Category Archives: Television

2011 Midseason TV Preview

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Doesn’t it feel like you were just reading my 2010 Fall TV Preview back in mid-September?  You know what they say–time flies…when you’re watching so much TV.  I’m going to run through the new network shows that I’m most anticipating and I’ll let you know which returning shows you should be watching.  In addition, I will comment on the new shows that debuted this fall and let you know when they return from holiday hiatus, as well as say goodbye to the ones that prematurely got axed.  Cable TV gets some love down there, too.  Feel like skipping past my opinions and want to see the midseason schedules for the big four networks?  They’re right here: CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC.

CBS: The most watched network is introducing two new dramas with Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and Chaos, a comedy in Mad Love, and marking the the return of Paula Abdul with her reality series Live to Dance.  If you’re a fan of Criminal Minds, you’ll likely want to tune into the new spinoff series starring Forest Whitaker.  Chaos is being described as a “comedic drama about a group of rogue CIA spies” and it stars Eric Close (NCIS), James Murray (UK’s Primeval), and Kurtwood Smith (That 70s Show).  Sounds like a typical CBS procedural to me.  Mad Love is hoping to break out in CBS’ Monday night comedy lineup; it stars American Pie‘s Jason Biggs, Judy Greer (Arrested Development), and Sarah Chalke (Scrubs).  Do you find yourself obsessing over reality shows like So You Think You Can Dance? Abdul’s Live to Dance will be right up your alley.

This fall saw the premiere of a handful of new CBS series, but the one I was most looking forward to was Hawaii Five-O.  The explosive and highly entertaining pilot led into many other exciting episodes.  It did not take very long for me to realize that a CBS procedural had become my favorite new network series.  Alex O’Loughlin does a fine job at playing Steve McGarrett, but it’s Scott Caan’s Danno (who recently received the Best Supporting Actor nomination) who steals the show with quick wit and perfect compatibility with his partner O’Loughlin.  With Victor Hesse pulling strings behind bars and the introduction of the infamous TV villain Wo Fat at the end of the latest episode, there’s much to look forward to when Hawaii Five-O returns with all new episodes Monday, January 3 at 10PM.

NBC: This network is still trying to find its feet after last year’s Jay Leno Show fiasco.  Midseason premieres include David E. Kelly’s Harry’s Law (starring Kathy Bates), America’s Next Great Restaurant, Perfect Couples, and The Cape.  I am most looking forward to the latter two programs.  NBC actually ran a preview episode of the comedy Perfect Couples last week and unfortunately it didn’t fare so well with me.  The jokes it tried to make were rather bland and the interesting assortment of characters did not share much in common.  If you can think back to the fantastic Modern Family pilot, that is what I was sort of expecting here; three distinctly unique couples with a common thread tying them together in a way that makes you care about their relationship to one another.  This was, however, a preview and I’m hoping that the actual pilot contains a spark to keep in interested in these characters and their lives; also, let’s hope the jokes get funnier.  Perfect Couples premieres January 20 at 8:30PM.

Next up is The Cape.  If you watch TV you’ve likely seen many commercials promoting the superhero drama.  David Lyons (ER) stars as Vince Faraday, a cop who is framed for a series of murders and sets out to become “The Cape”, a comic book superhero, and he “takes the law into his own hands.”  The most recent preview I saw on TV revealed a wide range of villains Faraday will be fighting against; James Frain is Peter Fleming, The Cape’s nemesis.  And don’t forget about Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) who stars as Orwell, an investigative blogger and The Cape’s ally.  It looks like a spooky action-packed drama that should take the place of the ill-fated Heroes and the sub-par new series The Event while it’s on hiatus.  The Cape‘s two-hour premiere airs Sunday, January 9 at 9PM; it’s regular time slot is Mondays at 9PM.

