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14 articles
'Pushing Daisies,' 'Easy Money,' 'Eli Stone' and others axed
20 November 2008 7:19 PM, PST
It was Black Thursday in the TV business on Thursday, as ABC pulled the plug on three sophomore dramas. According to EW.com and Eonline.com, "Pushing Daisies, the whimsical dramedy about a lovelorn pie-maker, has been axed. According to the Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, ABC is "actively avoiding the c word" -- cancellation -- for two other shows, "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone," but the producers of those shows have been told that no more episodes are being ordered, which is effectively the same as cancellation. "Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller told Eonline.com's Kristin Dos Santos that he'd continue the story...
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Fox stuffs Thanksgiving week with a super-sized episode of 'House'
20 November 2008 1:29 PM, PST
An important note about this week's "House" episode (7 p.m. Tuesday, Wfld-Ch. 32): It goes over "House's" allotted running time, so program your DVRs and VCRs to record a 68-minute episode. "Fringe" will begin at 8:08 p.m. and run until 9:07 p.m. The episode, which is titled “Last Resort,” reminds me of what “Star Trek” TV writers used to call a “bottle show.” Usually late in the season, when a “Trek” show’s budget was looking sparse, they’d come up with a premise for an episode that would keep all the main characters in one, or at most two, rooms (thus...
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Tim Kring: 'Heroes' viewers are 'saps'
20 November 2008 9:00 AM, PST
It looks like, instead of fixing his show, "Heroes," creator Tim Kring has decided to insult the show's fans instead. At a screenwriting event over the weekend, which IGN covered, Kring made the nonsensical statement that current modes of on-demand viewing make it more difficult to do a serialized show. What? That makes no sense, as Time's James Poniewozik points out. "[T]he idea that DVRs and streaming make it harder to follow serial shows is so transparently ridiculous I seriously wonder if Kring even believes it," Poniewozik wrote. I thought about writing up my furious reaction to Kring's remarks, but...
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Yule enjoy this 'Colbert Christmas'
20 November 2008 8:49 AM, PST
More fun this weekend than Jack Bauer's grim world-saving is "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All" (9 p.m. Sunday, Comedy Central). In this amusing, music-driven holiday special, Stephen Colbert lovingly parodies those Bing Crosby and Perry Como holiday specials of yore. Musical guests Elvis Costello, John Legend and Feist stop by to join in the flag-waving frivolity, and Colbert and Willie Nelson sing an appropriately surreal holiday duet about the aromatic and possibly illegal gift of the “fourth Wise Man,” “a plant that smokes more sweetly than frankincense or myrrh.” Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” also stops...
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Start overanalyzing now: The 'Lost' Season 5 poster is here
20 November 2008 7:21 AM, PST
As you've no doubt noticed from these recent posts on "Lost" casting and whatnot, island fever has swept the Watcher site. The ABC show finally returns Jan. 21, but if the network decided to move up that date a few weeks, nobody around here would mind. Hold that thought: We might need two full months to ponder the meanings of the Season 5 "Lost" poster, which Newsday's Verne Gay spotted over at Dark UFO. As Verne notes, there's an "on-island, off-island split" between the characters. Also, Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Miles (Ken Leung) are featured for the first time....
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'24's' Jack is back, this time to save Africa
20 November 2008 6:45 AM, PST
The gimmick of "24" has always been right there in the title: Each season transpires over a single 24-hour day. So how would a two-hour "24" movie work? Not that well, as it turns out. The self-contained “24: Redemption” (7 p.m. Sunday, Wfld-Ch. 32; two stars) is supposed to act as an appetizer for Season 7 of the Fox show, which arrives Jan. 11. And though the dogged “Redemption” transpires mostly in real time -- thus preserving the show’s central concept -- it doesn’t contain as much urgency as this thriller does at its best. Then again, it has been...
