Creator Ryan Murphy is promising that the post-Super Bowl Glee episode is the most extravagantly produced episode yet. Gleeks, prepare for some McKinley High madness.
[Via IGN]
Great Scott! Fringe returns tonight with a brand new episode. In “The Firefly” Christopher Lloyd (Back from the Future) guest stars as Roscoe Joyce, an 80s keyboardist who happens to have many bizarre connections with Walter. If you’re a long-time Fringe fan, I have no doubt you’ll be following it to its new night. If you’re a newcomer to the epic sci-fi series, do not hesitate in giving it a shot. If you’re a supporter of good TV, join the fun and let’s keep this show chugging for many years to come. If the show retains its Thursday night ratings and manages to attract some new viewers, the Friday night “death slot” can be reinvented. Let’s do it!
Look in the gallery below to see stills from tonight’s episode, and jump after the break to watch a FOX-produced Fringe music video that nicely summarizes what’s been going on lately and another video featuring the producers talking about the big move. Fringe Fridays does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
Update: Last night’s Fringe drew a 1.9/6 in the coveted adults 18-49 demo making it the highest rated program of the night! And everyone was worried that the move to Friday nights was going to be a bad thing. Get this: Fringe was up 12% from its last original airing on Thursday December 9, attracting 4.83 million viewers. Simply put, the show attracted more viewers than it did when it aired on Thursday. Death slot, be gone! With the season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares as a lead-in, both shows helped FOX win the night and give the network its highest-rated Friday since May 2008. If Fringe can keep this up for the next few weeks, we can surely expect to hear news of renewal soon. But here’s the thing: Fringe was up against back-to-back repeats of CBS’ CSI: NY; the competition is bound to get more intense when CBS and The CW (Supernatural) air new episodes next week. (Oh, and this was neat: Christopher Lloyd’s stellar performance added his name to Twitter’s list of Trending Topics during and after the east coast airing of “The Firefly.”)
Update 2: Things just keep getting better for Fringe! According to Nielsen, the show gained an additional 42 percent in ratings thanks to DVR playback. This information was gathered three days after the live airing of the Friday episode. As reported above, “The Firefly” drew a 1.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demo; if you add the DVR spike in viewership that rating shoots up to a 2.7! (Compare this number to CBS’ Blue Bloods which drew a 2.4 rating on the same night.) This is fantastic news for Fringe fans; if the show can keep this up (and perhaps perform better) it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
[Via TVLine; IGN; Deadline; EW]
Continue reading ‘Fringe’ returns tonight at 9PM on FOX [Update: Solid ratings!]
One day after ABC granted early renewals to six of its series, competitor FOX decided to show its muscle by renewing its freshman series Raising Hope. The Greg Garcia comedy was actually the first freshman series of the year to receive a back-nine episode order, so it’s certainly fitting that today it became the first freshman program to be renewed for a second season. Go Hope! The laugh-out-loud family comedy is FOX’s highest-rated new series; having that Glee lead-in doesn’t hurt. The show’s creator Garcia said, “I’m happy that the show is getting another year. But the fact that I’ve been trying to think of a funny quote for the last two hours and this is the best I could come up with makes me a little nervous about season two.” FOX prez Kevin Reilly also shared his excitement about the continuation of Hope: “Raising Hope has emerged as a comedic standout: wickedly smart, hilarious and full of heart. Greg Garcia and his great cast have established an appointment show on Tuesday nights this season and we’re confident it’s just the beginning of great things to come.” Raising Hope returns with new episodes Tuesday February 8 at 9PM. If you’re not watching this show, it’s never too late to start.
Update 3: Click here to watch Hope‘s Golden Globes plea. Greg Garcia and the cast put together this “For Your Consideration” video and sent it to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hoping it would help their chances at landing a nomination. It didn’t, but it’s still well worth a watch. Let’s just say Cloris Leachman brings down the house with her wildly NSFW language. Continue reading FOX renews ‘Raising Hope’ early, comments on cancelled shows & Fringe’s move [Update: J.J. Abrams addresses the move, too]
Mark your calendars, people. The Steven Spielberg/Peter Chernin sci-fi drama Terra Nova will air its preview event across two nights: May 23 and May 24 at 9PM. Just like FOX did with Glee, the network is going to preview the new show before its fall 2011 debut in attempt to generate buzz.
Refresher: Terra Nova follows Jim Shannon (played by Jason O’Mara), a man who is sent back in time to prehistoric Earth with his family in an attempt to save the human race. At the Television Critics Association press event, the producers screened an action-packed trailer; unfortunately it did not reveal the dinosaur design since production on the pilot episode recently wrapped and the special FX have yet to be finalized. However, many people connected to the show shared their thoughts on what to expect. Executive producer Brannon Braga (24, FlashForward) explained, “Earth is essentially dying – most animal life is extinct. They’re hoping to re-start humanity through this time fracture they’ve discovered.” The plan for the Shannons and over 1,000 time-travelling colonists is to re-colonize the planet in the past. “What effect that will have on the future, they hope it’s a positive one,” said Braga. “The characters are hoping for a second chance.” The show will have “continuing elements of suspense…[but] at the core of this show is the Shannon family.” Director Alex Graves (Fringe) says that Terra Nova is “not a scary show. It’s an adventure show. My kids have seen some of it and they love it.” He continued, “You’re going to see dinosaurs you haven’t seen before.” When asked to compare this show to groundbreaking series Lost Graves said, “It’s so made for a massively broad audience, I cannot tell you.” Insinuating that Lost catered to a very specific audience he then noted, “Terra Nova, more than anything I’ve ever done in my life, is for everybody.”
