• First Look: A&E’s BREAKOUT KINGS.
• PIlot of INTEREST, CBS picks up J.J. Abrams CIA drama.
• They will survive, LAW & ORDER: SVU boss optimistic that Meloni and Hargitay will return for a 13th season.
• Pilot Watch: LOST’s Henry Ian Cusick and MY BOYS’ Kyle Howard land leads.
• From the department of we didn’t see that coming… HUMAN TARGET showrunner talks candidly about the show’s renewal chances and his biggest regret.
Archives for February 2011
Win Louis C.K.’s HILARIOUS on DVD
Do you like to laugh, enjoy free stuff, and own a DVD player? Well today is your lucky day! Because theTVaddict.com is giving away one copy of Louis C.K.’s appropriately titled feature length concert film HILARIOUS to one lucky reader.
To enter to win, simply head on over to our Facebook Page and “like” the Louis C.K. HILARIOUS contest post. One winner will be chosen at random and notified via Facebook Message on February 16th, 2011.
On TV Tonight: Wednesday February 9, 2011
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | The Middle | Better With You | Modern Family | Mr. Sunshine | Off the Map | |
CBS | Live to Dance | Criminal Minds | Blue Bloods | |||
CW | Nikita (R) | The Vampire Diaries (R) | ||||
FOX | American Idol | Human Target | ||||
NBC | Minute To Win It | Minute To Win It | Law & Order: SVU | |||
MISC | Friday Night Lights (DirecTV) | Justified (FX) |
The TV Addict Trend Watch: Show Killers
TV Ratings: Tuesday February 8, 2011
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 |
---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | CBS | NCIS | 20.30 | 4.2/12 |
FOX | Glee | 11.47 | 4.5/12 | |
NBC | Biggest Loser: Couples | 7.94 | 2.8/8 | |
ABC | No Ordinary Family | 5.24 | 1.5/4 | |
CW | One Tree Hill | 1.63 | 0.7/2 | |
9PM | CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles | 17.07 | 3.5/9 |
NBC | Biggest Loser: Couples | 8.81 | 3.2/9 | |
FOX | Raising Hope | 6.78 | 2.8/8 | |
ABC | V | 5.39 | 1.8/5 | |
CW | Hellcats | 1.69 | 0.7/2 | |
9:30PM | FOX | Traffic Lights | 4.59 | 1.9/5 |
10PM | CBS | The Good Wife | 11.82 | 2.2/6 |
ABC | Detroit 1-8-7 | 5.55 | 1.3/4 | |
NBC | Parenthood | 5.24 | 1.9/5 |
Where Have All the Clips Shows Gone?
Full disclosure: TV sitcom clip shows used to be the bane of our existence. No really, as a young TV Addict, nothing had us wishing we could throw the remote through our then very clunky 27″ square television more than the realization that this so-called new episode that we had been waiting an entire week for was in fact little more than a glorified clip show sandwiched between a hastily written scene or two.
That said, as a result of our recent obsession with EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND reruns following a holiday road-trip to South Carolina that had us enthralled by Phil Rosenthal’s fantastic biography, “You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom,” something occurred to us: While unbearable at the time, clip shows, in hindsight, do serve an interesting purpose. Aside from giving neophyte viewers a nice sampling of the type of hilarity they can expect should they decide to tune in on a more regular basis, the once-dreaded clip show offers up fans already familiar with, say every episode of FRIENDS and/or SEINFELD, a nice trip down memory lane.
Review: MR. SUNSHINE & EPISODES
When I read about the pilot pickup for Showtime’s EPISODES, where the adaptation of a hit British series about the headmaster of a boys boarding school is cannibalized in its adaptation for U.S. airwaves, I thought it seemed almost too meta for anyone but people in the business (and TV critics) to enjoy. If ENTOURAGE is any indication, the predilection for a fictionalized behind-the-scenes look into Hollywood to become as loathsome as the industry itself seemed too great a detractor. But ENTOURAGE this is not: EPISODES is a bizarre little show, and if I were to liken it to anything, it would be THE COMEBACK. And that’s not entirely because it stars another FRIEND.