Parks and Recreation finally returns January 20 at 9PM.  After an admittedly lackluster first season, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and the entire Pawnee Gang picked up the slack and contributed toward a stellar second season.  No sophomore slump here!  Every single character is flawed in one way or another, but they also each have rewarding qualities that make you want to cheer them on.  Knope, for example, may come off as a dimwitted, idiotic political figure, but at her core she cares about her friends at the Parks Department and she’s willing to fight against all injustices within the town of Pawnee.  With the departure of fan favorite Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider), season three will more prominently feature Rob Lowe and Adam Scott, two characters with much potential who were introduced late last season.  The fourth episode is titled “Ron and Tammy II”, and if it plays out anything like its season 2 counterpart (stellar performances by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally) I have full faith Park and Rec will continue to shine for years to come.

I had high hopes for The Event, but it’s quickly becoming the next FlashForward.  (In fact, I enjoyed ABC’s sci-fi drama a whole lot more.)  The network hyped The Event to be the next big hit, but in doing so it attached it to two other high profile series and the comparison made was ill-advised.  A commercial boasted, “If 24 and Lost had a baby, it would be The Event.”  The Event certainly tried to become the next Lost, with intermittent flashbacks for storytelling purposes but it failed to do it right.  After the first few episodes it started to feel like the show was trying to mimic Lost instead of branch off in a new direction.  With that said, I am happy to report that the show has learned from its early mistakes and is attempting to make good on them with intriguing character stories and mythos-packed action sequences.  The seemingly random flashbacks have been scrapped and replaced by detailed and emotional stories that shed light on the prominent characters; the Simon Lee and Blake Sterling stories proved to be the series best episodes thus far.  And speaking of mythos–as much as I am interested in Sophia’s plan for her people, one can only watch a show called The Event for so long without having an inkling as to what the event is.  Also, Sean and Leila have been on the run for way too long; here’s to hoping that the producers give them something more to do when The Event returns from an extended hiatus on March 7 at 9PM.  I admit I am hooked to the series, but only by a few weak threads. Continue reading 2011 Midseason TV Preview →

Pee-wee Herman’s Broadway show coming to HBO in 2011

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Paul Reubens brought his signature character to Broadway for a limited two-month run, and now he’s solidified plans to televise his Pee-wee Herman stage show on HBO!  So if you missed out on his Broadway stint, this should be music to your ears.  An unspecified January show at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre will be shot and used for the HBO special which will air sometime in 2011 following the show’s run.

Nancy Geller, SVP HBO Original Programming: “Before his hit series and movies, HBO introduced Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman to a national audience in the Young Comedians series, followed by the groundbreaking 1981 special. It’s thrilling to have Paul back on the network, and it will be a blast to return to Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

Marty Callner, who directed the aforementioned 1981 special, has been called on again to direct the HBO presentation of The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway.

[Via IGN; Deadline]

CBS announces midseason schedule

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CBS waited and waited, and now we finally have a better look at what’ll be on the dominantly procedural network come January 2011 and beyond.  First let’s take a look at program day and time shifts.  Freshman cop drama Blue Bloods is moving to Wednesday nights at 10PM on January 19; it will stay there for four weeks and eventually move back to its regular Friday 10PM slot on April 1.  After the network airs the series finale of Medium, freshman legal dramedy The Defenders will take over the Friday 8PM position starting February 4.  When Blue Bloods departs its four week run on Wednesday nights, the spinoff show Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior will assume the 10PM spot, immediately following 9PM’s Criminal Minds.  (As you can see, CBS is using the Tuesday night NCIS/NCIS:LA formula here.)  New midseason shows include: Live to Dance (premiering 1/19 at 9PM), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (see above), Mad Love (2/21 at 8:30PM; Rules of Engagement moves to Thursdays 8:30PM replacing $#*! My Dad Says), Chaos (4/1 at 8PM; The Defenders season finale will have aired a week prior).  And don’t for get about the latest installment of Survivor: Redemption Island which begins 2/16 at 8PM.

Kelly Kahl, CBS Senior EVP primetime: “We’re in the fortunate position of having a schedule with many successful shows and very few holes. This allows us to be very targeted with our mid-season series.  These are moves that maintain the core stability of a successful schedule, while giving us multiple looks for the future at a few time periods.”

