• RIP: Greg Giraldo.
• Revealed, The new “CONAN” logo.
• A serious must read, as the notorious Masked Scheduler makes sense of LONE STAR’s cancelation.
• It’s MODERN FAMILY meets TRUE BLOOD! NBC and Bryan Fuller remaking THE MUNSTERS
• From the department of life imitating art, Kaley Cuoco reveals a past secret relationship with BIG BANG THEORY costar Johnny] Galecki.
• The Oldest Shows on TV, from BLUE BLOODS to DANCING WITH THE STARS.
Search Results for: family
TV Ratings: Tuesday September 28, 2010 (This Just In: Britney Spears Still Relevant!)
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 |
---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | CBS | NCIS | 18.74 | 4.0/11 |
FOX | Glee | 13.26 | 5.8/16 | |
ABC | No Ordinary Family | 10.54 | 3.1/9 | |
NBC | The Biggest Loser | 6.58 | 2.3/7 | |
CW | One Tree Hill | 1.82 | 0.9/3 | |
9PM | ABC | Dancing with the Stars | 17.09 | 3.7/10 |
CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles | 16.45 | 3.7/10 | |
NBC | The Biggest Loser | 7.63 | 3.0/8 | |
FOX | Raising Hope | 7.63 | 3.2/9 | |
CW | Life Unexpected | 1.57 | 0.5/1 | |
9:30PM | FOX | Running Wilde | 4.74 | 2.1/5 |
10PM | CBS | The Good Wife | 12.89 | 2.5/7 |
ABC | Detroit 1-8-7 | 9.34 | 2.3/7 | |
NBC | Parenthood | 4.85 | 2.0/6 |
Bug! Tasha! Jones! We’ve Got the Scoop on LIFE UNEXPECTED’s Returning Favorites from Creator Liz Tigelaar
Television can be a very ugly business (R.I.P. LONESTAR). Which is why, following last week’s interesting, albeit somewhat depressing look at the “UNEXPECTEDly-Ugly Truth About LIFE As The Top Dog,” with creator Liz Tigelaar, this TV Addict wanted to make a point of talking about the actual show. So if you’re wondering why Tasha has been M.I.A this season, whether or not we’ve seen the last of Bug, and if poor Lux will ever catch a break… read on!
Tasha, where are thou?
“One of the biggest things I never want to stray away too far from is not only Lux’s foster care past, but how little Cate and Baze know about it,” explained Tigelaar on where Lux’s best friend has been all season long. “Tasha plays really centrally into Lux’s life and she’s back for good in episode 4 which might be my favorite episode that we’ve ever done. I love [the actress] Ksenia Solo, and she really becomes a member of the family.”
Review: THE GOOD WIFE Season 2
Bless THE GOOD WIFE. Last season’s most pleasant surprise returns to put more cerebral goodness into a powerful courtroom drama. In a fall season as tepid as this (it’s sad when MY GENERATION, mediocre by all standards, is the most ambitious of the new fall series), I welcome WIFE’s finely-calibrated approach to the procedural and serial: Poppable as any CBS drama, it rewards returning viewers with a rich, sexy narrative that’s part-thriller, part-soap opera. In the struggle to attract viewers weary of complicated season-long story lines (ahem, Lost), it’s the program of choice: keep up with the story or not, it’s compelling either way.
None of this would be possible without the perfectly-controlled and commanding Julianna Marguiles, who plays the forever-conflicted Alicia Florrick, spouse of a scandalized public figure (in the vein of Eliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford) who returns to work as a lawyer. She arguably has less dialogue than some of the supporting characters — she doesn’t need it, she conveys Alicia’s constantly turning mind with just a peer of her eyes. Her husband Peter (Chris Noth) is fresh out of jail and back on the campaign circuit for district attorney, reopening and creating wounds of their already rocky marriage.
Work is getting trickier too: The firm where Alicia works has just merged with another from D.C., and the motives of her new boss (played by SLEEPER CELL’s Michael Ealy) already smell fishy. Her other boss, Will (Josh Charles), whom Alicia began to rekindle an old college lust with during her husband’s time away, ended last season with a pleading phone conversation as Alicia is being called to the podium to stand next to her husband. She’s always so torn: which man to choose, how to explain their family’s public upheaval to her kids, the best way to proceed in a precarious case, whether to screw over a colleague to get ahead — there’s a grace to all of it, never inciting our impatience.
