BLOGS
May 2008 Archives
Starz is adapting the 2004 Academy Award Winning movie Crash for the small screen, and while this project was announced a while back, the cast was finally announced today. And, well, it lacks a little star power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, some people named Luis Chavez, Arlene Tur, Ross McCall, Brian Tee and Jocko Sims will head up the cast.
Now, I've spent upwards of 2-3 minutes on the Starz official site today, and while that may not be an exhaustive investigation, I saw no evidence of any other series on their roster. This made me wonder several things, in the following order:
Some exciting casting news for Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- Garbage lead singer and all-around fabulous Scotswoman Shirley Manson will be a regular next season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she'll play "Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a cutting-edge high-tech company." Ooh la la! Call me presumptuous, but methinks "cutting-edge high-tech company" probably translates to "evil cyborg factory" in the Sarah Connor universe, which is an exciting prospect. If that is the case, then might Manson be playing a sort of female Miles Dyson character? Miles Dyson with bright red hair, a Scottish accent and a Greatest Hits album? That's the sexiest thing I've heard all day.
Ever since the salad days of The Real World, MTV has staked a claim on bringing an ever-clamoring public some of the finest/dumbest reality programming ever to grace the small screen. So I'll be honest and divulge that their newly announced lineup, which includes the fifty billionth season of the Diddy travesty that is Making the Band and some shit about juvenile delinquents called Busted, left me sorta cold. The only show with any potential whatsoever is a to-be-named show starring everyone's favorite bullet-riddled rap impresario 50 Cent. As you might imagine, the premise will have to do with searching for the Next Big Rap Mogul. Creative, right? One wonders what the grading curve will be, and specifically what sorts of challenges the hopefuls will face to earn the title. I'm thinking less MC battles and more precision-shooting with a sawed-off shot gun. Whatever the case, I'm eager to learn about the finer points of -- what is it the kids are calling it these days? Oh right. "Hustling."In honor of tonight's sure to be haunted and awesome 2-hour Lost finale, we thought we'd alert you to a video that's had us rolling in our cubicles all morning. From RavenStake via /Film, "Indiana Jones & the Mystery of the Lost Island" utilizes the time honored art of action figure theater. What would happen if Indy showed up on The Island to solve all the mysteries? I know the thought is keeping you up at night. You're welcome.
Yesterday I blathered on about how they could make an awesome Ugly Betty musical, and then today there's news that there is a Little House on the Prairie musical coming to a stage near you (well, if you happen to live in Minneapolis). Incredible. I'm already sitting here contemplating a trip to home of Mary Richards this summer, because I loved the Little House books (yup, I read!). When I was younger and adored the series with a passion... I still watch it sometimes if I'm home sick on a weekday. The best news is that Melissa Gilbert (aka Half Pint) is joining the cast playing Ma Ingalls, which is cool and wrong all at the same time.
Variety is reporting that A&E's Memorial Day premiere of The Andromeda Strain drew in a whopping 4.8 million viewers, making it the highest rated cable movie or miniseries so far this year. Yes, the year is still young, but the ass-kicker? 2.7 million of them were in the coveted 25-54 age demographic, which is a record for the network. Pretty impressive, considering it was Memorial Day and all those viewers were drunk and full of hot dogs. So why do intoxicated pork fans love The Andromeda Strain so much? We have a few theories.
So NBC has announced its new fall schedule, telling us when America's favorite shows -- including Heroes, The Office and 30 Rock -- will return, and when the new shows (Talking Car 2.0, Christian Slater vs. Evil Christian Slater) will debut. But my attention is zeroed in on one date: October 3. That's the night I get my Life back. I loved the first (short) season of the show, in which Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) returned to the police force after 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, and can't wait to see how he applies his Zen philosophy to a full second season. Got 8 hours? Watch the first season, starting with the first episode, after the jump.
