2010 -
03.06
Tags: public speaking anxiety, Smallville Category The CW | No Comments »
Despite a mass exodus of regular cast members over the past couple years – including Kristen Kruek, Michael Rosenbaum, Annette O’Toole, John Glover, Aaron Ashmore, and Laura Vandervoort – Smallville on The CW has somehow managed to survive a switch from Thursdays to Fridays and remain an intriguing show on the early, pre-Superman years of Clark Kent, his friends, and his family.
Now comes news that the CW is pleased with the show’s ratings performance enough to overlook the high production costs and renew the show for an unprecedented tenth season. While Clark is now six years past being a high school freshman and over his Lana fixation, and subplots about Clark’s public speaking anxiety are long since a thing of the past, the show remains intriguing and well scripted, even following the exit of series creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough.
By offering the show an early renewal, the network allows Smallville the chance to craft a season cliffhanger rather than a series-ending capstone episode.
2010 -
03.06
Tags: 30 Rock, Community, green shopping, Parks and Recreation, The Office Category NBC | No Comments »
NBC completed its green shopping late this week as they announced plans to recycle and renew the rest of their Thursday night comedy lineup, one of the few bright spots in the NBC stable of shows.
That means a sophomore season for Community, a fifth season for 30 Rock and a seventh season for The Office. The other NBC Thursday night comedy, Parks and Recreation, was renewed for a third season back in January.
In all honesty, I have to say that this is the strongest four-comedy lineup has had on NBC since the network played host to … if memory serves … The Cosby Show, Night Court, Cheers and Seinfeld. But I may just be remembering the good ones..
2010 -
02.28
Tags: Neil Gaiman, used golf balls Category Television | No Comments »
Legendary comic book writer, novelist and silver screen scribe Neil Gaiman has been snagged to pen one episode of the new season of British sci-fi show, Doctor Who. While many folks have worried about the direction of the show following the exit of scribe Russel T. Davies, who proved to be the Joss Whedon of Great Britain during his four-series-plus run at the helm of the legendary BBC TV franchise.
However, new showrunner Steven Moffat, who penned a well-received parody of Doctor Who about 10 to 15 years ago, when the show was on hiatus, has proven to be adept at drawing some of the top talent available to work on the re-configured show.
As everyone who follows Doctor Who knows by now, tenth doctor David Tennant is out, as are all of the companions that befriended the Doctor during Tennant’s run. In are new, eleventh doctor Matt Smith and an all-new companion, portrayed by Irish actress Karen Gillen, who will be known by the name Amy Pond on the show.
Smith’s Doctor is a dapper dresser more in the mode of Tennant, rather than an eccentric dresser in the mode of fourth Doctor Tom Baker or many of those who followed him. At least he won’t ruin the nice dramatic tone of the new show by carting around used golf balls or something wacky like that!
Anyway, in addition to Gaiman, some other talent Moffat has snagged for the new series of Doctor Who includes director Richard (Love Actually) Curtis, as well as Torchwood writers Chris Chibnall and Toby Whithouse. Still, in most people’s books, Gaiman is the biggest “get” of the new season.
2010 -
02.28
Tags: auto insurance quotes, Glee Category Fox | No Comments »
Glee, which will have it’s season-one bow on June 8 and is already renewed for a second season, has just nailed down a Horrible guest star. Doctor Horrible, that is; How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris.
Unlike some stars who prefer to spend their spare time hawking auto insurance quotes, Harris found a gap in his HIMYM schedule to fit in a guest spot on the musical comedy, Glee, allowing him a chance to show off his singing ability once again after a dazzling and humorous performance in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible, as well as a musical number extolling the virtues of suits earlier this season on How I Met Your Mother.
Glee returns on April 13 on Fox.
2010 -
02.28
Tags: Cop Out, promotional items, Shutter Island, The Crazies Category Weekend box office | No Comments »
The Martin Scorsese-directed, Leo DiCaprio-starring spooky drama, Shutter Island, held on to the top spot in US box office for the second week in a row, fending off challenges from buddy comedy Cop Out and splatter-fest, The Crazies.
Shutter Island drew $22.2 million in new business, down almost 45 percent from opening weekend, but still strong enough to stay at the head of the pack. Shutter Island has drawn $75 million to date, just $5 million short of its $80 million production budget.
Cop Out, which co-stars Bruce Willis and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan, as well as Sean William Scott, pulled in a strong but below expectation $18.5 million, while The Crazies drew $16.5 million despite having no notable big-screen stars.
Avatar held steady at fourth place with $14 million, the only other film this past weekend to top the $10 million mark. Soon the promotional items will outsell the movie tickets for the SF epic.
March should come in like a lion with the new Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaboration, Alice In Wonderland, the only notable release of the coming weekend.
2010 -
02.16
Tags: Alan Ball, best face cream, Charlaine Harris, True Blood Category Television | No Comments »
Season Three of the HBO vampire blood could result in the series’ vamps sucking more than just blood; word has it there will be a male-on-male pairing that doesn’t involve the show’s resident male gay, Lafayette.
