Each week the TV Blog coalition — of which theTVaddict.com is proud to be apart of — highlights some of the best TV news and views from around the web. For the latest news that’s fit to print, simply click the link below.
Archives for January 2009
Tonight’s TV Addictions: January 28, 2009
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
LOST (9PM ABC, “A” in Canada)
So who’s been attacking the survivors? Locke gets a clue as to their identity. Meanwhile, Desmond tries to find the woman who might help that damn island stop hop-scotching through time.
LIE TO ME (9PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Is a female soldier’s charge that she was raped by her sergeant truth or fiction? I’m going with truth, because this show doesn’t really seem deep enough to deal with the consequences of a woman falsely crying rape. But I’ve been wrong before. Once.
LIFE ON MARS (10PM ABC, Global in Canada)
Here’s hoping a post-LOST slot will give this show a much-deserved boost. Tonight, a battle breaks out between two rival cops and Sam is drawn to a pretty young social worker. Dude, don’t you have enough on your plate what with NoNuts and that hippie neighbor and even the occasional awkward moments shared with your hot mom-who-doesn’t-know-you’re-her-son?
DAMAGES (10PM FX)
Ellen and Tom take a road trip which might provide some answers about that mysterious Ultima National Resources. Back home, Patty works to clear Daniel, who may be one of the most uncooperative and mean clients ever!
NEW & NOTABLE:
CBS EVENING NEWS (8PM CBS)
Apparently, the networks are just plain giving up. First, NBC gives the 10 p.m. slot to Jay Leno. Now, CBS dedicates 30-minutes of primetime to Katie Couric’s recapping the days events. You know, like she did a couple hours earlier on, um, the CBS EVENING NEWS. She’d better hope something really good — read: bad — happens. (Not for nothing, but if CBS was going to basically throw away this hour, why not do it against the new episode of LOST airing at 9 p.m. instead of the rerun airing in this slot?)
5 Questions with LIE TO ME’s Brendan Hines
The last time I saw you was at the launch party for TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. Would it be fair to say that your well received role playing Andy Goode helped land you your role in LIE TO ME?
Brendan Hines: I think so. I’ve had a good relationship with FOX for a while and I think my role in TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES gave me the opportunity to do some stuff that I hadn’t done before which the network was pleased with. In fact, originally I was just going to be on for two episode of TERMINATOR, but then they brought me back in the “future episode’ which was a great surprise and so much fun to do. The last time I saw Friedman [Showrunner Josh Friedman] he told me they were all trying to bring me back. But I’m not holding my breath!
What can you tell us about your LIE TO ME character Eli Loker?
Eli is the lead researcher at the Lightman Group. He conducts voice stress tests in order to see where the spikes are, indicating possible deception as well as analyzes video to uncover micro expressions. Lightman (Tim Roth) also likes having Eli around because he refuses to lie. He has taken this pledge to be radically honest. Which not only means being honest when you’re asked something, but saying everything that’s on your mind as well.
Good News, Bad News: NBC, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, BONES & UGLY BETTY
Good News: Thanks to an exclusive deal with NBC, American Airlines passengers will now have the pleasure of watching Peacock favorites such as 30 ROCK, THE OFFICE and CHUCK at 30,000 feet. Bad News: Or, depending on your flight attendant’s mood, a MAMMA’S BOY marathon. [Source]
Good News: @brianstelter tweeted today that DirecTV is interested in a fourth season of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. Bad News: After Friday’s installment of the best show you’re not watching fell to fourth in its time slot, it remains to be seen just how interested NBC is. [Source]
Good News: After moving to Thursday and attracting nearly 10 million viewers, BONES may have finally gotten some long overdue respect. Bad News: Too bad it had to eviscerate UGLY BETTY in the process. [Source]
Tonight’s TV Addictions: January 27, 2009
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
SCRUBS (9PM ABC, CityTV in Canada)
It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights! It’s time to meet the Muppets on The Muppet Show SCRUBS tonight!
FRINGE (9PM FOX, CTV in Canada)
Just in time for us to get over last week’s gruesome giant slugs, tonight’s installment features a killer who turns his victims’ brains into liquid. Yum.
NEW & NOTABLE:
TRUE LIES (7PM TNT)
Can’t wait until the DOLLHOUSE’s February 13th premiere for your Eliza Dushku fix? Check out her big break in one of our all-time favorite James Cameron flicks.
HOMELAND SECURITY USA (8PM ABC)
A woman goes to major extremes in order to try and look like the picture on her fake ID, and a U.S. citizen is denied entry to Canada. And heck, they’ll let anybody in!
Things Get UGLY For BETTY
First things first, ABC has not canceled UGLY BETTY.
Yes, we realize that yesterday’s story by Michael Ausiello has a lot of you concerned, especially when said reporter ends off his story on such an ominous note (“The net’s [ABC] not saying [when Betty will be back], and that’s the part that has me worried.”) But remember, to his credit, Ausiello often prefers to create the story, rather than simply report on it (see seemingly never-ending posts related to movies that have very little chance of actually happening: GILMORE GIRLS, VERONICA MARS etc.)
