Category Archives: Television

‘South Park’ docu goes behind-the-scenes with creators Parker & Stone

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Tonight (10/9) Comedy Central is airing a South Park documentary called “6 Days to Air: the making of South Park.” Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone allowed documentarian Arthur Bradford to sneak a peek behind the scenes at the making of a full 22-minute episode. The doc was shot over the course of three months at the South Park Studios in Los Angeles. According to the press release, “Viewers will get a look at Parker and Stone’s thought process as they approach a new episode and the 24/7 grind they subject themselves to each time the show is in production. The documentary also includes in-depth interviews with Parker and Stone about their working partnership and reflections on highlights from their careers, such as the making of the original short, “The Spirit of Christmas,” as well as their memorable appearance at the 2000 Oscars when they walked the red carpet in drag.”

“We wanted to make something that would appeal to both the hard-core fans and the casual viewers,” said Bradford. “Trey and Matt are two of the most interesting people I know and the way they make ‘South Park’ is completely fascinating and inspiring.”

Hop after the break to watch Parker and SNL player Bill Hader voice characters from the recent episode “You’re Getting Old” (it’s a riot!) and click here to watch some more previews.

6 Days to Air: the making of South Park airs tonight–that is Sunday October 9 at 10PM on Comedy Central.

[Via SouthParkStudios] Continue reading ‘South Park’ docu goes behind-the-scenes with creators Parker & Stone →

‘The Simpsons’ renewed for two more seasons

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The longest-running comedy in television history just extended its stay. On Friday FOX announced that the Matt Groening animated series will return for record breaking 24th and 25th seasons. By the end of the season in 2013 the series will have aired 559 episodes in total. News of renewal came after weeks of infighting between producer 20th Century Fox TV and the voice actors demanding a lower salary reduction. According to Deadline “the salary cut in the range of 30% from the actors’ current paychecks of $440,000 per episode” and the license fee for the show was also reduced due to falling ratings.

In an interview EW, executive producer Al Jean shared his excitement over the news. “Our mood is elation, mixed with a sense of ‘Man, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’ Believe me, we don’t look at this as these will definitely be the last two [seasons]. We just want to keep fighting and go as long as we can…. We really feel this isn’t an end but a beginning. It’s a cliché, but it’s the truth.” He went on to comment about how The Simpsons might end when the time eventually comes. “I don’t think we’re a serialized show and I don’t think we’re going to have a Lost finale where we reveal some truth about the world that nobody ever suspected. Whenever we do a last episode, we just hope that it would be sweet, true to the characters, funny, and give you a nice feeling for where the Simpsons would be headed.” And finally he shed some light on how long the creative team plans to keep the Simpsons train chugging. “I honestly think that 30 is a goal to shoot for. I want to put The Simpsons at 30 seasons before the end of the decade. Forty sounds insane, but 25 sounded insane 20 years ago. Having seen how far it’s gone, it’s not for me to cap it…. And Gunsmoke did 635 episodes [a record for a prime-time series], so that’s something to shoot for, too.”

The Simpsons airs Sundays at 8PM on FOX. New episodes return October 30 with the annual “Treehouse of Horrors” episode. Jump after the break for the press release that details what happens in this year’s “XXII” installment.

[Via Deadline; EW] Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ renewed for two more seasons →

Nick’s ’90s programming block moves to primetime

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Good news: Nick’s ’90s programming block The ’90s Are All That now airs in primetime, starting at 10PM. Four half-hour shows will air from 10PM-midnight on TeenNick, and they will replay again in the block’s original space midnight-2AM. Additionally, Nick will air the block seven times a week so there will never be a night without classic Nick. Here’s a couple more new announcements. The live-action show shot on a dude ranch fondly remembered as Hey Dude enters the current lineup that still consists of All That, Kenan & Kel, and Doug. And on Friday nights, Stick Stickly hosts an interactive segment called “UPick with Stick.” Get this: Stick is voiced by Paul Christie, the same man who invented the character back in the day! Once a week the block will air episodes voted on by viewers at Nick’s website and Facebook. Rock and roll.