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Season 2 of 'Flight of the Conchords' readies for lift-off
19 November 2008 3:05 PM, PST
Skippity skippity skippity skipping glee! A "Flight of the Conchords" Season 2 promo is up on YouTube! I've posted it below. My editor Carmel, who is awesome in all ways, gave me the tip about the new promo. The second season of the HBO comedy begins Jan. 18. Two days after "Battlestar Galactica" returns. That is already officially my favorite weekend of January. The promo: For grins, here's a "Fotc" fan video, an homage to Jemaine Clement (or as I like to think of him, Ronald Chevalier): And let's face it, this pretty much never gets old:
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'The Shield': Oh no he didn't
19 November 2008 9:32 AM, PST
"Me and my team, we had to cut some corners to get the job done." Vic Mackey, king of understatement. If you haven't seen the second-to-last episode of "The Shield," you need to do so now. If you have, you're head is still in the process of exploding, right? It's been a really crazy week for me and as I prepare to take next week off, it only promises to get crazier. I will have a major post up next Wednesday, the day after the "Shield" series finale airs, but I wanted to quickly post something here to get your...
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A bit more 'Lost' news found
19 November 2008 8:53 AM, PST
I posted an item yesterday about Patrick Fischler's upcoming guest role in Season 5 of "Lost." Here's some excellent news -- he won't just be in one Season 5 episode of the ABC drama, as a recent IGN.com story about the show indicated. He'll be in at least two episodes and possibly more, according to a "Lost" source. Fischler's character is named Phil. Fischler, who had a memorable guest turn as comic Jimmy Barrett on "Mad Men," is one of TV's hardest working character actors; he's been on everything from "Burn Notice" to "The Middleman" this year, in addition to...
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'True Blood' amps up the enjoyable vamp antics as its finale approaches
18 November 2008 12:58 PM, PST
Ok, fine, "True Blood" fans. I give up. You win. I like this show. And yet. Those of you who’ve been e-mailing me telling me that “True Blood,” which airs its season finale 8 p.m. Sunday, is your favorite show -- I can’t say I agree. But the friends and readers who’ve been saying the HBO show has finally become the escapist vamp potboiler that was lurking inside the somewhat pretentious show we first saw back in September -- yes, I agree with that assessment. Though it’s not perfect, “True Blood” has improved a lot. Dare I say it no...
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'Mad Men' actor visits 'Lost'
18 November 2008 8:11 AM, PST
Update Nov. 19: There's more news on Fischler's "Lost" appearance here. Patrick Fischler, who had a memorable role as comic Jimmy Barrett in Season 2 of "Mad Men," will be part of "Lost's" fifth season. Eric Goldman of IGN posted a lengthy report on a recent appearance by "Lost" executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse at a screenwriting conference (don't worry, there are no spoilers in Eric's story). Some general highlights about the upcoming season from that event: Fischler (pictured at right on "Mad Men"; he was also great on "The Middleman" and "Burn Notice" this year) will appear...
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Nerds make the grade in Season 2: Revisiting 'Big Bang Theory'
17 November 2008 1:10 PM, PST
Many readers have asked me over the past year or two why I don't like "Big Bang Theory" (7 p.m. Central Time, CBS). At first, I didn't like it because it seemed mean-spirited and intent on making fun of its almost interchangeable nerd characters. I don't mind a certain amount of laughing at the characters, but there didn't seem to be much in the way of laughing with them. I've watched the show from time to time, however, because people keep asking me to check it out. I'm happy to say that this season, I like the show much more...
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'The Middleman' is stuck in the middle of limbo
17 November 2008 12:40 PM, PST
A reader asked whether the charming ABC Family series "The Middleman" is ever coming back. I thought it was a good question, so I asked an ABC Family rep, who said that no decision has been made yet regarding a second season for "The Middleman." However the show's creator, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, wasn't too optimistic in comments he recently made to the sci-fi Web site io9, which asked him about the show's fate. "I think it's fair to say that they aren't going to order any new episodes in the immediate future," he said. "Right now, we are all focused on...
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Back to where it all began: 'Battlestar Galactica-thon, Part 1'
17 November 2008 11:17 AM, PST
What a relief. I don't dislike television. You can imagine what a problem that would be, considering my job title has the word “television” in it. But I must confess to feeling a persistent irritation this fall. There are notable exceptions, but overall, too many shows that should know better aren’t doing their best work and too many new shows are failing to be anything but adequate -- if that. I’m not going to name names just now (if I singled out the best and worst offenders here, I wouldn’t have any column ideas left). But I will say that...
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14 articles