The reality of the situation is that this happens all the time. At the height of their popularity, shows like ER, PRISON BREAK and even HOUSE have all been taken off the air to allow their respective networks the opportunity to launch new shows in their valuable time slot.
That said, yesterday’s news of a BETTY benching starting March 26 to make room for back-to-back comedies IN THE MOTHERHOOD and SAMANTHA WHO at 8PM on Thursdays, does raise one far more worrisome question.
Will anyone miss Betty?
Exclusive Interview: Sam Anderson Talks LEVERAGE
By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]
Say what you want about Jack and Kate and Sawyer and how that triangle is going to play out – the castaway I prefer to spend my time with is Bernard Nadler, the dentist with a heart of gold. His portrayer, the incomparable Sam Anderson (known for roles on just about every TV show you can imagine including but most definitely not limited to GROWING PAINS, MURDER SHE WROTE, and PICKET FENCES), is guest starring on another one of my favorite shows, TNT’s LEVERAGE, Tuesday night, and he and I spent some phone time talking about what he’s up to in this episode (he’s a scammer getting scammed), what’s coming up for Bernard (he knows about as much as we do), and why being a character actor is fantastic work.
Tell me about your role on LEVERAGE. I’m loving this show and am so I’m excited to see you on it.
Sam Anderson: Oh, good, because I love it too. It’s very, very different from my role on LOST for sure. I play a very ruthless contractor, major contractor, who with my 2 sons, go into disaster areas, like Hurricane Katrina, offer to rebuild people’s houses or fix them or do whatever needs to be done, and never do the work. And when they refuse to pay, I remind them of their contract which has a lien on their property if they don’t pay, we take their property, we kick them out, and we move on.
What attracted you to this role?
Well, I love Dean Devlin. I love Tony Bill who is the director and it was so different from what I do on LOST that I just thought “Oh how much fun could this be?!” Also, just the underlying issue of that, even though there’s a lot of this that’s very funny. The underlying story is that there certainly are a lot of ruthless people in the world, and we’ve heard a lot about them in the news recently. I love seeing that. I love seeing that, even if it’s fiction, I love seeing them get their comeuppance.
I don’t want you to get in trouble or give anything away, but who do you get to interact with in the main group?
Gee, I think I interacted most with Gina Bellman, who I just adored. Her ability with accents just blows my mind. I also interacted with Christian Kane a little bit, and you know, he and I are old friends because we did ANGEL together. He was my protégé at the horrible, nasty law firm of Wolfram and Hart on the old ANGEL show, and then a little bit with Tim, who I thought was as spectacular as I imagined he would be.
Tonight’s TV Addictions: January 26, 2009
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING:
HOUSE (8PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Cuddy’s busy babysitting, so Cameron winds up supervising House, who is dealing with a very nice patient. In the way only House can, he thinks that maybe nice ain’t such a good thing.
24 (8PM FOX, Global in Canada)
Jack has a bold plan to set things right. Can you imagine if just once, he had a kinda bland plan that involved not torture or subterfuge, but sitting down over a bucket of KFC. Maybe I’m just hungry. In other news, President Taylor has to decide whether or not her administration is going to negotiate with terrorists.
NEW & NOTABLE:
THE BACHELOR (8PM ABC)
Synergy alert! Six of the remaining nine ladies — and I use the term loosely — join the title stud on a trip to the set of GENERAL HOSPITAL, where they hang with that show’s Bradford Anderson (cybergeek Spinelli) and Kirsten Storms (mouthy Maxie). Give as this is the set of daytime’s most violent show, the gals might wanna don bulletproof vests.
First Look Video: Jon Hamm on 30 ROCK
[flashvideo filename=”video/jonhamm.flv” /]
Mad about Jon Hamm? You’re not the only one. On February 5th everybody’s favorite “Mad Man” drops by 30 ROCK to play Dr. Drew Baird, a new neighbor and object of Liz Lemon’s affection.
Unfortunately for Lemon, Hamm promises that, “There are various attempts to strike up chemistry, all of which seem to go comically and horribly wrong.” Fortunately for us 30 ROCK addicts, Hamm had us at “comically and horribly wrong!”
Exclusive Interview: HOUSE Star Olivia Wilde
The TV Addict with Olivia Wilde, January 2009
We’re not going to lie. We’re wild about Olivia Wilde.
Not only was the actress, who can currently be seen starring on the hit FOX show HOUSE absolutely stunning in person. She’s funny (starting off our interview by poking fun at my Canadian accent), honest and opinionated. As evidence by the following interview, where she is only too happy to take on Thirteen’s detractors, discuss her character’s burgeoning relationship with Foreman and why she welcomes controversial roles.
Did the Thirteen/Foreman relationship take you by surprise?
Olivia Wilde: It’s pretty cool, they’re a very sexy and kind of unpredictable pair. And I say that because the characters are not very similar other then the fact that they’re both very private, very independent and very professional. So for them to come together was a shock to me. Although, when I look back now and see how the writer’s were sprinkling hints in, I’m now like …”Oh, if I had been paying more attention I would have seen that coming.”
Can you spill a little on what is in store for the twosome?
Without giving any of the good stuff away because of course people want to be surprised, the coupling ends up helping one of us and hurting the other, making things very very complicated for both of us and maybe giving House a run for his money.