[Via EW-InsideTV]

AMC debuts ‘Walking Dead’ webisodes

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Today AMC uploaded a six-part web series set in the Walking Dead universe. “Torn Apart” tells the sad tale of how mother-of-two Hannah transforms into the iconic “Bicycle Girl” zombie Rick Grimes is forced to kill in the pilot episode. You know, the one pictured above. The webisodes are directed by Walking Dead FX specialist (and now co-executive producer) Greg Nicotero. Sit back and enjoy this bloody vignette; it’ll surely whet your appetite as the season 2 premiere of the Walking Dead looms. It’s under two weeks away: October 16 at 9PM.

Here are direct links to the webisodes: PART 1 // PART 2 // PART 3 // PART 4 //  PART 5 // PART 6

Mitch Hurwitz says ‘Arrested Development’ returning to TV prior to movie release

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, that pretty much sums up what everyone is feeling right now. This afternoon at a New Yorker Festival event that reunited the entire Arrested Development cast, show creator Mitch Hurwitz announced plans to bring the short-lived cult TV show back to the air prior to releasing the highly anticipated movie that’s expected to bow, um, sometime in the future. The plan is to produce a “limited-run series” (think 9 or 10 episodes) that will shed light on what each of the Bluths have been up to since we lost them in 2006.

How did this all come about? In Hurwitz’s own words: “We don’t completely own the property, there are business people involved and studios and that kind of thing. Just creatively, I have been working on the screenplay for a long time and found that as time went by, there was so much more to the story. In fact, where everyone’s been for five years became a big part of the story. So in working on the screenplay, I found even if I just gave five minutes per character to that back story, we were halfway through the movie before the characters got together.” And thus the plan to return to TV was born.

As it stands now, Hurwitz wants to focus on “almost one character per episode.” He offered the giddy audience at the event an example of how this could work. The first episode might feature oddball Buster Bluth. “The latest joke we have is that it’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, and there’s all these scientists in lab coats and they’re waiting for somebody. Buster comes through the door in a white lab coat – ‘Let’s begin’ – and they say, ‘Oh, no, you don’t get to wear the lab coat. We’re experimenting on you.’ And then we go through his life and we meet the people in his life and maybe he goes to see his therapist who he’s getting a good rate on because it’s Tobias and he’s lost his license. We can do cross overs and things like that. But it’s an unusual style of show I think and we get him to a certain point of peril in his life and then maybe we jump over to like Maeby and she’s living with Cornel West … We’ll do this kind of thing that builds the peril in their lives until they all come together, really, in the first scene of the movie.” Ha! So you get it? Each of the 9 or 10 episodes will focus on a specific Bluth and catch us up on what they’ve been up to all this time. And then when the movie releases, we’ll know what’s up and Hurwitz will be able to tell a tighter story without wasting time catching us up on all the characters. It’s win-win for everybody!

That is, of course, if the studios play nice with one another. Hurwitz added that the project “requires studios to work together that don’t typically work together, film and TV.” It’s still up in the air as to whether or not the show will air on FOX again.

Now I bet you’re wondering about a time frame; when can we expect the Bluths to return to the small screen if the studios allow it? Jason Bateman, who played the family backbone Michael Bluth, said, “There’s business left to be done, but creatively we are all on board and have a very specific plan about how it would come out and what we would do and when we would shoot it. I think we’re targeting next summer to shoot it.” “Perhaps the series is in the fall. This isn’t my decision,” Hurwitz chimed in. Later in the day, Bateman took to Twitter and shared this: “It’s true. We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ‘13. VERY excited!”

So there you have it. Arrested Development is on track to RETURN TO TELEVISION and then make it to the BIG SCREEN. AD fans ’round the world are crying tears of joy today, as they well should be. Let’s just hope it all pans out…because it will…right?

[Via NYTimes]

This week in NEW TV: ‘American Horror Story’

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Last year I posted my Fall TV Preview. This time around I’m breaking that idea in pieces with a new kind of post called This week in NEW TV. Essentially they will serve as expanded versions of my usual TV Reminders. These posts will crop up through October as new TV shows premiere this fall. I will recommend new shows to watch and remind you when returning favorites are coming back. If you want a broader overview of all the new series airing on the big four networks, check out 2011-12 Upfronts coverage.