In a swerve well away from the novels of Charlaine Harris, it appears show creator Alan Ball is set on having Vampire Bill Compton hooking up with were-dog Sam Merlott in a horizontal way. Of course, true to the show’s vampiric origins, the coupling will come as a result of a blood exchange between the pair that was necessary at the end of season two for Bill to save Sam’s life.
In the Harris novels, the sharing of blood between vampire and human has been established to create a psychic and sexual bond. So it’s not that the two will be suddenly talking about the best face cream with each other; it will be the result of a plot device long-established in the Harris novels, but never exploited in exactly this pairing.
2010 -
02.16
Tags: CliniSlim, Henry Winkler, Royal Pains Category Television | No Comments »
Who could father cool doc Hank Lawson and hip brother Evan on the USA dramedy Royal Pains? Turns out the mystery figure in the doorway from last season’s cliffhanger is none other than the former Arthur Fonzarelli himself, Henry Winkler.
Now it all makes sense, right down to the two brothers’ CliniSlim looks.
The Fonz won’t get a warm welcome, however, as Eddie Lawson was revealed to be the responsible party in last season’s finale for taking the majority of money out of HankMed and fleeing. What kind of comeuppance will he receive? Well, that’s why they expect you to tune in, silly.
2010 -
02.16
Tags: David Goyer, FlashForward, testosterone booster Category Hollywood | No Comments »
David Goyer, the writer-producer who helped create the SF drama based on Robert Sawyer’s novel, is out as show runner for ABC’s FlashForward. Goyer was preceded by Mark Guggenheim, who was brought in to help the less-experienced Goyer, but stepped away last fall to work on other projects.
No replacement for Goyer has yet been named; the show is currently shooting episodes 17 and 18 of a 23-episode order this season, but all these behind-the-scenes shake-ups can’t be good for a show in its first season. It also probably isn’t much of a testosterone booster for Goyer.
2010 -
02.16
Tags: doorbell, Shutter Island Category Movies | No Comments »
Listen for the doorbell and you might hear the click-whir of Shutter Island, the period chiller by Martin Scorsese that stars Leo DiCaprio this weekend; that’s about the only film opening big enough to challenge Valentine’s Day, The Wolfman, Percy Jackson and Avatar for box office dominance going into the third weekend of February.
Everything else is either opening small or won’t be released until later on. After seeing The Wolfman today, and viewing the preview for Cop Out, I’m now kind of looking forward to the Bruce Willis-Tracy Morgan-Sean William Scott buddy cop flick coming out at the end of February, but after that, there’s nothing much of interest until the middle of March!
2010 -
02.16
Tags: Avatar, Ferrari parts, The Wolfman, Valentine's Day Category Weekend box office | No Comments »
Following a weekend when the underdog romantic comedy, Dear John, shocked the world and stopped Avatar’s unbroken run atop the weekend box office charts, this past weekend three new movies all opened stronger than Avatar, pushing the seven-week champ to fourth place, in front of Dear John, which bested it last week.
Sitting atop the charts was the favorably-positioned Valentine’s Day, a rom-com with great timing that garnered an impressive $56.4 million in its opening bow. The overly gore-ridden remake of The Wolfman came in second place with $31.7 million, while the Harry Potter-wannabe film, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, came in third place with $31.4 million, a virtual photo-finish.
In fourth place, Avatar held steady with $23.5 million domestically, and climbed to $2.35 billion in worldwide box office. That’s almost enough to purchase some rare Ferrari parts for your old Ferrari!
Dear John rounded out the Top 5 films with a still-respectable $16 million in its second week and facing tremendous competition from a formidable trio of films. No other films drew more than $6 million.
2010 -
02.05
Tags: Cynthia Watros, House, Lost, plasma mounts Category Fox | No Comments »
One-time LOST star Cynthia Watros is setting up House as her post-Lost career. The actress has been cast as the first of Wilson’s three ex-wives, and word has it that when Watros joins the show in April, she’ll be on board for several episodes as… his new girlfriend.
Watros becomes the first Wilson romantic interest since the death of Amber a couple years ago, a season finale that sent both House and Wilson spinning all through last season and much of this season.
So get out your plasma mounts and DVRs… House is worth getting Lost in!
2010 -
02.05
Tags: Freshmen, Paris vacations, Sarah Chalke Category ABC | No Comments »
Following a couple of flirtations with becoming the titular mother on How I Met Your Mother, actress Sarah Chalke now has her post-SCRUBS career lined up; she’ll star as a freshman congresswoman who is politically successful but unlucky in love in the new ABC comedy FRESHMEN.
The role is not all political backroom deals and Paris vacations; the comedy will place Chalke at odds with the imbalance between her personal and political life. The show is the product of left-wing political blogger Arianna Huffington and former FRIENDS scribe Greg Malins.
Despite that origin, with the appealing Chalke in the lead role, once can only hope the focus of the show is more on the funny and less on the political stances.
