• BONES Buzz: Is season 7 growing bigger? And how confident is show boss about renewal?
• Fight the Future! Josh Jackson reacts to Fox’s FRINGE warning.
• Must Read TV: A calm Charlie Sheen on his new sitcom, his old sitcom, and poop jokes.
• “This is the show that produces the stars.” AMERICAN IDOL team fires shots at NBC rival THE VOICE.
• Hasta La Vista Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland returns to TV in TOUCH.
Archives for January 2012
Winter TCA Press Tour 2012: ALCATRAZ Live Blog
10:22AM: Once thought of as a dumping ground or burning off point for shows that simply weren’t good enough for the Fall schedule, ALCATAZ’s January premiere may have been the best thing to happen to the series since the casting of Jorge Garcia. Explained Executive Producer J.J. Abrams, “One of the advantages of being a midseason show was that instead of just saying, ‘You know what would have been cool?’ you actually have the time — and if you’re lucky the ability — to make changes to this thing.” First and foremost among those changes, according to Abrams, was a far strong and more easily identifiable connection between the show’s lovely leading lady Sarah Jones (Detective Rebecca Madsen) and the infamous prison itself.
10:24AM: But just what makes what in essence is a police procedural different from the vast array of the police procedurals currently on the air? Simply put, Alcatraz housed the worst of the worst. What’s more, when the 302 prisoners who mysteriously vanished prior to the prison shutting down begin to reappear in modern times, they will present the team of Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) with a very unique challenge. Explained Executive Producer Jennifer Johnson, “These prisoners are ghosts. They reappear with no credit records, no friends and family members, they don’t have girlfriends, children. As such, our team is really going to have to think outside the box to track them down.” [Read more…]
We Preview the Magnificent 2nd Season Premiere of DOWNTON ABBEY
The first season of DOWNTON ABBEY invited viewers back to the Edwardian times at an aristocrat estate in England just as the Titanic sank in 1912. The subsequent story followed the ripple-effects of the loss of the estate’s current heir and the rise of an unknown succeeding heir – as lineage and the question of “who would inherit” were absolutely vital.
When a young barrister, Matthew Crawley, was discovered to be the next in line to inherit the vast estate of Downton Abbey, the current occupants, the Earl and Countess of Grantham as well as the rest of the Crawley family, were surprised and unsure how to welcome their newly discovered cousin. Because the Earl and his wife had only daughters and no sons, it was thought that the estate’s heir should marry their eldest daughter to keep the estate in the family. [Read more…]
On TV Tonight: Sunday January 8, 2012
Winter TCA Press Tour 2012: Fox President Kevin Reilly Dishes on the Future of HOUSE, FRINGE, TERRA NOVA and the Planned GLEE Spin-Off
11:07AM: Before submitting himself to the firing squad that is a roomful of tired and cranky television critics, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly announces plans for a new late night animated comedy block (Think: Adult Swim) that will air Saturdays at 11PM – 12:30AM starting in January 2013.
11:14AM: Despite going on record during the previous summer’s TCA Press Tour that the Network would be making a decision on the future (or lack thereof) of HOUSE sometime in the Fall, Reilly fesses up to failure to communicate. “To be honest with you, it’s hard to imagine the Network with HOUSE so we kind of agreed to mutually put off any decision until the first of the year and we still have yet to sit down and see where we are,” Reilly says, being sure to add for any anxious fans who may-or-may-not be reading this. “We haven’t had the big meeting yet, but we are not going to be unceremoniously handing out pink slips. If it’s the end of the run there is no way [Creator] David Shore is going to let the fans feel that it wasn’t capped off properly.” [Read more…]
THE FIRM Review: We Throw the Book at NBC!
In the opening scene of THE FIRM, NBC’s latest legal thriller premiering Sunday January 8th, Mitch McDeere breathlessly calls wife Abby and alerts her to the fact that, “It’s happening again.”