Note: This week contains only 1 new program, so I thought I’d take the time to comment on some fan-favorite returning series, too.

::SUNDAY::

How To Make It In America  — HBO — 10:30PM

Ben (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam (Victor Rasuk) are back to make the big dream come true in NYC. In the season 2 opener the boys return from a successful business trip in Tokyo with CRISP-branded jeans in tow. We’ll also check in with Cam’s overbearing cousin Rene Calderon (Rene Calderon) and his Rasta Mansta energy drink empire, Domingo Brown (Kid Cudi) will become a more familiar face on the show this year, and Lake Bell’s Rachel still isn’t over ex-boyfriend Ben. Now, you’re going to want to look after the break for some HTMIIA goodies: a Luis Guzman-inspired music video, a season 1 recap, a mixtape, and more! For now, look in the gallery below for some stills.

::MONDAY::

House — FOX — 9PM

In the season 8 premiere, we find Dr. Gregory House in jail. Why? Because in last season’s finale he recklessly drove his car into Cuddy’s house and nearly killed her, her daughter, and other guests. While in lockup, House meets Breaking In star Odette Annable and quickly takes a liking to her. Is it because of her looks, her brains, or both? We’ll have to tune in to find out. Rounding out the Hugh Laurie, Jesse Spencer, Omar Epps, Peter Jacobson, and Robert Sean Leonard-led cast is newcomer Charlyne Yi, a comedian best known for her Knocked Up role as the spacey Jodi. It’ll be interesting to see how she blends in with this veteran ensemble cast. It will be equally interesting to see who fills in Cuddy’s shoes to become the new Dean of Medicine; Lisa Edelstein is out (as is movie star Olivia Wilde) and word has it that the new Dean will be selecting internally. I was leaning towards Leonard as my top pick, but now I’m imaging Omar Epps in the position. We shall see… Also note that this may very well be the final season of House. Everything is up in the air for now, and we should receive word from FOX executives in the months ahead. Journey below to view some key art and stills from the premiere.

::WEDNESDAY::

American Horror Story — FX — 10PM

Here’s the new show worth checking out this week. American Horror Story comes from Nip/Tuck and Glee collaborators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk and it’s being billed as the scariest project developed for TV in quite some time. Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) headline a stacked cast that find themselves mentally trapped inside a haunted house. Described as a psychosexual thriller, [the show] centers on a therapist and his wife who, dealing with the aftermath of the husband’s adultery, move along with their kids into a new house that seems to know all about their fears and plays on them. The promotional campaign for this show has been nothing short of bizarre, and the trailer snippets that have leaked are oh-so-intriguing to say the least. You can read more about the development of American Horror Story in a previous post, and check out stills from the spooky series below.

South Park — Comedy Central — 10PM

The second half of South Park season 15 begins Wednesday night. The network hints that “everything must change” following the cynical finale that last aired. In the episode titled “You’re Getting Old” it seemed like creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker were taking a stand against their recent material by calling it stale. So they decided to make at least one major change: Stan’s parents are getting divorced. Whether or not this new development will remain canon as the new season unfolds is still up for discussion. Stone and Parker might just pull their usual and “restart” everything–who knows. When the mid-season premiere passes, let’s just hope that the material is fresh. No matter what, though, South Park has been renewed through 2013 so the pop culture icon is staying put for at least a little while longer. Continue reading This week in NEW TV: ‘American Horror Story’ →

Kid Cudi presents Conan O’Brien his Surface to Air jacket

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A kid named Cudi stopped by Conan last night not to perform but to chat. After showing off his squeaky clean Nike “Back to the Future” Mags (he bought five of them!), Cudder gave Coco the sleek leather jacket he designed with Surface to Air. Watch the funny happen up top.

FOX picks up ‘New Girl’ with full season order

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Don’t act like you’re surprised. With all the “adorkable” marketing promoting New Girl before its big premiere last week we all knew that Zooey Deschanel wouldn’t let us down. A ratings boon during its first two weeks on air, the laugh-out-loud FOX comedy becomes the first new show of the fall 2011 season to be granted a full season order. The network has tacked on an additional 11 episodes to the original 13-episode order bringing the season one grand total to 24 episodes. The pilot received an impressive 4.8 rating among adults 18-49 (this is FOX’s highest-rated sitcom premiere of all-time); 10.1 million viewers tuned into the premiere. In week 2 the show scored a 5.2 rating and retained 92 percent of its series premiere ratings; 9.2 million viewers returned.

