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Today’s TV Addict Top 5: Questions with ROB Star Rob Schneider

theTVaddict — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:15:55 +0000

WIth a body of work that includes the likes of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, The Hot Chick and The Animal, there are no shortage of opinions when it comes to actor Rob Schneider. Yet regardless of how one feels about the comedian that has made a mint for himself over the course of a three decade career and counting, there’s absolutely no denying the fact that the soft-spoken comedian brings with him a unique perspective when it comes to this business we so affectionately refer to as show. Which is precisely why, when given the opportunity to chat with Schneider, who was recently doing rounds to promote his new CBS comedy ROB, we jumped at the chance. So just what did he have to say about how Hollywood has changed since he burst onto the scene, the controversy surrounding his new series and the proliferation of reality television throughout primetime? Find out for yourself, after the jump.

What brought you back to television after a career spent predominantly in movies?
Rob Schneider: I felt like we do something really funny and get into people’s living rooms, that felt like an interesting thing to me. I also liked the idea of doing something hispanic themed. There’s some really funny stuff with that culture that I think could be great for a fish out of water kind of guy and I’m enjoy it. Plus, my wife is from Mexico and I love the culture there, she’s hilarious and I think if we could just tap into some of that for the show we’ve got a goldmine here.

How do you respond to the heat the show has taken for its reliance on Mexican/Hispanic stereotypes?
The people who have problems with the show aren’t latino or hispanic. I just talked to latino.com and they really liked the show and have been very supportive of having hispanic people on TV. Some things can be misconstrued. The Chinese have a great expression that sums it up, ‘Perception, even wrong, has its consequences.’ In other words, it could be not true at all but it doesn’t matter if that’s what people think, so we do have to be cognisant and we don’t want to be disrespectful. We have a hispanic cast and there’s nobody on that cast that wants to do something disrespectful. The main thing are we writing about stuff that makes us laugh, that’s our guide.

You have quite a collection of famous friends. Can we expect the likes of an Adam Sandler to pop up anytime soon?
That would be fun, but I’m more interested in working with people that I haven’t worked with to be honest with you. I want to bring in some really funny comedians from South America, Mexico, Spain and the Dominican Republic. New people to introduce to America that they haven’t seen before. I mean there are some people who are famous here in America but I also want to introduce fun things. And that’s the one thing about the show that frankly I’m most excited about, is the ability to introduce this great comedian to America — Eugenio Derbez — they call him “The Genius” in Mexico and he’s just physically funny. Whether you understand him or not, and most of the time I don’t, one of the blessings of this show has been getting to work with him.

How has developing a show changed since you last did it with 1996′s MEN BEHAVING BDLY?
It’s so micro-managed and immediate. To give you an idea, I was just talking to the Producers of our show, and they were saying TWO AND A HALF MEN, by the time they filmed the season premiere [with Ashton Kutcher], it was out already what happened because of all the people tweeting and on Facebook. And it’s like ‘WOW!’ there can be a perception of something and it can live or die before it even has a chance to be seen. So that’s kind of odd and new, the real immediacy of it. That’s why reality TV works, because it’s about how people are feeling about that thing at that moment.

Do you watch much reality TV?
I watch quite a bit of it to be honest. I look at the bigger picture, you have to see where things are going and if people are watching there has to be a reason for that. But there seems to be this weird thing where people are suffering and we’re using that as entertainment. I don’t mind it, but it seems to be like whether it’s HOARDERS, INTERVENTION, THE BIGGEST LOSER, this idea of this person that has let themselves go to this horrible place and they’re dangerously on the abyss with their health and their life and all of a sudden it’s like ‘Hey, let’s show the world what this is like.’ There seems to be a voyeuristic thrill to it, like a car crash, you feel like you shouldn’t watch, but you can’t turn away.

ROB airs Thursdays at 8:30PM on CBS (GlobalTV in Canada)

CBS Gets its Mid-Season Report Card

theTVaddict — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:46:34 +0000

The Good: Thanks to a diverse lineup of shows we love (THE GOOD WIFE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and PERSON OF INTEREST) and shows we could do without (Any procedural with an acronym or number in its title*), CBS’ fantastic Fall solidified the Tiffany Network as the Tim Tebow of primetime television. Which is to say, we may not agree with how they continue to dominate, but there’s absolutely no arguing with their success. Particularly if the success of a retooled TWO AND A HALF MEN, the seemingly unstoppable one-two punch of NCIS and its Los Angeles based spin-off, not to mention the three flavors of CSI (Original recipe, NY and Miami) help fuel (or is it fund?) the popularity of lesser watched favorites like THE GOOD WIFE and PERSON OF INTEREST. Which brings us to…

