5.17.2013
4.08.2013
Jimmy Fallon to replace Leno in late night... Good idea?
David Letterman Rips "Crazy" Tonight Show Succession Plan: "What Are They Thinking?"
My thoughts exactly.
Any one who thinks this is a great idea must be suffering from some serious short term memory loss. A quick browse through my 'late night' category and it's obvious that I wasn't a fan of NBC's treatment of Conan or Leno's primetime show. But the problem started long before that, in thinking that Conan could fill the shoes of Jay Leno to begin with.
I love Conan, really I do. But he just isn't as 'traditional' a performer as Leno is to keep that audience or to compete with Letterman. And while Jimmy Fallon follows in more or those traditional footsteps (and has the backing of Lorne Michaels), I still think it is going to be too much of a change to hold on to the audience Leno has re-acquired since being back at his Tonight Show gig.
I get it. Change must happen. We can't just replace one old, stand-up guy for another. But it seems like it would be easier if NBC was in a better place in the ratings... or if they hadn't just made a debacle of all this a couple years ago.
My thoughts exactly.
Any one who thinks this is a great idea must be suffering from some serious short term memory loss. A quick browse through my 'late night' category and it's obvious that I wasn't a fan of NBC's treatment of Conan or Leno's primetime show. But the problem started long before that, in thinking that Conan could fill the shoes of Jay Leno to begin with.
I love Conan, really I do. But he just isn't as 'traditional' a performer as Leno is to keep that audience or to compete with Letterman. And while Jimmy Fallon follows in more or those traditional footsteps (and has the backing of Lorne Michaels), I still think it is going to be too much of a change to hold on to the audience Leno has re-acquired since being back at his Tonight Show gig.
I get it. Change must happen. We can't just replace one old, stand-up guy for another. But it seems like it would be easier if NBC was in a better place in the ratings... or if they hadn't just made a debacle of all this a couple years ago.
Labels:
late night
4.05.2013
Charlie from 'Girls' leaves over creative differences
Christopher Abbott, who plays (super smokin hot) Charlie on Girls is reportedly leaving the show due to creative differences with Lena Dunham. Read more from Rolling Stone.
One thing I know for sure... More Marnie on a downward spiral! I hope she drowns her sorrows at the neighborhood karaoke bar!
Labels:
girls
3.14.2013
'Hannibal' Premieres Apr 4
WTF.
The trailer alone looks terrifying and violent! I guess what they all said about The Following was right - it is leading the way for more daring television, that's for sure.
Hannibal starts Thursday, April 4 on NBC.
Labels:
hannibal
2.24.2013
What I'd like to see from 'Go On'
Less Piper Perabo (and by less I mean none)
Someone to graduate.... for real this time. Let's make it Piper Perabo. And let's make it her idea. Break up with the group and break up with Ryan at the same time, to go travel the world or something.
A new group member. Maybe a guy similar to Ryan, who lost his wife, too. It would give Ryan a chance to see how far he's come, and help someone similar through it.
One more appearance by ghost Janie, just to tell Ryan she won't be visiting him anymore.
More John Cho and Carrie.
More Ryan and Anne interactions outside of group.
More back stories on the other group members. Some of my favorite episodes have been the ones where we've gotten to know Mr. K better. Danny. Owen. I want that to happen with every group member and expand upon the stories we've already learned.
More Sonia and Danny.
Labels:
go on
2.23.2013
2.22.2013
Cancellation Anxiety + What's coming on 'Justified'
Particularly good Ask Matt this week over at TV Guide. Some items of interest, including a couple of questions from yours truly:
Regarding the possible cancellation of Nashville: These days, the networks would almost kill for "lackluster," so while Nashville isn't what you'd call a runaway hit, it's doing OK, and because it's going the right way creatively (pulling out of its first-half slump), and like Glee and Smash it has a separate revenue stream with its music downloads and CD releases (which seem to get good reviews, though I'm not a music critic), I'm cautiously optimistic that ABC will renew it. As our in-house ratings guru puts it when we gather to discuss such things, they can't cancel everything.