Then Braga shared some concluding remarks about the promise of this show. “It’s just a great concept. Philosophically, it’s the closest thing to Star Trek I’ve worked on since I read that show years ago. I wanted to gravitate back to a science-fiction premise with big, humanistic ideas. ” He is compelled about the focus on “people from the distant future coming to the distant past.”
The show is being shot in Australia, so you can expect a beautiful backdrop. After watching the teaser trailer, IGN described certain aspects of the show as having a Jurassic Park meets Aliens vibe.
Today FOX released some stills from the two-part pilot episode slated to air this May; check ’em out after the break along with some character profiles. And if you’re interested in reading about the trailer shown at the TCAs today click the source link.
[Via IGN] Continue reading ‘Terra Nova’ preview night lands a date, producers talk about its promise
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
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.’”
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]
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]
So much for my Evangeline Lilly prediction. After scooping up Lost‘s Jorge Garcia for his upcoming FOX pilot based on the infamous prison, J.J. Abrams has cast the lead female role for the show. Sarah Jones has been featured in a number of TV series including House, Justified, and Sons of Anarchy. This (hopefully) will be her breakout role and cement her as Abrams’ latest leading female powerhouse (she follows Felicity‘s Keri Russell, Alias‘ Jennifer Garner, Lost‘s Evangeline Lilly, Fringe‘s Anna Torv, and we must include Undercovers‘ Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Jones will play Rebecca Madsen, “a smart, thoughtful and a little obsessive police officer.” She’s gorgeous–but then again, Abrams’ knows how to pick his leading ladies.
Also joining the show are Jonny Coyne (Undercovers) and Jason Butler Harner (Fringe). Coyne will play Alcatraz Warden Edwin James and Harner is Associate Warden E.B. Tiller “who enjoys and abuses his power.”
Alcatraz “centers on a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. It chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents to track them down and unravel the mystery behind their disappearance thirty years prior.” Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Elizabeth Sarnoff are attatched to the Warner Bros. TV/Bad Robot project. Production begins next month.
Update: More cast additions have been made. According to Deadline, Sam Neill (Happy Town) will play Emerson Hauser, “the head of a government agency who radiates authority and piercing intelligence”; Parminder Nagra (ER) is Hauser’s lab technician, Lucy; Robert Forster (Heroes) is Ray Archer, “a retired detective who is now owner/bartender of a cop hangout bar.” Alcatraz characters are getting cast in rapid succession, so exciting!
Normally I do not post trailers for specific show episodes, but this one is a unique exception. The entire third season of Fringe has led up to this moment. Ever since “over there” Olivia swapped places with our Olivia in last season’s grand finale we’ve been patiently waiting for our Olivia to realize the switch actually occurred. And now that she knows who she really is, it’s time for her to come home. While our Olivia tries to figure out a way to do just that, “over there” Olivia has been compromised; thanks to a terse yet all-important message from our trapped Olivia, Peter knows that he’s been sleeping with the enemy and it’s time for answers and ultimately payback. Expect “Entrada” to be one of those pivotal, emotionally-charged epic episodes that cannot be missed. Watch the movie-style trailer edited together by FOX, check out the episode stills in the gallery, and get hyped! It’s gonna be a wild, exciting journey home.
Fringe airs Thursdays at 9PM on FOX. Starting January 28 it will air on Fridays.
The upcoming FOX drama Locke & Key spearheaded by Josh Friedman (showrunner/executive producer/writer), Steven Spielberg (executive producer), and Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (executive producers) has just cast its star player. Miranda Otto (War of the Worlds) will play Nina Locke the mother of three children “who survive an unspeakable horror and attempt to rebuild their lives at Keyhouse, their family home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts.” Want a more extensive synopsis? You got it! “It is a mysterious New England mansion, with fantastic and transformative keys hidden inside its walls that are also being sought by a hate-filled and relentless creature with ties to the Locke family’s past who will stop at nothing to accomplish his sinister goals.” Sounds like spooky fun doesn’t it? Expect Locke & Key to air on FOX this summer. Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go) is currently in negotiations to direct the pilot.
[Via Deadline]
Jorge Garcia is island hopping from one J.J. Abrams show to another. Lost’s Hurley will be joining Abrams’ show about the famous prison Alcatraz. And Deadline’s got some insight into the mysterious plot. It “centers on a group of missing Alcatraz prisoners and guards who reappear in the present day. It chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents to track them down and unravel the mystery behind their disappearance thirty years prior.” And who will Garcia play, you ask? A “hippy geek” Dr. Diego Soto, “the world’s foremost expert on Alcatraz.” If you’re a Lost fan you must be feeling ecstatic! Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) and Terry O’Quinn (John Locke) are returning to television in Abrams’ Odd Jobs (working title) and Garcia is set to return in another Abrams series. Life is good, huh?
The Alcatraz spec script was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff (Lost, Deadwood), and she will serve as executive producer along with Abrams and Bryan Burk (Alias, Lost) on the Warner Bros. TV/Bad Robot project. FOX picked up a pilot commitment for the show back in September, and production will begin in January.
[Via Deadline]