Outstanding Comedy Series
ENTOURAGE
FAMILY GUY
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
THE OFFICE
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WEEDS
Outstanding Drama Series
BIG LOVE
BREAKING BAD
DAMAGES
DEXTER
HOUSE
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Search Results for: dexter
Review: NURSE JACKIE Is Good For What Ails You
Frankly, NURSE JACKIE shouldn’t work.
The new Showtime series is, on paper, little more than a collection of cliches. The drugged-out nurse who knows more than the uncaring doctors she works with. The gay best friend. The annoying chatterbox of a nursing student. The opening and closing voiceovers.
Despite — or perhaps, in some weird way, because of — this seemingly flawed foundation, NURSE JACKIE proves to be yet another feather in Showtime’s almost tackily-over-ornamented cap. Like THE TUDORS, DEXTER and WEEDS, this is another show built around a wildly dysfunctional central character, yet never fear, as she is completely original thanks in equal parts to brilliant writing and a “give-her-the-Emmy-now-and-stop-wasting-everyone’s-time” performance from Edie Falco.
Carmela who?
TV Talk From Fellow TV Addicts
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.
Review: HARPER’S ISLAND
By: Aleks Chan
When I first heard CBS had picked up HARPER’S ISLAND last spring, I was intrigued: killing off attendees of a wedding party on a secluded island every week sounded like it could be Agatha Christie-style fun, especially with the decision to make it a limited series with a set end date. It had the potential — and I surmised this after seeing a few preview clips during last year’s upfront presentations – to be the sort of television event that seems such a distant idea now. Dreaming, in this case, is for suckers.
HARPER’S ISLAND doesn’t aspire to be anything but a means to repurpose old slasher films and gory teen flicks where melodramatic pretty folk get sliced up with the kind of visceral uninhibitedness that somehow dictates that all horror movie deaths must be done as grisly as possible. And in a way, it isn’t so bad: HARPER’S ISLAND isn’t the kind of suspenseful thriller you would ostensibly want it to be, but is rather the silly, preposterous train wreck that you can’t look away from.
Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson Talk CUPID
Tonight marks the premiere of CUPID Version 2.0 on ABC and to help spread the word were stars Jeremy Piven Bobby Cannavale and Paula Marshall Sarah Paulson who were kind enough to spend a few minutes chatting it up with theTVaddict.com.
Before we get into CUPID, I have to ask [Sarah] the obligatory STUDIO 6O ON THE SUNSET STRIP question. Were you apprehensive about jumping back into television after what happened with your last show?
Sarah Paulson: If anything, STUDIO 60 further wetted my appetite to want to do something really good on television. Although I know it had its problems, the words I got to say were sort of unprecedented so really, my only apprehension was that I wouldn’t get to bite into the same type of material. And although it’s a totally different kind of show, Rob [Thomas] writes incredibly funny and witty repartee, a different version of the Aaron Sorkin rat-atat-tat… yeah that’s right, I said rat-atat-tat…
Bobby Cannavale: And “repartee”
Were you familiar with Rob Thomas’ original version of CUPID?
Sarah Paulson: I knew it existed, but I really didn’t want to watch it because I’m just a copycat anyways and would have ended up just copying anything that was done.
Bobby Cannavale: I don’t believe that.
Sarah Paulson: I was worried that I would get ideas based on what came before me, you know?
Bobby Cannavale: I don’t watch any television.
Separated at Birth? You Be the Judge!
Your Ultimate Guide to TV on Twitter (Actors)
Hi my name is Daniel and I’m a twitterholic.
Nary an hour goes by when I don’t update my Twitter profile or check what my friends are up to. Seriously, it’s a big problem! And one that is about to get a heck of a lot bigger now that the ‘traditional’ media and mainstream celebrities such as Ellen, Shaq and Britney Spears have all caught on.
Which is why we thought we’d spend this week celebrating this massive time suck highly addictive social media platform before its status as ‘next big thing’ runs out and everybody moves onto the next myfacebookspacefeedr (beta).
If I Programmed the Paley Festival
First let’s be clear. The William S. Paley Television Festival is this TV Addict’s Super Bowl equivalent. So much so that for three out of the past four years, I’ve shelled out far too much money than I care to think about for the privilege of spending one week in Los Angeles amidst some of my favorite television show’s casts and creative teams (click here for coverage.)
That said, Daniel Fienberg’s recent column asking, “Has the Paley Festival lost its way?” really got me thinking. And not just about how I can legally change my last name so that it fits into a clever blog title like “The Fien Print.”
