Bob Saget to Host A&E Reality Series
Television network A&E announced that it is giving Bob Saget his own reality series, tentatively titled Bob Saget’s Strange Days.... read more
ABC's V on Hiatus Until 2010
ABC’s rebooted and dolled-up sci-fi drama V debuted to an impressive audience of 14.3 million viewers on Nov. 3, and despite the criticisms about mediocre writing and humdrum story lines, it still kept 10.7 million viewers for its second week—not half bad for a show still in its infancy. Still, these numbers aren’t enough to make the network rethink the series’ preemptive hiatus, one that’s been planned from the beginning. After next week’s fourth episode, V‘s alien visitors won’t be returning to primetime until March 2010.... read more
Joss Whedon Animates Season Eight of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Joss Whedon’s recent projects have had mixed results. Last year’s stellar Dr. Horrible won an Emmy, but news arrived last week that Whedon’s cult favorite, the beleaguered Dollhouse, will be cancelled, airing its final episodes this January. (For a tongue-in-cheek suggestion as to why Fox cancelled the series, check out this video from College Humor.)... read more
New Orleans Gets Wired: David Simon Turns His Sights on the Big Easy
On a late spring day in the early 1990s, a Baltimore Sun reporter named David Simon wandered into the now-defunct Funky Butt jazz club on North Rampart Street in New Orleans, where Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias were burning through a scorching set of percussive funk. “From the outside, it was like some kind of Tex Avery cartoon,” Simon says, “where the house is dancing and the window shutters are popping out to the beat.”... read more
Badly Drawn Boy Readies TV-Movie Soundtrack
Damon Gough, AKA: Badly Drawn Boy, is confirmed to compose the music for an upcoming U.K. made-for-TV film.... read more
House Review: "Teamwork" (Episode 6.8)
The transitional period for House continues. Licking his wounds after Cuddy rejected him, revealing that she is dating his old frenemy Lucas (from season 5), House attempts to assemble, or reassemble, his team with mixed results.... read more
NBC Goes Green in Prime Time...Again
Starting yesterday, NBC made its biggest push to date in its three-year long commitment to the Green is Universal initiative. The network is bringing the green theme into five of its prime time shows, right in the middle of November sweeps.... read more
David Lloyd: 1934-2009
Television writer David Lloyd, highly regarded for his comedic work on Frasier, Cheers and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died early last week of prostate cancer, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 75.... read more
The Office Review: "Murder" (Episode 6.09)
The Office’s eighth episode, “Murder,” was a great way to dust off last week’s disastrous double date lunch between Michael, Jim, Pam and Pam’s mother, who is tactlessly dumped on her own birthday. Michael swiftly jumps from that role as the temperamental child to this episode’s all-knowing father figure whose mysterious ways pan out in the end. It’s tough to say whether he’s really growing up these days. There’s no telling what he’ll do between now and the end of the season, or even next episode.... read more
30 Rock Review: "The Problem Solvers" (Episode 4.5)
Last night’s episode of 30 Rock was the best one so far in the season. Ok, who am I kidding, it was the best. I’m not going to pretend I’m not still a little disappointed in it, though, but it’s just because the show was so close to greatness and we all know it’s done it before and can do it again. 30 Rock is like a mistress I’m going through hard times with at the moment. She continues to give me enough to keep coming back, but I know she’s delivered better in the past and that she’s just... read more
Community Review: "Debate 109" (Episode 1.9)
Just a couple of episodes ago, I was pontificating about whether Community would up the self-reflexiveness that it’s started to show or stick with its more typical tone. “Debate 109” answers that question quite nicely, with a vehement yes that for once is a good thing. Self-reflexiveness is a tricky tool. On the one hand, it can lead to jokes otherwise inaccessible and on occasion create some awesome situations. Venture Bros. comes to mind here, given that the entire show is aware of its own ridiculousness but that’s in some ways part of its essential premise. On the other hand,... read more
"Shit My Dad Says" Creator Justin Halpern Talks Book Deal, TV Show
In the wake of news that Twitter phenom @shitmydadsays is being picked up for a CBS TV deal... read more
This Is It Not Quite It: Jackson Reality Show Coming to A&E
The posthumous Michael Jackson promotion train keeps on rolling, and in its next incarnation, the Jackson-hungry public will learn the troubles and travails of the Jacksons who are still around. Starting Dec. 13 at 9 p.m., cable fixture A&E will air The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, a six-episode reality miniseries showing viewers how the King of Pop’s death has affected his family, namely his brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon.... read more
The Best TV Theme Music
The little ditties that open TV shows keep growing littler and dittier, almost disappearing into Lost’s single sustained chord. The assumption may be that we’re just going to fast-forward through them anyway, but part of the charm of shows like Cheers, M*A*S*H and Sanford and Son was the musical intro. Fortunately, not everyone has given up on the theme song. Here are 10 current shows with tunes that make us put down the remote.... read more
Fox Cancels Joss Whedon's Dollhouse
Currently in the middle of its surprising season one follow-up, Joss Whedon’s Sci-fi drama Dollhouse is getting axed by Fox due to consistently dragging ratings, according to HollywoodReporter.com.... read more
V Review, "There is No Normal Anymore" (Episode 1.2)
I was really looking forward to the new V series. In my teens, I was a fan of the original two miniseries and even the failed regular series. While my fondness for the franchise may stem from a lack of teenage discernment (especially when it came to sci-fi) and the rosy tint of nostalgia, Battlestar Galactica showed that even the lamest and cheesiest of shows could be reimagined by brilliant minds into something spectacular. Sadly, those minds were not at work on the new V series.... read more
Roland Emmerich Plans to Bring 2012 to TV
Roland Emmerich’s much-anticipated (and sometimes maligned) disaster flick 2012 hasn’t even come to theaters yet and already there are talks of it being adapted for the small screen.... read more
"Shit My Dad Says" Gets a Television Series
With 700,000 followers and counting, @shitmydadsays is becoming a hot commodity on Twitter. Its origin story is pretty simple. Justin Halpern, 29, moved home to live with his parents, including his 73-year-old dad, Sam, who says hilarious things on a regular basis. Halpern launched his Twitter account in August to record and share the gems that come out of his father’s mouth.... read more
High Definition: After 3 Seasons, Mad Men Is Just Getting Started
I was born a couple years after the 1960s ended, but the decade’s shadow loomed with import over the ones I first encountered. It was the second half of the decade I always heard about, though—Viet Nam, the moon landing, the summer of drugs. So one of my favorite things about AMC’s Mad Men is watching the forgotten beginnings of the ’60s, before John, Paul, George and Ringo touched down in an airport that had recently been named for the just-assassinated president John F. Kennedy.... read more
House Review: "Known Unknown" (Episode 6.6)
On tonight’s episode, there are new developments in the relationship cloyingly referred to as “Huddy.”... read more
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