Like the tragically misunderstood (and thusly short-lived) HBO series starring Lisa Kudrow, EPISODES takes special care to make its star as un-FRIENDS like as possible. Matt LeBlanc plays a fictionalized version of himself, or rather a Showtime version of himself: a bit of a ruffian, he sleeps around, gets slovenly drunk, makes remarks about his anatomical endowments, and flaunts the riches of his FRIENDS money. There’s a frankness he brings to his character that’s arresting: you’re nearly convinced that this Matt LeBlanc might be the shadings of the actor himself – like Tracy Morgan in 30 ROCK, much of the success of the performance and the character is the difficulty in separating the two, even though LeBlanc’s public image is comparably more staid, you get a sense that his character’s behavior might be exaggerated traits of his own.
Otherwise, EPISODES is actually a fairly standard satire of the TV business, replete with out-of-touch network heads (though John Pankow’s Merc Lapidus is a hoot as the net exec who greenlights the remake having never even seen the show), unfriendly Hollywood types, and ruining creative changes (the show is almost unrecognizable, rejigged as PUCKS!, with LeBlanc’s character playing a boy’s hockey coach). At the center are the original show’s creators, Sean and Beverly Lincoln (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig), lured to LA for the glitz and glamour only to see their creation torn apart. The Lincoln’s are a marvelous TV couple in that their relationship is realistic: they fight, occasionally bicker, but never is their love and affection for each other ever in question, and they trade some of the best banter the show has. Tamsin Greig, whom I’m ready to campaign for come Emmy season, captures Beverly’s boiling incredulity of the events unfolding in front of her with zest and wit. She voices all the viewers own concerns and in that regard she’s EPISODES’ true star.
The FRIENDS cast (the non-Jennifer Aniston ones at least) are slowly making their returns to screens small and large, and taking place of Courtney Cox’s COUGAR TOWN is Matthew Perry’s MR. SUNSHINE, which based on the pilot, makes me wish TOWN’s hiatus would end even sooner. Perry plays Ben Donovan, the manager of the Sunshine Center sports arena in San Diego, a character completely uninterested in any of the other characters (besides Andrea Anders’ Alice, his female friend with benefits).
Ben’s apathy only subsides briefly when he’s annoyed, like when he’s forced by the eccentric and loopy area owner (played by Allison Janney, who does her best with what she’s given) to babysit her nerdy grown son; he brushes him off almost as immediately he’d like to do to us. Oddly, Perry is playing a character so difficult to like that the feeling is mutual – I don’t want to spend any more time with him than he does with me. Characters don’t have to be likeable (isn’t that the whole premise of GOSSIP GIRL?) but at least there’s usually an underlying redeemable quality – being funny usually works, a comfort not afforded here. In the immortal words of Chandler Bing, could this show be any more unpleasant? Grades: EPISODES: B; MR. SUNSHINE: C-
MR. SUNSHINE airs Wednesday at 9:30PM on ABC (Monday at 8PM on CTV in Canada), EPISODES airs Sundays at 9:30PM on Showtime (Monday at 9PM on TMN 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.
Morning Static: NURSE JACKIE, DOCTOR WHO, PRIVATE PRACTICE & More!
• Trailer Park: NURSE JACKIE Season Three.
• Family Reunion! Zooey Deschanel in talks to join her sister Emily on the FOX network.
• Move over NIKITA, CW picks up author L.J. Smith’s SECRET CIRCLE as a possible companion piece for THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.
• The Doctor is Out! Audra McDonald announces plans to exit PRIVATE PRACTICE.
• What ever TV Show needs… there very own infographic!
• Pilot Watch: Rachel Bilson to reunite with Josh Schwartz (again) in the CW’s HART OF DIXIE.
First Look: FRINGE’s “Subject 13”
Attention FRINGE fanatics, If answers are your thing, you’re probably gonna want to go ahead and mark Friday February 25th on your calendar! Because that’s the date the coolest show on television gets even more so thanks to yet another jaunt back through time that will shed some much needed light on Walter Bishop. More first look photos of which — including the return of special guest star Orla Brady as Elisabeth Bishop and the not so mysterious “Subject 13” — can be seen after the jump.
On TV Tonight: Tuesday February 8, 2011
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | No Ordinary Family | V | Detroit 1-8-7 | |||
CBS | NCIS | NCIS: Los Angeles | The Good Wife | |||
CW | One Tree Hill | Hellcats | ||||
FOX | Glee | Raising Hope | Traffic Light | Lights Out (FX) | ||
NBC | Biggest Loser Couples | Parenthood | ||||
MISC | White Collar (USA) Southland (TNT) |