Rather, I’ve been thinking about what I would do if I programmed Paley. And how for every show that is worth honoring this year (see: BIG LOVE and DR. HORRIBLE’s SING-ALONG BLOG) there seems to be an equal number of shows that have yet to prove themselves worthy of sharing the same stage with the likes of past honourees including DEXTER, THE SOPRANOS and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (see: 90210 and DOLLHOUSE.)
New York Comic Con 2009: CHUCK Panel Live Blog
On Sunday, your very own TV Addict had the pleasure of attending the CHUCK panel at New York Comic Con 2009. Featuring co-creators Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak and the absolutely stunning Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker) the panel was in a word: Awesome! With serious kudos going out to panel moderator Alan Sepinwall, who offered up his own intelligent questions, kept the panel moving and remembered that first and foremost and for better or for worse, NY Comic Con is about giving the fans their opportunity to interact with their favorites (TVGuide’s Damian Holbrook, who sucked the energy out of yesterday’s FRINGE panel, please take note)
11:30AM: After viewing a spoiler-heavy trailer designed specifically for New York Comic Con that showed Big Mike hooking up with Morgan’s mom, Tricia Helfer seducing Captain Awesome (in what looks to be a stripper cop uniform, naturally), Casey punching out Emmitt and the not-so-super-secret casting of Scott Bakula as Chuck’s Dad and Chevy Chase as some sort of technology visionary (think: Steve Jobs) co-creator Josh Schwartz joked that they may have given away too much.
11:31AM: CHUCK co-creator Chris Fedak on the casting of Chevy Chase, “Fletch and Spies Like Us are very much within the DNA of our show. Zach [Levi] really reminds us of Fletch and Chevy, so when the opportunity came to get a guy who’s Chuck’s spiritual godfather it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.” Added Josh Schwartz, “We love the 80’s!”
11:33AM: Yvonne Strahovski on her favorite types of scenes, “I love doing the fight scenes but equally loved going back and playing young Sarah — being nerdy, not having to worry about being pretty.” Or as Josh Schwartz sees it, “You know, how Chris and I go through everyday of our lives!”
11:36AM: Attention fans of Fulcrum, in an upcoming episode in which Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) plays as Fedak puts it, “a super badass,” fans will get to see what it’s like inside Fulcrum Headquarters.
CouchTater’s Top 10 Shows of 2008
Putting together my annual list of top 10 shows is never easy. Some years, it’s because there are just too darn many choices. Others, too few. So how did 2008 fare? Let’s just say that THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA made the list and leave it at that.
The problem isn’t necessarily that the season was necessarily bad so much as it was mediocre. Shows that have been fantastic in the past were average at best (GREY’S ANATOMY, UGLY BETTY) and nearly unwatchable at worst (HEROES). So this year, I’m going with the 10 shows that gave me the most bang for my buck. In some cases, they might not have been MENSA worthy, but they brought me a whole lot of pleasure. So while you won’t find MAD MEN on my list, it’s mainly because I haven’t seen it yet. (No, not even season one. Hey, I’m only now starting to watch BIG LOVE!) Without further ado — and while fully aware of the slings and arrows sure to be launched my way by the peanut gallery — I present to you, in no particular order, CT’s Top 10 Shows of 2008.
THE BIG BANG THEORY
Newsflash, folks: Comedy isn’t dead. And if it were, these guys would probably be able to reanimate it in their lab. Yes, everyone and their mother is heaping praise on Jim Parsons for his role as Sheldon, but take him out of the equation and this cast would still keep me coming back for more. In fact, they might wanna be careful not to become too Sheldon-centric. My hope? That in the coming year, we’ll see a whole lot more of supporting players Howard and Rajesh.
TRUE BLOOD
I was tempted to lump this show and DEXTER together if only because they only give us 12 episodes a season. But each deserves separate recognition because of what they do best. With TRUE BLOOD, it’s a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. I’m not a particularly huge fan of the show’s supposed root-for couple, Sookie and Bill. But the secondary characters — especially Rutina Wesley’s heartbreaking Tara and Ryan Kwanten’s comically self-destructive Jason — are the true lifeblood of this seductive series.
DEXTER
Although this series is, in essence, a one-man show, the writers have done an amazing job of fleshing out the people in our anti-hero’s life. This season, Dexter’s efforts to achieve normalcy in both his relationship with Rita and his ill-fated-from-the-start “friendship” with Miguel allowed us to see not only much-needed growth on the part of our favorite serial killer, but also, in an ironic and tragic twist, just how difficult it will be for him to expand his universe.