Suffice it to say, truer words have never been spoken. And while we’re not about to spoil what exactly “it” is within the context of the show, what is happening again — at least in the greater scheme of things — is yet another disappointing attempt by a television network to capitalize on an already popular brand in an all too transparent effort to make a quick buck. [Read more…]
All Hail the Queen! Lana Parrilla Teases Tonight’s Return of ONCE UPON A TIME and Mourns the Death of Sheriff Graham
In the fantasy world of ONCE UPON A TIME, Lana Parrilla is queen — truly as she portrays both the Evil Queen and her real-world counter part Regina in Storybrooke, Maine — the fictional world the Evil Queen created in order to imprison all the inhabitants of the fairytale world in order to make her dreams come true. Storybrooke and Regina’s life as Mayor there is supposed to represent the Evil Queen’s dream of “happily ever after.” Yet that “happily ever after” is now threatened by the arrival of Emma Swan, whose very presence is causing tiny fractures in the blissful utopia that the Evil Queen wished for. In a recent exclusive interview, Lana Parrilla shared her view on Regina’s crumbling world and what Regina is really seeking out of her carefully-constructed life. [Read more…]
TV Ratings: Friday January 6, 2012 (Scripted Shows Surge Post Holiday Hiatus)
Time | Network | Show | Rating | 18-49 | VS. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8PM | CBS | A Gifted Man | 8.51 | 1.5/5 | |
FOX | Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State | 7.80 | 2.2/7 | ||
ABC | Extreme Makeover: HE | 5.41 | 1.4/4 | NBC | Chuck | 3.38 | 1.0/3 |
CW | Nikita | 1.54 | 0.6/2 | ||
9PM | CBS | CSI: NY | 10.53 | 1.8/5 | |
FOX | Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State | 7.80 | 2.2/7 | ||
ABC | Extreme Makeover: HE | 6.02 | 1.6/5 | ||
NBC | Grimm (R) | 2.43 | 0.7/2 | ||
CW | Supernatural | 1.76 | 0.8/2 | ||
10PM | CBS | Blue Bloods | 11.21 | 1.8/5 | |
FOX | Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State | 7.80 | 2.2/7 | ||
ABC | 20/20 | 5.04 | 1.3/4 | ||
NBC | Dateline NBC | 4.99 | 1.8/5 |
Morning Static: COUGAR TOWN, ALCATRAZ, 30 ROCK & More!
• J.J. Abrams… Welcomes You to the Rock.
• If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try, Again: AWAKE Creator “Hopeful” that it won’t be LONE STAR all over again.
• COUGAR TOWN creators to ABC, “We’ll promote it ourselves!”
• Done Deal: Alec Baldwin re-signs with 30 ROCK.
• Could Their 15 Minutes Finally Be Over? JERSEY SHORE premiere ratings down 1.2 million from previous season.
• Pilot Watch: Marcia Gay Harden to star in NBC’s comedy pilot ISABEL.
Winter TCA Press Tour 2012: SMASH Live Blog
3:33PM: The SMASH panel kicks off with a video greeting from executive producer Steven Spielberg who NBC Entertainment President Bob Greenblatt promises has been incredibly involved and passionate about the show. To the point that he has personally edited musical sequences. Not-so-fun-fact: Spielberg did not send a similar video prior to Fox’s TERRA NOVA panel last fall. Read into that what you will.
3:38PM: Just to give you an indication as to how good SMASH actually is. A roomful of tired, hungry and soulless television critics actually “Aaaawwwwwed” when there was a momentary technical difficulty with the video sizzle reel for the show.
3:44PM: Greenblatt teases that Marilyn’s road to Broadway will be a rocky one, with the first season culminating in the show’s out-of-town try out, and the second one — should the show be lucky enough to see a second season — revolve around how the show fares in the Big Apple.
3:46PM: Contrary to reports in a recent New York Magazine article, creator/executive producer Theresa Rebeck swears that the entirety of the team’s focus is to first and foremost make a great television show. Whatever happens in the future — referring to the rumors that Marilyn is already headed to Broadway — who knows! “This show is enough of a challenge for all of us right now.” [Read more…]