Look after the break to view the CBS midseason schedule.

[Via EW; Deadline] Continue reading CBS announces midseason schedule →

2011 Golden Globe nods are in!

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Are you ready to celebrate the best of the best in film and television?  The Golden Globe nods are in!  Let’s take a look at some of the television categories first.  The big five best drama contenders are Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, The Good Wife, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead.  I’m so glad the AMC zombie-fest got nominated!  The short but terrific six-episode arc deserves a major win like this at the show.  And how about the best actors in a drama series?  Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), and Hugh Laurie (House).  A nice bunch there, indeed.  The best comedy contenders are 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, The Big C, Glee, Modern Family, and Nurse Jackie.  I’m sure this will be a tight race between the FOX musical, the ABC hit, and the Jim Parsons-led comedy sensation.  Speaking of Parsons, let’s move onto best actors in a comedy series.  Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Steve Carell (The Office), Thomas Jane (Hung), Matthew Morrison (Glee), and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory).  Parsons is likely the lock here, but congratulations to Glee‘s Will Schuester!  In other notable nods, Chris Colfer (Glee), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), and Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-O) are nominated for best supporting actor, and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) and Jane Lynch (Glee) are up for best supporting actress.  Glee ended up being the most recognized show (Lea Michele was nominated best actress in a comedy!).

This is the space I usually save for my rant concerning the the snub of Fringe’s John Noble.  But you can refer to that in last year’s Globes nomination post.  Other notable TV snubs: Where’s the love for Community, Parks and Rec, and Raising Hope!?

Now let’s branch into the film categories.  Best picture, drama: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King’s Speech, and The Social Network. This is certainly going to be a tight race.  A really tight race.  It’s hard to make a prediction here.  Best actor, drama: Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), James Franco (127 Hours), Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine), and Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter).  I gotta cheer on Mr. Eisenberg here for his fantastic take on TIME’s Person of the Year; he really gave his first riveting performance here that’s worthy of an award or two.  I could list the best actress category here, but we all know this one’s going to Natalie Portman for her amazing performance in Black Swan.  In other notable nods, Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Jeremy Renner (The Town) are nominated for best supporting actor, and Mila Kunis (Black Swan) is up for best supporting actress.  I think it’ll be an exciting race for best director between David Fincher (The Social Network), Christopher Nolan (Inception), and Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan).  And the same goes for best original score between Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network) and Hans Zimmer (Inception).  For best animated feature, Despicable Me or Toy Story 3.  Loved both, but the win will definitely go to the one starring Woody.

Movie snubs: Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception), armie hammer (The Social Network), True Grit.

Comedian Ricky Gervais will host (again!) the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards when it airs Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 8PM on NBC.  You know the drill: look after the break to browse all the nominations.

[Via EW] Continue reading 2011 Golden Globe nods are in! →

Comedy Central chooses Donald Trump as the next roastee

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Just when you thought Comedy Central couldn’t top The Hoff they just did: Donald Trump is the next celebrity roastee!  The wealthy man with that thing on his head commented on the breaking news: “I’ll show up to the Roast because Comedy Central is paying me a lot of money, but I’m confused as to how anybody could make fun of me.”  Oh, you’ll soon find out buddy.

Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump tapes March 9 and is slated for a Spring 2011 air date.

[Via Deadline]

NBC to preview ‘Perfect Couples’ after ‘Sing-Off’ finale

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NBC’s The Sing-Off is doing so well in the ratings that the network’s decided to expand the December 20 season finale by a half-hour.  But here’s the really exciting news: The Peacock plans to use the Sing-Off finale as a platform to promote the new midseason sitcom Perfect Couples.  Following the finale a “preview episode” of Perfect Couples will air from 10:30PM to 11PM; the network makes it clear that this special preview is not the pilot. That will be saved for the show’s true premiere date set for Thursday, January 20 at 8:30PM.  It will follow Community in the Thursday night comedy block, which was recently extended to include six shows in total.