Regarding seeing Limehouse again on Justified, and this season's 'big mystery' instead of 'big bad': I've heard that Mykelti Williamson may reprise his role sometime this season, but can't say when or how. (I'd like it to be a surprise, should it occur.) Regardless, I'm loving this season, as I have the past three, in part because it's so different from what's come before. Still the same blend of action, intrigue and wry humor that we can't get enough of, but once again the show is taking us into new areas of Harlan mythology, from the brutality of the hill people to the murderous machinations of the Clover Hill power-brokers, with whom Boyd and Ava have memorable dealings this week. This Tuesday's episode gives Elmore Leonard a story credit, and it introduces one of my favorite characters from his recent novel Raylan. I'll let you discover her for yourself, but I'm curious what avenues she'll eventually lead our besotted marshal down.
Regarding my concerns about the fate of Up All Night: The situation with Up All Night brings to mind the metaphor about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What is the point? Nothing happening on the show is as fascinating or laughable as what's taking place behind the scenes. If we ever see it again in any shape or form, I'll be amazed. And outside of professional morbid curiosity, completely uninterested as a viewer. Let it go.
Regarding my concern that Happy Endings moving to Fridays is a very bad thing: Regarding Happy Endings' current misadventures in ABC limbo, I knew it was the odd ensemble out in the current schedule (not unlike Cougar Town before it), but until the news that the remainder of episodes would be burned off on Friday, I didn't view it as necessarily endangered. Now it's hard to see it as anything but. (Which of course will prompt questions about whether someone will swoop in to rescue it, like TBS did with Cougar Town. I usually don't encourage such speculation, but while I'm not especially fond of Happy Endings, it generates enough buzz and media attention to make it a good candidate.)
[Side note: I'm worried Matt and I have nothing in common, as I discovered he likes Big Bang Theory, and as stated above, isn't a fan of Up All Night or Happy Endings. Wha?!]
Regarding the possible cancellation of Nashville: These days, the networks would almost kill for "lackluster," so while Nashville isn't what you'd call a runaway hit, it's doing OK, and because it's going the right way creatively (pulling out of its first-half slump), and like Glee and Smash it has a separate revenue stream with its music downloads and CD releases (which seem to get good reviews, though I'm not a music critic), I'm cautiously optimistic that ABC will renew it. As our in-house ratings guru puts it when we gather to discuss such things, they can't cancel everything.
Regarding seeing Limehouse again on Justified, and this season's 'big mystery' instead of 'big bad': I've heard that Mykelti Williamson may reprise his role sometime this season, but can't say when or how. (I'd like it to be a surprise, should it occur.) Regardless, I'm loving this season, as I have the past three, in part because it's so different from what's come before. Still the same blend of action, intrigue and wry humor that we can't get enough of, but once again the show is taking us into new areas of Harlan mythology, from the brutality of the hill people to the murderous machinations of the Clover Hill power-brokers, with whom Boyd and Ava have memorable dealings this week. This Tuesday's episode gives Elmore Leonard a story credit, and it introduces one of my favorite characters from his recent novel Raylan. I'll let you discover her for yourself, but I'm curious what avenues she'll eventually lead our besotted marshal down.
Regarding my concerns about the fate of Up All Night: The situation with Up All Night brings to mind the metaphor about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What is the point? Nothing happening on the show is as fascinating or laughable as what's taking place behind the scenes. If we ever see it again in any shape or form, I'll be amazed. And outside of professional morbid curiosity, completely uninterested as a viewer. Let it go.
Regarding my concern that Happy Endings moving to Fridays is a very bad thing: Regarding Happy Endings' current misadventures in ABC limbo, I knew it was the odd ensemble out in the current schedule (not unlike Cougar Town before it), but until the news that the remainder of episodes would be burned off on Friday, I didn't view it as necessarily endangered. Now it's hard to see it as anything but. (Which of course will prompt questions about whether someone will swoop in to rescue it, like TBS did with Cougar Town. I usually don't encourage such speculation, but while I'm not especially fond of Happy Endings, it generates enough buzz and media attention to make it a good candidate.)