Network prez Kevin Reilly commented on the show’s early surge of success. “We love the charming Zooey Deschanel and the entire cast, we’re knocked out with the work that Liz Meriwether and the whole staff is doing and we are really psyched about the upcoming episodes in the pipeline. It’s great that audiences have responded so positively so far and we’re confident that even more people will embrace the show — and more comedy on Fox — this season.”

New Girl airs Tuesday nights at 9PM on FOX.

[Via Deadline; EW]

‘Hawaii Five-0’ wants more Terry O’Quinn

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TV Guide reports that Hawaii Five-0 executive producer Peter Lenkov wants to extend Terry O’Quinn’s multi-episode arc as Lt. Commander Joe White. Says Lenkov: “His original deal was six episodes, and now we’ll do another three. And we’re hoping for even more.” The EP went on to reassure fans that even if O’Quinn went on to star in Marc Cherry’s upcoming ABC soap Hallelujah he’d try to sway the Lost alum to do both. “Terry’s a guy who really wants to get his own show, and he deserves that,” Lenkov added. “That’s his goal. But we’d love to make it work where he could do both.” But rejoice Five-0 fans–in the short term, O’Quinn is here to stay!

[Via TV Guide]

This week in NEW TV: ‘Terra Nova’

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Last year I posted my Fall TV Preview. This time around I’m breaking that idea in pieces with a new kind of post called This week in NEW TV. Essentially they will serve as expanded versions of my usual TV Reminders. These posts will crop up through October as new TV shows premiere this fall. I will recommend new shows to watch and remind you when returning favorites are coming back. If you want a broader overview of all the new series airing on the big four networks, check out 2011-12 Upfronts coverage.

::SUNDAY::

Give this pilot episode a chance: Pan Am (ABC, 10PM)

Returning shows you should be watching: The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, American Dad (FOX, 8PM-10PM)

::MONDAY::

Terra Nova — FOX — 8PM

The high budget sci-fi series involving time-travel and dinosaurs from Steven Speilberg, Peter Chernin, and Brannon Braga premieres Monday night. FOX is promoting it as a “TV event” since the pilot runs two hours long. With such a high pedigree behind it, a promise for spectacular visuals and special effects, and an intriguing premise (man is sent back in time to prehistoric Earth in an attempt to save a futuristic, disintegrating human race), Terra Nova is sure to please genre fans and pique the mass viewer’s interest.

1 2 3

Reminder: 2 Broke Girls airs at its regular 8:30PM slot Monday night.

::WEDNESDAY::

Returning show you should be watching: Happy Endings (ABC, 9:30PM)

[Images via IGN]

FRINGE FRIDAY returns tonight at 9PM on FOX

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The wait is finally over. Fringe begins its fourth season tonight on FOX. And the question on everybody’s mind is Where is Peter Bishop? Though showrunners J.H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner would never spoil that for fans, they did talk with the press recently to ramp up excitement for the new season. Here are some choice quotes for you to munch on before things get rolling at 9PM.

Wyman and Pinkner went back and forth reiterating the importance of Peter. Wyman: “Just because he [Peter] doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that those three years we’ve invested all didn’t happen. It did happen. And it will all unfold itself for you to understand what context I’m speaking.” Pinkner: “Look, Peter is part of the DNA of the show. We’ve done some pretty crazy things in the past where people were always like, ‘Well, wait a minute. Why are they doing that? What’s going on?’ Hopefully in season four, people will trust us enough to realize that we are doing things for a reason. To sort of have Fringe without Peter in some way, shape or form is really not Fringe…The show constantly tries to recontectualize your perception of this story…The idea that Peter is gone — and, ultimately, he’s not permanently gone — is an opportunity to recontectualize the story and what we’ve seen again. It’s something we love to play with.”