Perfect Couples follows three couples at various stages of their relationships.  Here’s a quick synopsis: Dave (Kyle Howard, My Boys) and Julia (Christine Woods, FlashForward) are the relatable, normal couple, but Julia’s hope of remaining the cool, low-maintenance chick is tested by Dave’s attempts to keep both his wife and his needy best friend Vance (Dave Walton, NBC’s 100 Questions) equally happy. Vance, along with the neurotic Amy (Mary Elizabeth Ellis, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), are the high-passion, high-drama couple who bring out the best and worst in each other.  The third duo features Rex (Hayes MacArthur, She’s Out of My League), a reformed party guy, and his wife, Leigh (Olivia Munn, Attack of the Show), who considers herself as the group’s mother hen. Believing that they are relationship experts, Rex and Leigh have attended every class and seminar on relationships — and regard themselves as the ‘perfect couple.’”

Update: Well there’s been a change in scheduling here, so take note: The Sing-Off finale will remain two hours in length, and the Perfect Couples preview episode will air at 10PM followed by a repeat of The Office.

[Via Deadline, here & here; EW]

Fringe is about to “re-animate” Friday nights

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Following news that the best sci-fi show on television Fringe is moving to Friday nights, FOX put together this trailer that is all kinds of awesome.  At least we know that the network is willing to push hard for the show to keep it relevant.  The showrunners must be loving this.

Says Dean Norris, Fox senior VP of marketing and special projects: “We are trying to rebrand Friday, and what we’re trying to do with this show specifically is make it kind of like forbidden fruit. We want that teen demographic that might not be our audience right now to say, ‘That this is a show my parents might not want me to watch — but I’m going to watch it, anyway.’”

FOX shuffles around the remaining episodes of ‘Running Wilde’

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Mitch Hurwitz’s Running Wilde, starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell, never caught on with TV viewers.  And that’s unfortunate because it’s a damn funny show that boasts the same kind of charm Hurwitz’s Arrested Development managed to carry across to its cult fans.  FOX still hasn’t had the guts to officially cancel it just yet, but all signs point to a quick exit for the short-lived comedy.  The network did not order additional episodes past the original 13, and this week they decided to shuffle the remaining five episodes around instead of letting them air consecutively in their regular Tuesday night slot.  If you’ve been a trouper and stuck with the show, mark your calenders.  The remaining episodes will air on these dates: Sunday, December 19 at 7PM & 7:30PM; Sunday, December 26 at 9:30PM; Tuesday, December 28 at 9PM (one-hour finale).  Farewell Steve, Emmy, and Puddle!

[Via EW]

TIME Person of the Year is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (and other TIME Top 10 things)

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The man behind the social network has been crowned TIME’s Person of the Year “for connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives.”  Click here to read the 10-page cover article.  Zuck beat out the trapped Chilean Miners, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, and The Tea Party.

The zine also named the top ten albums and songs of the year.  Here’s what they had to say about the #1 album, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: “Kanye West can seem like an attention-hungry young child who constantly tugs on his mother’s pant leg, saying, “Watch this! Watch this!” But once Kanye got our attention, instead of a simple somersault, he delivered the musical equivalent of a one-handed back handspring.”  Cee Lo Green’s “F**k You” is Time’s #1 song.  Look after the break to see the full listing of TIME’s top ten albums and songs.

Other TIME Top 10 things worth noting: in the Top 10 TV Series category they included Parks and Rec, Party Down, and Boardwalk Empire; in the Top 10 TV episodes they included Community‘s “Modern Warfare”, Lost‘s “The End”, and Fringe‘s “Peter” (!).  Really digging the selection here.  The Social Network and Toy Story 3 are listed in the Top 10 Movies category, Angry Birds is a top video game, and Merton on Chatroulette, Bed Intruder, and Double Rainbow are favorite viral videos.  Again, look after the break to see the full listings from all of these categories to see if your favorites made the cut.  Or you can opt to head over to TIME to view many other Top 10 categories ranging from popular toys to scientific discoveries.