[Side note: I'm worried Matt and I have nothing in common, as I discovered he likes Big Bang Theory, and as stated above, isn't a fan of Up All Night or Happy Endings. Wha?!]
Labels:
happy endings,
justified,
nashville,
up all night
2.18.2013
First Look at Pilot Season!
Sick of all the dead-end almost cancelled shows on TV right now? Never fear. Pretty soon there will be a whole new batch of shows for us to fall in love with and then see cancelled!
There are a lot of pilots that already have stars attached to them - Felicity Huffman as an assassin on Fox, Josh Holloway as a microchipped cop on CBS, and Jason Isaacs as the Surgeon General on CBS, for example. Below are a few shows from each network that I found particularly.... interesting. (You can take that as good, bad, whatever.) If you've got a minute (or 20) check out the full pilot reports from Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC and CW.
Blink (CW)
A car accident leaves a family's patriarch in a coma-like state where he cannot speak or move, but can hear. His narration and various fantasy sequences provide a wry counterpoint to the stories and conflicts of his family ---> Are we sure this is a drama? Sounds like it could be a comedy to me.
The Hundred (CW)
Nearly a century after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a spaceship sends 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing. ---> Need a cop? Jason Mara might be free if Vegas gets cancelled!
Reign (CW)
Watch as a 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane) arrives in France, betrothed to Prince Frances. She must survive fierce foes, dark forces and a world of sexual intrigue. ---> On a cable network... maybe. But on the CW this may as well be called 'The Mary Diaries'.
Betrayal (ABC)
A beautiful, unhappily married female photographer begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. When he turns out to be defending a murder suspect who is being prosecuted by her husband, the relationship and the case begin a spiraling series of betrayals with cataclysmic results for everyone involved. ---> Because the titles Scandal and Deception and Revenge were already taken.
Big Thunder (ABC)
A brilliant, late-19th-century New York doctor and his family are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relocate to a frontier mining town run by a powerful, but mysterious tycoon. They quickly realize that not everything in Big Thunder is as it seems. ---> Based on the Disney ride?
Gothica (ABC)
A sexy, modern gothic soap weaves together the mythologies of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray, among others. ---> If every episode of Once Upon a Time was a Dr. Whale episode.
Super Fun Night (ABC)
Kimmie (Rebel Wilson) and her two best friends (Lauren Ash and Liza Lapira) worry that their Friday-night tradition (staying home in their pajamas) will be threatened when Kimmie gets a big promotion at her law firm and is invited to a party by the cute transfer from the London office (Kevin Bishop). It's time to take Super Fun Night on the road! ---> And this is a series? Not a movie? I'm confused.
NCIS: Red (CBS)
An upcoming episode of NCIS: Los Angeles will act as this show's backdoor pilot, in which a small mobile team of agents — John Corbett, Kim Raver, Gillian Alexy, Scott Grimes and Edwin Hodge among them — are forced to live and work together as they crisscross the country solving crimes. ---> A spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff, inspired by Road Rules. My parents will love this.
Reckless (CBS)
A sultry legal show set in Charleston, S.C., where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a Southern city attorney struggle to hide their intense attraction while clashing amidst a police sex scandal. ---> Because the titles Scandal and Deception and Revenge and Betrayal were already taken.
Jacked Up (CBS)
Rules of Engagement's Patrick Warburton stars as a beloved, recently retired baseball player who finds that adjusting to not working isn't as easy as he thought it would be. ---> So Rules of Engagement finally got cancelled?
The McCarthys (CBS)
This family comedy is about a loud, sports-crazy Boston clan that includes Jake Lacy, Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver and Jack McGee. ---> Would be better if it starred cousins Jenny and Melissa. Super
Clyde (CBS)
A meek, unassuming fast-food worker (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint) decides to become a superhero. ---> Ron!