Wyman explained that the new season will tell a story about “how are these universes going to work together to heal their joint damage now that they have a means to do so…This offered us a good opportunity to…watch how the two Olivias are looking at problems very differently. It goes back to our major theme: Our experiences are who we are.” Standalone Fringe cases will take place in our universe, the alt-universe, and some will overlap in both universes over the course of the season.

The duo went on to give hints about else we can expect from the upcoming season.

  • Pinkner talked about now-series regular Seth Gabel, who plays Lincoln Lee. “We’re kind of in love with the theme of having this guy come in and have to go into a very strange world and [realize] that everything he thought was true is no longer valid. He’s going to have to put back together a psyche that has been sort of fractured by this knowledge that he really shouldn’t have.”  Added Wyman, “He brings us a certain thematic element that we really needed to tell this year. A lot of the things his character will be going through will help us tell our story. One of the themes we’re really interested in getting into this year is the impact we have on each other’s lives. We’re defined by the connections we make, and who we know, and who knows us, and how we define other people.”
  • “There will be returning faces,” Pinkner said. “We hate to spoil things, but there will be characters that you’ll be delighted to see again, hopefully some that you’ll be surprised to see again, and some you may have seen before that come back in a completely different context.”
  • The opening title sequence is a new color: orange! “The significance of the color is simply just to put out the notion that this is the universe without Peter in it.”  “It’s a different chapter,” added Wyman.
  • “Walternate, despite all promises to the contrary, is still a bad guy manipulating things behind the scenes. So that’s another story we’re going to be delving into,” said Wyman.
  • Hope you enjoyed season two’s “Brown Betty” musical and season three’s “LSD” animation trip because Wyman hints there’s another episode coming up “that’s off the beaten track.”
  • Get ready for some super freaky cases this year. Shares Wyman, “We have a slew of really crazy, hopefully thought-provoking, far-out cases that deal with time travel, out-of-control biology, and humans who either for very understandable and sometimes not so understandable reasons, are messing with the rules of nature and the rules of physics. This year…more than any other year, we have some mind-blowing standalone stories. Because ‘over there’ is so messed up, and over here is a little suspicious as well right now, it gives us carte blanche to push our imaginations to the hilt and see some really cool things realized.”

And there you have it. Fringe season four is ready to fire on all cylinders. Before it begins, take the time to watch FOX’s 12-part recap series “Past + Present + Future” on YouTube. Whether you’re new to the series or just want to brush up on everything Fringe, these collection of videos will take you on an exciting journey spanning all three seasons of the fantastic sci-fi series. Prepare for your mind to be blown.

Bonus! Look after the break to learn about the brand new DC Comic based on the show Beyond the Fringe.

[Via EW; TVLine] Continue reading FRINGE FRIDAY returns tonight at 9PM on FOX →

Terry O’Quinn wants to work with Michael Emerson again; ‘Odd Jobs’, where are you?

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Hey guys remember Odd Jobs? The tentitively-titled show from J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, and writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec that aimed to reunite Lost‘s Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn? Shortly after NBC committed to making a pilot, the buddy-cop show was shelved indefinitely as Emerson went on to star in CBS’ Person of Interest and O’Quinn found himself in Marc Cherry’s next ABC program Hallelujah (which is now being retooled for next season) and a multi-episode arc on Hawaii Five-0.

Recently EW caught up with O’Quinn and asked him if he sees himself ever working with the man who played Benjamin Linus again. Though the name Odd Jobs and the pedigree surrounding it never came up, the beloved John Locke said this: “I was actually looking to do a series after Lost. Michael and I fiddled around with one and we sort of got through the process of generating some interest in it, and we just didn’t come up with a script that everyone agreed on. Michael and I stay in touch; we still talk about that. Maybe we’ll make it happen before we get too creaky. I would love to have at least one more good experience like Lost.”

So perhaps Odd Jobs will break out of limbo and make it to network TV one of these days. Today we’ll just have to manage with the two guys acting on different shows on the same network.

Update: Michael Emerson responds! He tells EW, “I feel very much the same way. I was very gratified to read that in the press. We’ve both told each other that even though there may be some bumps along the road, sooner or later, we’re going to work together.” Yippee!

[Via EW]