How the hell have I never seen this show before? I mean, I don't watch all of the shows on Fox Reality, but I love all things Nigel Lythgoe related (I worship him on So You Think You Can Dance), so I can't fathom how this one slipped past my radar. Lythgoe and Ken Warwick (Idol executive producers) have a series that follows their purchase of a Vineyard (which apparently has been a dream for the best friends and former dancers). The series has the best name, Corkscrewed: The Wrath of Grapes, and shows the trials and tribulations of the rich and famous, and also features some other familiar faces, Simon, Randy and Ryan. It's basically insane and big on hyping all their other shows. It starts a little slow, but damn, I'm working my way though the episodes now and I'm hooked. I've so got other stuff to be doing... but I can't help myself.
There's been buzz about a musical episode of Ugly Betty for ages now, and the show even centered a whole episode around the Broadway production of Wicked but now there's talk right from the gossipy queens mouth. Michael Urie (aka Wilhelmina's bitchtastically gay assistant Marc) has been spreading the word that there could be an actual staged production of Ugly Betty heading towards Broadway, with singing and dancing and transvestites and fashion and magic and puppies or whatever. Urie even delightfully naively expressed hope that the cast -- who have a mixed amount of theater experience (Vanessa Williams rocked in Into the Woods and America Ferrara in Dog Sees God, an off-Broadway stage production of a twisted Peanuts cartoon) -- would star in the staged version. This is the most insanely awesome thing I've heard since they announced they were making a live-action Tetris game show.
Now this is what I called being prepared. Joss Whedon loyalists are tired of being burned by Fox who caused Whedon's Firefly to go down in a blaze of glory by pulling it off the air in its first season. The devotees have banded together in support of Joss's new midseason (as in January 2009!) series Dollhouse which also stars awesome Buffy alum Eliza Dushku. These crazies, er, fans are campaigning harder than Hillary Clinton, and arranging viewing parties and creating at cult-like buzz about a show that no one has even seen yet! Part of me admires these nut jobs, er, fans for using the power of the internet to support their favorite TV guru, and since the clips of this show that were shown at the Fox upfront look kick ass, they shouldn't be disappointed by the series when it eventually airs.
Ali Lohan isn't the only celeb sibling with a reality show - Matthew McConaughey's brother, Rooster, is set to star in a series called Black Gold for truTV. The show, from the producers of Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, will follow Rooster and a team of drillers as they race to find oil in Texas. Because it's 1850. Basically, think Dirty Jobs meets Jed Clampett.
As I mentioned in my post about the CW upfronts, the network has decided to basically lease space on Sunday nights. So while Dawn Ostroff and her two holograms babbled on about the how they were axing wrestling from the lineup in order to have a more cohesive network (read: everything is exactly like Gossip Girl or Top Model), this newly released lineup from MRC (Media Rights Capital) pretty much blows that out of the water. The lineup, which really could be on a completely different network, features shows geared towards older women (like in their 30s instead of 20s) and are all pretty much being created on spec without any pilots. This isn't unheard of in this strike-riddled season, NBC is doing it with their big non-Knight Rider pilots, but these also don't have any big names currently attached to them either. Not to say that these couldn't have potential, they conceivably could, but it is a very unorthodox way of making shows to fill up an entire night of programming, to say the least.
I must be a glutton for punishment, or really just in need of a good cry, because I'm watching the season finale of House again. I would like to make it clear that I don't cry at TV shows frequently. It really takes a lot, but there was something so poignant and heartbreaking about this particular episode that I just caved to the watery eyes and grabbed some tissues. Sara M does a fabulous job of recapping the entire episode, but if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching the episode below before you read about it. Even if you aren't a big fan of the series, your heart might melt just a little bit, as the show takes a break from its typical procedural style and goes out on a limb with a trippy concept. Oh, and if nothing else, check out Anne Dudek in that fierce red pantsuit, she looks freaking amazing. I'm totally jealous. Best thing that ever happened to Cutthroat Bitch, aka Amber, was for her not to get the job working for House, so she could wear fabulous clothes and not be stuck in a white coat or scrubs all the time.
A ton of new TV casting news has come out, and you won't believe who's coming to your television! First off, Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman, will be joining the cast of FX's new series Anarchy, where he will play the president of an outlaw motorcycle club that protects its California town from drug dealers and corporate developers. He replaced Scott Glenn, who played the part in the pilot, when the show became more of a dark comedy. Other movies Ron Perlman should replace Scott Glenn in: The Hunt for Red October, The Silence of the Lambs and Backdraft. A little Ron Perlman makes everything better!