Boomerang (Fox)
Felicity Huffman will star as Margie Hamilton, the matriarch of a family of assassins, who has to balance the demands of motherhood with her unusual job. ---> So... Desperate Housewives, Part II?
The List (Fox)
A U.S. Marshal leads the hunt for the person who stole "The List," a file that reveals the identities of everyone in the Federal Witness Security Program, who begin showing up dead. ---> I find that shows built around one mystery cannot work. The Killing, Alcatraz, that one with Ashley Judd... Maybe The Following will renew my sense of confidence, but I just have little faith this can work (unless the emphasis is on a compelling U.S. Marshal and compelling villain as characters, and not just focused on the chase itself).
Sleepy Hollow (Fox)
Ichabod Crane partners with Sleepy Hollow's sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. ---> Ugh, I sort of hate what the success of Grimm and Once Upon A Time have done to television pitches. Maybe this one will be more like Do No Harm?
Untitled Dan Goor/Mike Schur Project (Fox)
A group of detectives — including Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews and Melissa Fumero — form an odd family in a police precinct in the outermost neighborhood of New York City. ---> Okay. You got me. I hope Terry Crews is playing a reformed Cheeseburger Eddie.
Hatfields & McCoys (NBC)
Set in present-day Pittsburgh, a startling death reignites the feud between the legendary families. Unleashing decades of resentment, the blue-collar McCoys will put the Hatfields' wealth and power at risk as they battle for control of the city. ---> So, no pig stealing in this one?
Ironside (NBC)
In a remake of the 1960s drama, an acerbic police detective (Blair Underwood) who uses a wheelchair pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city.---> My gripe here is with the choice of words - 'uses a wheel chair'? Is that to imply he may not need it? Why not call him paralyzed or wheelchair-bound?
Brenda Forever (NBC)
We meet Brenda Miller through a double narrative of the protagonist at 13 and 31 (played by The Office's Ellie Kemper) ---> Because if she was 30, that would be too similar to 13 Going on 30.
Holding Patterns (NBC)
A group of friends' lives change after they survive a plane crash. ---> Experience has taught me that these friends will either want to 'go back', buy a hospital or eat eachother.
Untitled Owen Ellickson and Craig Robinson Project (NBC)
A talented musician (Craig Robinson, who will also produce) adjusts to a new life as a middle-school music teacher. ---> Like Treme, but less characters and less depressing!
There are a lot of pilots that already have stars attached to them - Felicity Huffman as an assassin on Fox, Josh Holloway as a microchipped cop on CBS, and Jason Isaacs as the Surgeon General on CBS, for example. Below are a few shows from each network that I found particularly.... interesting. (You can take that as good, bad, whatever.) If you've got a minute (or 20) check out the full pilot reports from Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC and CW.
Blink (CW)
A car accident leaves a family's patriarch in a coma-like state where he cannot speak or move, but can hear. His narration and various fantasy sequences provide a wry counterpoint to the stories and conflicts of his family ---> Are we sure this is a drama? Sounds like it could be a comedy to me.
The Hundred (CW)
Nearly a century after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a spaceship sends 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing. ---> Need a cop? Jason Mara might be free if Vegas gets cancelled!
Reign (CW)
Watch as a 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane) arrives in France, betrothed to Prince Frances. She must survive fierce foes, dark forces and a world of sexual intrigue. ---> On a cable network... maybe. But on the CW this may as well be called 'The Mary Diaries'.
Betrayal (ABC)
A beautiful, unhappily married female photographer begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. When he turns out to be defending a murder suspect who is being prosecuted by her husband, the relationship and the case begin a spiraling series of betrayals with cataclysmic results for everyone involved. ---> Because the titles Scandal and Deception and Revenge were already taken.
Big Thunder (ABC)
A brilliant, late-19th-century New York doctor and his family are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relocate to a frontier mining town run by a powerful, but mysterious tycoon. They quickly realize that not everything in Big Thunder is as it seems. ---> Based on the Disney ride?
Gothica (ABC)
A sexy, modern gothic soap weaves together the mythologies of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray, among others. ---> If every episode of Once Upon a Time was a Dr. Whale episode.