The Bad: Much to our chagrin, PERSON OF INTEREST — which thanks to its smart storytelling and increasingly interesting collection of morally ambiguous characters has fast become our favorite new show of the Fall — has not exactly lived up to what CBS proudly proclaimed was their highest testing drama pilot of the past 15 years. More worrisome still is that unlike 2 BROKE GIRLS, the rest of CBS’ fresh Fall offerings have yet to break out as bonafide hits. And while neither UNFORGETTABLE or A GIFTED MAN are even remotely close to joining the already-dearly-departed HOW TO BE A GENTLEMEN [shudder], with the former already having secured a full season pick ups and the latter getting their 13 episodes bumped to 16, they both have a lot to prove heading into 2012 if they expect to see that elusive second season.

The Future: Seeing as though repeats of most of the CBS lineup continue to garner ratings that the likes of NBC and the CW would kill for, the future, looks undeniably bright. That said, it also looks undeniably uninspired, with the Net’s only midseason offerings including the return of UNDERCOVER BOSS, the uninspired addition of a Rob Schneider’s self-titled “laugher” and the Robert DeNiro produced police procedural NYC 22 [formerly The 2-2].

The Grade: B+

* Seriously, it works! Procedurals with an acronym or number in their title include 2 BROKE GIRLS, NCIS, NCIS: LOS ANGELS, CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: MIAMI, HAWAII FIVE-0, and TWO AND A HALF MEN

In Case You Missed It:
• FOX Gets its Mid-Season Report Card
• ABC Gets its Mid-Season Report Card
• CBS Gets its Mid-Season Report Card\
• NBC Gets its Mid-Season Report Card

Breaking News: CBS Gives Full Season Pickups to PERSON OF INTEREST and UNFORGETTABLE

theTVaddict — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:43:07 +0000

Are you one of the millions of LOST fan who may-or-may-not have been secretly rooting against the success of PERSON OF INTEREST in the hopes that following its cancelation J.J. Abrams would revive the long dormant ODD JOBS project starring Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn? Well, firstly stop that, because we’re really digging PERSON OF INTEREST and second, don’t hold your breath. Or at least that’s our takeaway following today’s announcement that has CBS awarding the underrated Jim Caviezel/Michael Emerson series with a full season pick-up.

Also getting the go ahead for a complete first season (or to be more specific, twenty episodes and an order for two scripts) is UNFORGETTABLE, the season’s number one new drama, averaging 14 million viewing, improving on its Tuesday time period by 3% in both viewers and adults 18-49 versus last season.

Not so lucky, A GIFTED MAN, whose fate remains, at least as of this posting, unknown. Stay tuned.

TCA 2011: CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler talks TWO AND A HALF MEN, CSI and THE GOOD WIFE

theTVaddict — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:08:08 +0000

9:06AM: After touting her Network’s number one status in viewers, upfront ad sales and Emmy nods for a Broadcast Network, Nina Tassler, CBS Entertainment President opens the floodgates to an inevitable barrage of Charlie Sheen related questions. Ready… set… go!

9:07AM: According to Tassler, THE GOOD WIFE’s demotion to Sunday (Our words, not hers) is a “new higher profile time period” that will bring with it a very interesting character transformation for Alicia.

9:09AM: Shocker of the session thus far, 6 minutes in and still no Charlie Sheen related question!

9:10AM: Tassler, or as we really should be referring to her from here on in as “the spin doctor,” calls RULES OF ENGAGEMENT’s move to Saturday an “opportunity.” In related news, contrary to popular belief, she is aware of RULES OF ENGAGEMENT’s existence.

9:11AM: So just how does Tassler deflect the first Charlie Sheen related question… by extolling the virtues of TWO AND A HALF MEN’s newest addition. Evidently Ashton Kutcher is not just extraordinarily funny, he’s professional, talented, did we mention funny… and get this… comes with a tremendous amount of commitment and enthusiasm. Continuing to evade mentioning he-who-must-not-be-named, Tassler reveals that Kutcher’s new character is named Walden Schmidt and is an internet billionaire with a broken heart. According to Tassler, TWO AND A HALF MEN’s season premiere will be a two parter over two consecutive weeks. According to us, Kutcher’s new character is totally going to be the long-lost son that Charlie never knew he had!