[Via TIME, here & here] Continue reading TIME Person of the Year is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (and other TIME Top 10 things) →

‘Fringe’ produces tell fans to embrace the Friday move

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This week EW’s Jeff Jensen sat down with Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman to discuss the future of Fringe and thoughts about FOX’s decision to shift the sci-fi program to Friday nights.  Here are some choice quotes from the interview.

Wyman on the parallel universe episodes: “You definitely haven’t seen the last of the ‘over there’ world. We’ve established that both of these worlds are linked in a profound way. We are going to attend to that. We are going back ‘over there.’ It’s not going to be forgotten about, but we’re not going to be ‘one on, one off’ right now.”

Pinkner on FOX’s “initial resistance” to the parallel universe storyline: “They were really concerned that if the episodes didn’t have [‘over here’] Walter or Peter in them, it wouldn’t feel like our show anymore. We said that not unlike a show likeLost, Fringe has to constantly evolve, to move and grow and go forward, otherwise we’ll get bored, the cast will get bored, the audience will get bored.”  Adds Wyman: “The alternate world storyline really allowed us to explore the characters deeper via their doppelgängers, to illuminate characters we already know. It’s been a real gas for all of us involved in making the show.”  FOX eventually fell in love with the concept, along with the viewers.

Pinkner on the move to Fridays: “It doesn’t feel loaded to us. It’s not like Fox is saying to us: ‘We’re falling out of love with the show. We’re burning it off by moving it to Friday.” .. “For a year and half now, we’ve been asking and our fans have been asking — to take us off Thursday because the landscape is crowded.”  Adds Wyman: “The research shows that people love the show, but they don’t really want to watch it on Thursday night. Thursday is more of a romantic comedy kind of night, not a hard science fiction night,” says Wyman. “We hope our fans follow us to Friday night. It’s a much easier marketplace, and Fox is going to really support it; they think there’s a real opportunity to reinvent the night.”  Pinkner concludes: “If this felt like a vote of no confidence from Fox, I’d be concerned. But they’ve verbalized the opposite. They think we have a better chance at staying on the air for years to come, which, of course, is what we want, because by design, we have years of story left to tell.”

Yeah, I added the bold font there for effect.  Isn’t this wonderful news?  The Fringe execs just confirmed that there’s “years of story to tell” meaning the show will most likely live on past season 3 and potentially even a fourth season.  After reading the news about the Friday move I felt a bit weary of the situation, but all of their words of encouragement are really comforting.  In the interview the producers also hinted at what’s to come in the second half of the season.  The mystery of The First People will receive some attention, and the January 21 returning-from-hiatus episode is called “Firefly” (an ironic nod to the ill-fated 2002 FOX sci-fi series moved to Friday nights, ironic because the name was decided upon before the writers heard about the scheduling shift) and it will focus on The Observers with a special guest appearance by Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) as an old friend of Walter’s.

Fringe returns Friday, January 21 at 9PM on FOX.

[Via EW]

‘The Walking Dead’ is the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the coveted demo

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Typing that post title makes me feel so happy.  Anticipation was high before AMC debuted The Walking Dead on Halloween, and creatives Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman and special effects artist Greg Nicotero knew they had to perform well enough to at least appease the rabid Dead comics fanbase if they were to succeed in the TV format.  They succeeded and then some.  5.3 million people tuned into the series premiere and AMC renewed the show after only two episodes had aired.  It was by all means an instant success.  The season finale managed to top the premiere numbers across the board and crowned Dead the most watched drama series in basic cable history in the coveted 18-49 demo.  Over 6 million viewers tuned into the finale making it the most watched episode of the season–it gained viewers over the course of one month.  Not many network freshman dramas can say they did that.  More stats: 4 million viewers in the 18-49 demo watched the finale (boom, new record for cable!); and on top of the 6 million viewer total, an additional 2.1 million people watched the finale during its 11PM and 1AM encore airings.

The show looked great (Nicotero’s zombies were fantastic), the writing and acting were impeccable, and I can’t wait for season two to premiere.  Though it hasn’t been confirmed, most speculate that it won’t return until Halloween 2011 so it can help promote AMC’s Fearfest week again.

[Via Deadline; EW]