Super Fun Night (ABC)
Kimmie (Rebel Wilson) and her two best friends (Lauren Ash and Liza Lapira) worry that their Friday-night tradition (staying home in their pajamas) will be threatened when Kimmie gets a big promotion at her law firm and is invited to a party by the cute transfer from the London office (Kevin Bishop). It's time to take Super Fun Night on the road! ---> And this is a series? Not a movie? I'm confused.
NCIS: Red (CBS)
An upcoming episode of NCIS: Los Angeles will act as this show's backdoor pilot, in which a small mobile team of agents — John Corbett, Kim Raver, Gillian Alexy, Scott Grimes and Edwin Hodge among them — are forced to live and work together as they crisscross the country solving crimes. ---> A spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff, inspired by Road Rules. My parents will love this.
Reckless (CBS)
A sultry legal show set in Charleston, S.C., where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a Southern city attorney struggle to hide their intense attraction while clashing amidst a police sex scandal. ---> Because the titles Scandal and Deception and Revenge and Betrayal were already taken.
Jacked Up (CBS)
Rules of Engagement's Patrick Warburton stars as a beloved, recently retired baseball player who finds that adjusting to not working isn't as easy as he thought it would be. ---> So Rules of Engagement finally got cancelled?
The McCarthys (CBS)
This family comedy is about a loud, sports-crazy Boston clan that includes Jake Lacy, Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver and Jack McGee. ---> Would be better if it starred cousins Jenny and Melissa. Super
Clyde (CBS)
A meek, unassuming fast-food worker (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint) decides to become a superhero. ---> Ron!
Boomerang (Fox)
Felicity Huffman will star as Margie Hamilton, the matriarch of a family of assassins, who has to balance the demands of motherhood with her unusual job. ---> So... Desperate Housewives, Part II?
The List (Fox)
A U.S. Marshal leads the hunt for the person who stole "The List," a file that reveals the identities of everyone in the Federal Witness Security Program, who begin showing up dead. ---> I find that shows built around one mystery cannot work. The Killing, Alcatraz, that one with Ashley Judd... Maybe The Following will renew my sense of confidence, but I just have little faith this can work (unless the emphasis is on a compelling U.S. Marshal and compelling villain as characters, and not just focused on the chase itself).
Sleepy Hollow (Fox)
Ichabod Crane partners with Sleepy Hollow's sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. ---> Ugh, I sort of hate what the success of Grimm and Once Upon A Time have done to television pitches. Maybe this one will be more like Do No Harm?
Untitled Dan Goor/Mike Schur Project (Fox)
A group of detectives — including Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews and Melissa Fumero — form an odd family in a police precinct in the outermost neighborhood of New York City. ---> Okay. You got me. I hope Terry Crews is playing a reformed Cheeseburger Eddie.
Hatfields & McCoys (NBC)
Set in present-day Pittsburgh, a startling death reignites the feud between the legendary families. Unleashing decades of resentment, the blue-collar McCoys will put the Hatfields' wealth and power at risk as they battle for control of the city. ---> So, no pig stealing in this one?
Ironside (NBC)
In a remake of the 1960s drama, an acerbic police detective (Blair Underwood) who uses a wheelchair pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city.---> My gripe here is with the choice of words - 'uses a wheel chair'? Is that to imply he may not need it? Why not call him paralyzed or wheelchair-bound?
Brenda Forever (NBC)
We meet Brenda Miller through a double narrative of the protagonist at 13 and 31 (played by The Office's Ellie Kemper) ---> Because if she was 30, that would be too similar to 13 Going on 30.
Holding Patterns (NBC)
A group of friends' lives change after they survive a plane crash. ---> Experience has taught me that these friends will either want to 'go back', buy a hospital or eat eachother.
Untitled Owen Ellickson and Craig Robinson Project (NBC)
A talented musician (Craig Robinson, who will also produce) adjusts to a new life as a middle-school music teacher. ---> Like Treme, but less characters and less depressing!
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