Season 2 gets us back into the courtroom, where THE GOOD WIFE doesn’t falter: yes, they’re easy (poppable, remember?), but they’re executed with classic LAW & ORDER-like precision and tension — the cast just sparks during trial, which the show presents as this realm of heightened-reality where the stakes seem convincingly dire. More of the enigmatic in-house investigator Kalinda (Emmy winner Archie Panjabi) as well, who now has a rival (and love interest?) in FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS’ Scott Porter as a fellow investigator brought in with the new firm. Where it truly shines in its weekly cases is the rolodex of actors they cast as judges (Denis O’Hare, Russell Edgington himself, has made two great appearances thus far), who bring an element of uncertainty to each with their own idiosyncrasies, and nicely reflects how the nature of a case can be tempered by the judge’s mood.
This season is setting itself up to be even more political, or as it reads better in TV, topical. This can be as precarious as a period show: the temptation to be on-the-nose is almost too seductive to turn down, THE GOOD WIFE included in the guilty party (there is something creepy to Alan Cumming saying “tweet”), but it cheekily plays up the liberal and feminist ideologies of firm partner Diane (the transformative, always-game Christine Baranski) with a wink.
In the end though, it’s always Julianna Marguiles. She is THE GOOD WIFE, her performance of such a caliber that it’d be impossible to execute as well as it is without her. The show reliably rises to meet her bravura performance, making only rare missteps in its otherwise solid progression as a buzzed-about ratings hit. Grade: A-
THE GOOD WIFE returns Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 10PM (EST) on CBS (Global in Canada)
Aleks Chan is a contributing writer to The TV Addict. He has seen every episode of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER four times, has once referred to his DVR as his “best friend,” and has only seen the pilot episode of THE SOPRANOS — and has no intention to apologize for it. He lives in Austin, Texas. His name is pronounced like Alex. Email him at alekschan.thetvaddict@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@alekstvaddict), or his own blog, Screen Reader.
TV Ratings: Sunday September 26, 2010
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 |
---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | CBS | 60 Minutes | 14.30 | 3.0/8 |
NBC | Football Night in America | 13.43 | 5.2/14 | |
FOX | The Simpsons | 7.76 | 3.7/10 | |
ABC | Extreme Makeover: HE (R) | 7.73 | 2.3/6 | |
8:30PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 17.88 | 7.0/18 |
CBS | The Amazing Race | 13.57 | 3.5/9 | |
FOX | Cleveland Show | 6.60 | 3.1/8 | |
9PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 16.41 | 6.4/15 |
ABC | Desperate Housewives | 12.83 | 4.2/10 | |
CBS | The Amazing Race | 10.94 | 3.6/8 | |
FOX | Family Guy | 9.13 | 4.5/11 | |
9:30PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 15.74 | 6.3/15 |
10PM | NBC | Sunday Night Football | 14.91 | 6.3/16 |
CBS | Undercover Boss | 11.16 | 3.7/9 | |
ABC | Brothers & Sisters | 9.64 | 3.0/8 |
TV Ratings: Friday September 24, 2010 (Super Bows for BLUE BLOODS and SMALLVILLE)
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 |
---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | NBC | Dateline NBC | 6.12 | 1.4/5 |
CBS | Medium | 6.12 | 1.4/5 | |
ABC | Modern Family (R) | 4.17 | 1.2/5 | |
FOX | Human Target (R) | 3.11 | 0.6/2 | |
CW | Smallville | 2.90 | 1.3/5 | |
8:30PM | ABC | Better With You (R) | 3.07 | 0.9/3 |
CBS | CSI: NY | 10.28 | 2.0/7 | |
NBC | Dateline NBC | 7.94 | 1.8/6 | |
ABC | The Whole Truth (R) | 2.91 | 0.7/2 | |
FOX | The Good Guys | 2.90 | 0.9/3 | |
CW | Supernatural | 2.79 | 1.2/4 | |
10PM | CBS | Blue Bloods | 12.81 | 2.2/7 |
ABC | 20/20 | 5.43 | 1.5/5 | |
NBC | Outlaw | 4.99 | 1.1/4 |
Today’s TV Addict Top 5: Questions with THE MIDDLE Star Patricia Heaton
As any fan of the show will tell you, what THE MIDDLE lacks in MODERN FAMILYesque levels of critical acclaim and COUGAR TOWN’s controversy, it more than make up for with good old fashion laughs. And a big part of the reason why is star Patricia Heaton, who mere hours ago was kind enough to pick up the phone and talk to us about what’s in store for the Heck family when season 2 of THE MIDDLE kicks off tonight at 8PM on ABC.
