinematic masterpiece by Hitchcock. There was even an attempt to develop Psycho as a made-for-TV anthology series and it was called–get this–Bates Motel. After only one airing the idea was scrapped. So, can another reincarnation of Psycho work today? Though the track record is poor, I am certainly interested in seeing what A&E cooks up here. A psychological trip with a nostalgic flair might just work in today’s TV landscape. More as this project develops.

[Via DreadCentral]

‘FRINGE’ returns with all-new episodes tonight at 9PM on FOX

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After an extended hiatus, Fringe returns with all-new episodes and Peter’s journey back to our (er, his) timeline starts tonight in the episode titled “Back To Where You’ve Never Been.” Ooh, now doesn’t that titillate the senses?

“Not everything is as it seems” teases Walternate in the clue-ridden video embedded above.

Tick tock. Fringe airs Fridays at 9PM on FOX.