Two Tivos To Paradise 10.08.10: Wonder Woman, Punk'd, Sons of Anarchy, Katee Sackhoff, The Dish, and More!

Posted by Al Norton on 10.08.2010

News on Wonder Woman and Wild Wild West getting reboots, Punk'd coming back with Justin Bieber, FX renews Sons of Anarchy, Katee Sackhoff drops by and more!



Hello friends. My 39th birthday last weekend was highly enjoyable, especially the couple of hours I got to spend hanging out with Mrs. Tivo on Saturday as we walked around Legacy Place, a new outdoor mall just outside Boston. We don't have many outdoor malls here and I really like it; something about being outside makes you seem less like you're wasting time and more like you're just out for a stroll. I got a new Red Sox windbreaker, $139 from my Dad (he gives us $100 plus a dollar for every year on our birthdays), and I bought myself the new John Legend and The Roots CD, which should arrive any day via Amazon.

We had an interview with Terriers' Kimberly Quinn that ran this past week and next Thursday you can find my chat with 30 Rock's Keith Powell as a preview for that night's live episode.

NBC is having some real issues with their fall schedule, with rumors that Outlaw might get pulled by the end of the month (see below for more info) and Undercovers needing to show some improvement to not be far behind. If you are wondering what the network has to plug in, here is a look at the superhero drama The Cape…



And while we are on trailers for new shows, I can't resist showing you The Walking Dead again. Repeated viewings of this confirm my thoughts that this may be the best made ad for a TV series I have ever seen.



This is the time on Sprockets when we push our Facebook page. Congratulations to Doug Klein, winner of season one of Ugly Americans on DVD! As you know, we do all our giveaways on the TTTP FB page! We've past 600 "likes", with 700 the next big goal, and frankly, you need to get on board! Go to the TTTP Facebook page (link found HERE ), click "like", and you'll be a part of a great community where you can stay up to date on breaking TV news, chat with your fellow TV fans, and get some exclusive content, too.

My heart stops when you look at me, just one news, now baby I believe.

When No One Else Can Understand Me, When Everything I Do Is Wrong
Two TV writers/producers with highly successful track records became attached to reboots of well known shows this week; Emmy winner David E Kelley is going to be updating Wonder Woman while Ron Moore, the main person behind the brilliant Battlestar Galactica remake, is working on redoing The Wild Wild West. Woman ran from 1975 – 1979 and starred Lynda Carter as the superhero helping the US fight the Nazis. West starred Robert Conrad as James West and was a label defying mix of genres (western, action, spy thriller, and sci-fi). Neither project has a network attached yet but shopping of the projects will begin soon, with no shortage of suitors expected.

Kelley has The Practice, Boston Legal, Boston Public, Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, and Ally McBeal on his resume, so there is no shortage of quality female characters that he has created. His only real foray into action was 1999 Snoops, which lasted only 13 episodes, and the superhero genre will be new territory for him. The hardest parts of the task will be modernizing Wonder Woman's look without making her seem too generic and avoiding trying to cater too much to the comic book crowd. While a strong starting fan base for the character is obviously a good thing, those viewers are not going to be who makes the show a hit; it's the masses, who could recognize a picture of Wonder Woman but that's about it, who will make or break the show.

Actually, the hardest part will probably be casting Diana Prince. Charisma Carpenter would have been my first choice 10 years ago but my guess is they will want an actress in her 20's, not her 40's. Eliza Dushku would be a great fit, and I think if Katee Sackhoff wanted to go dark she'd be pretty interesting the role, too (more on that below).

Moore is beloved on these pages (as well as many other places) for his work on Battlestar Galactica, perhaps the best TV drama of the last 15 years, so I was thrilled to read about him giving The Wild Wild West a shot. Those of you only familiar with the terrible Will Smith movie version should know that the TV show from the 60's was WAY ahead of its time and featured some of the best action sequences TV had seen up to that point. Robert Conrad was quick with a punch and the one liners, a combo that will make casting the new James West almost as hard as figuring out who the new Jim Rockford should be. As a matter of fact, I bet a lot of the same names show up on both lists.