What are you most excited about heading into the second season tonight?
Patricia Heaton: I’m really just excited to have everyone come and watch, both our old fans from the first season and our new ones. I think ABC did a great job of repeating the show a lot over the summer and I think a lot of people who may have not have been able to catch the show last season caught on so I’m hopeful we’re going to continue to do very well. The show is so funny with really smart scripts and a wonderful cast. Plus, my old nemesis from EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, Doris Roberts, has graced us with her presence in tonight’s season premiere and she was her usual professional, talented and funny self. It was a great episode, and really so far, shooting the whole season has been fantastic.
Last season Brooke Shields tormented the Heck family playing a somewhat-off-her-rocker neighbor. Are there plans this season to get to know anymore of the family’s neighborhood, and is there any chance your former fictional TV husband Ray Romano (of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND fame) will drop by?
Ray is very busy with his own wonderful and successful show MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anytime soon. That said, Norm MacDonald is dropping by this season as Mike’s (Neil Fynn) brother which is wonderful casting because he joins John Cullem who as Mike’s Dad, leaving us with these three wonderfully tall men who never say anything. Which is particularly funny when they’re juxtaposed with Frankie and her family who are overly emotional and talkative. Expect a really funny Thanksgiving episode.
Reviewapalooza! GLEE, RAISING HOPE & RUNNING WILDE
GLEE
Returns Sept. 21 at 8PM on Fox (Global TV in Canada)
What can we say about tonight’s second season premiere of GLEE? A helluva lot! But rather than rain on your parade by (a) spoiling all the fun, or (b) nitpicking over the fact that the show remains a frustrating mash-up of musical numbers and repetitive plot points, we’ll leave it at this: Tried and true GLEEKS are in for a slushie-infused treat. Particularly since the low note that is the over-the-top arrival of Coach Beiste, McKinley High’s new female football coach (Dot Marie Jones) is completely overshadowed by the hilariously meta-opening featuring Jacob Ben Israel and the remarkable vocal stylings of new students Sunshine Corazon (Charice) and Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet). Grade: B+ — The TV Addict
The UNEXPECTEDly-Ugly Truth About LIFE As The Top Dog
What’s writing got to do with it? When you’re the showrunner of a major network television series, surprisingly little.
“I always say the show is a coming of age story and I feel like the experience of running the show has been one for me,” revealed Liz Tigelaar, the talented creator/executive producer of the CW’s sophomore series LIFE UNEXPECTED, who was kind enough to take some time out of her very busy schedule to pull back the veil on what it’s like to be a first time showrunner. “It’s funny, I was actually going to go up to Vancouver [where LIFE UNEXPECTED shoots], tomorrow because a big episode that I co-wrote is shooting and I want to be there. But literally right before I got on the phone with you, I cancelled my trip because I just felt like I haven’t had time to just write the show and there is so much that needs to be done.”
In other words, despite the impression you might get from the twitter feeds of Kevin Williamson (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES) or Steven Levitan’s (MODERN FAMILY), running a multi-million dollar television series isn’t all about the accolades, awards, and impromptu weekends in Vegas. It’s more like a daily pressure-filled cooker that forces you to reconcile the original vision of your show with that of a bunch of powerful network executives who may not be on quite the same page as you.
A Non-TV Addicts Perspective of the New Fall Season
There are three types of people in this world. There are TV Addicts, who are acutely aware that tonight marks the official start of the Fall TV season. There are Network Executives, who will be spending the next week or so collectively holding their breath as they anxiously wait to discover whether the hundreds of millions of dollars they invested into their new fall slates was put to good use. And then there are the regular people, who have absolutely no clue as to the significance of this evening.
No, really. As it turns out, there are actually people whose life — get this — doesn’t revolve around waking up first thing tomorrow morning and looking up just how many viewers in the 18-49 demographic tuned into last night’s instalment of CHUCK! And what’s more, we spent and evening with them and lived to tell the tale.
Yet rather than judge these so-called “normals” who spell Joss Whedon’s name with an “h” at the end and wouldn’t know their Booth from their Brennan, we thought we’d use them as an opportunity to gain a little perspective. Which new shows are the average person looking forward to this Fall? We collected a cross section of people who may-or-may-not-have been already attending a family gathering to find out. See for yourself, after the jump.