9:13AM: “Well you know we looked at a number of different choices, the arc of the stories this season and what [executive producers] Carol Mendelsohn and Don McGill wanted to do,” said Tassler when asked about the decision making process surrounding bringing Ted Danson to CSI. “He just seemed like the right choice, he’s a huge TV star, has a tremendous amount of charisma and when his name came up we just jumped at it.”

9:14AM: Tassler evades another Charlie Sheen related question by claiming, “Our whole focus is moving forward.” In related news, Tassler won’t confirm or deny that Sheen’s character is being killed off.

9:17AM: Despite our personal hope that the failure of CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR might be indicative of an audience tiring of gruesome criminal procedurals, Tassler believes the show simply didn’t click, “A spinoff has to work on its own and it didn’t.”

9:19AM: When asked as to whether or not she’s concerned about the changing face of CBS on both TWO AND A HALF MEN and CSI, Tassler sights anecdotal evidence that she’s talked to “people,” who are “very excited” for new characters on all these show. Sold!

9:20AM: According to Tassler, the trajectory of Ted Danson’s new character on CSI named D.B. Russell will be one of reconnection. Unlike Laurence Fishburne, whose character fragmented the team post-Peterson and had really big shoes to fill (Editor’s Note: That’s code for a complete and utter failure!), Danson will bring them back together.

9:22AM: For those who insist on continuing to make only-old-people-watch CBS jokes (Yes, we’re talking to you @bastardmachine), Tassler reiterates that the network has more viewers in the coveted 18-49 demo than both NBC and ABC.

9:23AM: Good News: Robert De Niro’s police drama THE 2-2 is still on track for a midseason premiere. Bad News: So to is Rob Schneider’s comedy, which is currently undergoing reshoots.

9:26AM: Much to both our chagrin and Bill Carter’s pocketbook, and Tassler declines to ignite another late night war, saying, “Between Dave and Craig, I think they’re the two best guys in late-night,” Claiming that Ferguson is perhaps one of the most imaginative and innovative voices in late night.

CBS Announces Fall 2011 Premiere Dates

theTVaddict — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:52:42 +0000

Ousted NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker may be gone, but his legacy has not been forgotten. At least that was our initial takeaway from the press release touting CBS’ 2011-12 premiere dates that includes back-to-back (Yes, Supersized!) season premieres of THE BIG BANG THEORY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. See for yourself, after the jump.

Wednesday, Sept. 14
8PM: SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC

Monday, Sept. 19
8PM: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30PM: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
9PM: TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30PM 2 BROKE GIRLS
10PM HAWAII FIVE-0

Tuesday, Sept. 20
8PM: NCIS
9PM: NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10PM UNFORGETTABLE

Wednesday, Sept. 21
9:00PM: CRIMINAL MINDS
10PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Thursday, Sept. 22
8PM: THE BIG BANG THEORY
8:30PM: THE BIG BANG THEORY
9PM: PERSON OF INTEREST
10PM THE MENTALIST

Friday, Sept. 23
8PM: A GIFTED MAN
9:00PM: CSI: NY
10PM BLUE BLOODS

Saturday, Sept. 24
8PM: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
8:30PM: COMEDYTIME SATURDAY
9PM: CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10PM 48 HOURS MYSTERY

Sunday, Sept. 25
7PM: 60 MINUTES
8PM: THE AMAZING RACE
9PM: THE GOOD WIFE
10PM CSI: MIAMI

Monday, Sept. 26
8:30PM: 2 BROKE GIRLS (time period premiere)
9:30PM MIKE & MOLLY

Thursday, Sept. 29
8:30PM: HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN

Snap Judgments: 2 BROKE GIRLS, A GIFTED MAN, HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN, UNFORGETTABLE & PERSON OF INTEREST

theTVaddict — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:48:35 +0000

2 BROKE GIRLS
According to the Official CBS Description: 2 BROKE GIRLS is a comedy about two young women waitressing at a greasy spoon diner who strike up an unlikely friendship in the hopes of launching a successful business – if only they can raise the cash

Why We’re Excited: As evidence by her ability to make Michael “One Note” Cera seem believably crush-worthy in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, combined with her more recent penchant for upstaging Academy Award Winning It-Girl Natalie Portman in Thor, Kat Dennings is — for lack of a better word — da’ bomb.

Why We Probably Shouldn’t Let Our Excitement Get the Better of Us: Thanks to SEX AND THE CITY’s Michael Patrick King at the helm, James Burrows in the director’s chair, and the already winning duo that is Kat Dennings and relative newcomer Beth Behrs, that ship has sailed!