Finally, the Boy Scouts can reconcile their dedication to exploration and community service with their burning desire to be on reality television. In a new series slated for the Outdoor Channel, most of whose shows involve shooting at things, the Boy Scouts of America and and Boys' Life magazine will team up to produce the show Scouting for Adventure, Presented by Boys' Life. The six-episode series will follow Scouts as they explore the wilderness and learn outdoor skills and teamwork at Scout camps across the country.
There are many that are lamenting the cancellation of Miss/Guided. I am not one of them. In fact, while I am adore Judy Greer, the series got on my nerves towards the end and I couldn't even finish watching the cringe-worthy musical episode. It literally made me groan in pain. That's never a good sign and Judy's so much better than that. I am clearly not the only one who thinks so. The perky often sidekick has landed a sweet new day job on Barry Sonnenfeld's HBO pilot Suburban Shootout, which is sort of like Desperate Housewives but, you know, funny... hopefully. According to the description, Judy finds herself caught in between "two rival gangs of homicidal housewives." Which I imagine might go something like this:
Oh Dick Wolf, what would a world without you look like? Where would we be without your deft interpretations of lurid tabloid dramas and celebrity dust-ups? Without that masterful way you have of weaving narratives loosely based on real events so that in our collective memory, we draw just as often from the truths you invent as the one supplied by the New York Post, US Weekly, et al? For tomorrow night's L&O season finale we get yet another ripped-from-the-headlines tale, this one owing its plot to the recent Spitzer/call-girl fiasco. It was only a matter of time, you realize. I wonder how literally the show's gonna take this puppy. The governor is played by the fully follicled Tom Everett Scott, rather than a balding Spitzer look-alike, but are we still going to have to suffer through scenes of him going to town on his special lady friend while sporting classy black dress socks? Le shudder.
Heroes fans still saddened by the death of pixie-ish Eden McCain in Season 1 will rejoice at the addition of a new evil pixie to the cast of Heroes. (No, Kristen Bell and Hayden Panettiere are not pixies, they're vixens. Get it straight.) Brea Grant, who briefly played a love interest on Friday Night Lights, will be joing the cast in Season 3 as a super-fast villain. I would tell you what her name was on FNL, as well as who she dated and why they broke up, but my love for funny sports movies does not extend to overly serious sports TV shows. Sorry.
Gods Frakkin' Dammit. Those were the words that literally came out of my mouth when I read the news this morning that Katee Sackhoff was going to be doing four episodes of Nip/Tuck next season. I'm thrilled that Starbuck has another big gig since BSG's coming to an end (though I can't really talk about that... still in denial). However, this news is good for her, but bad for me because now I've got to start watching Nip/Tuck again.
Again, I'm watching another upfront from the comfort of my desk chair. It really isn't all that bad... though it does mean no party and no mingling with stars, but I'll live. While CW apparently is becoming all lifestyles of the rich and famous, Fox seems to be just about action, Idol and some more action. Which works. If it ain't broke...
So I didn't get invited to CBS's big swanky upfront at Carnegie Hall. Which is fine since I probably would have ended up in the fourth balcony and I get wicked vertigo at that place. But I did get to watch the event from the comfort of my own desk (and thank god, because it was really long) via a satellite stream. Nice! Or well... parts of it were nice. Parts of it were downright tedious, but again, this is aimed at the advertisers so clearly I'm not the target demo for this. After the obligatory intros from high-ranking execs and Les Moonves talking about all of the different aspects of CBS (We've got outdoor marketing! We're interactive! We're not just for old people any more!) They bring out Craig Ferguson. Let's just say, I'll take Jimmy Kimmel making fun of NBC any day instead of Craig Ferguson's lame attempts at jokes. I mean, he's talking about New York smelling like urine. Really? Then he talks about billboards. I think he might be missing some of the lines on the teleprompter... or reading them after the images come up on the massive screen. Hard to tell.