While some may argue that TV needs to come up with new ideas, the recent ratings landscape has found shows getting pulled after just two or three airings, so a fresh take on a known concept might be the best thing a network could do right now.

Fallin' In Love Is Such An Easy Thing To Do But There's No Guarantee That The One You Love Is Gonna Love You
MTV is close to announcing the return of Punk'd, with series creators Ashton Kutcher and David Goldberg on board as executive producers and pop idol Justin Bieber as the new host. Punk'd, which originally ran on the network from 2003 – 2007 and can still be seen in reruns today, plays elaborate practical jokes on celebrities, all of which are captured via hidden cameras.

To be honest, when I first read this news I wondered if it was a way of Punking the media, since Bieber is the last person I'd expect to see hosting this show. Then I realized he'd had fun with comedy when he was the musical guest on SNL last spring and he had stepped in front of the cameras in a dramatic turn on CSI this season…and it still felt strange, mostly because I've never seen him show off much personality when being himself. It's a great choice by MTV though; while we can debate the quality of his music, his legion of fans is undeniable, and many will tune in just because he is hosting.

I liked Punk'd during its first run, although never went out of my way to watch, and I think I'd probably make my decision about new episodes based on who the victim was.

I Like Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder
Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24) and Tricia Helfer (Dark Blue, Battlestar Galactica) are riding motorcycles from LA to New Orleans as a fund and awareness raiser for the region's continuing issues caused by the Gulf Oil Disaster. The Acting Outlaws will travel roughly 340 miles a day during the eight day journey, which begins on October 22nd, with real time videos posted on www.actingoutlaws.com. Stops along the way include Flagstaff, Dallas, Houston, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and a rally of local bikers at Voodoo Experience in City Park, NO

Gulf Future, the non-profit that will benefit from the ride, is dedicated to helping with the clean up and restoration of the Gulf as well as working to make sure resources for growth are available. They also are working to make sure that lessons are learned from the BP drilling disaster in order to prevent anything like this from happening again.

If you text FUTURE to 85944 you'll donate $10 to the Gulf Future campaign for Gulf Coast recovery.

What's not to love here?!? Celebrities using their fame for a great cause, continued awareness about an environmental tragedy that has not gone away simply because it's not in the headlines anymore, and of course, hot chicks on bikes!!!! I have had the pleasure of interviewing Katee (who enjoys official Friend of TTTP status) and Tricia and they are as smart and funny as they are beautiful, which is saying something. I know financial times are tough all around but a few of you sending a text will go a long way.

In my back and forth with Katee about the ride I asked her about her upcoming gig on CSI…

I've been a fan of CSI for some time. I love the fact that this all worked out, me being on the show, when David Weddle and Bradley Thompson from BSG came over to write for the show. They wrote the first TV show I ever did when I was 18. I love these guys and I would follow them anywhere. It just so happens that they came to a show that I like so much.

Working with George (Eads) is great. He and I are cut from the same cloth. He's the kind of guy you could sit and talk football with for hours over beers. I like that. It reminds me of being home with my family.

You know, things happen for a reason and I'm happy to be on the show now playing Frankie. She's got a lot of fire to her and I really enjoy playing that. This character fits me.

I also asked her about the above mentioned Wonder Woman reboot and if she would dye her blonde locks black for the role.

My hair is red now so I'm not that far off!! Of course I would!

But You Were Up To Your Old Tricks In Chapters Four Five And Six
All you need to know about the Nielsen's for the past 7 days…

THURSDAY
Jersey Shore won the 10:00 in demos, hitting another series high. This high is much more impressive as it was achieved while going up against a full slate of new network programming…Almost everything on Thursday night had double digit demo drops, with 30 Rock being the only show on the big 5 not to show losses this week…Grey's Anatomy put up the top demo numbers of the night while also dropping to a series low in that category…The Mentalist was the night's most watched show with 14.6 million viewers…The Big Bang Theory and $@*! My Dad Says won the 8:00 hour, with the former putting up some high quality numbers (13+ million total)…Bones & Fringe each dropped less than 10% but their numbers from last week were not good to begin with…

FRIDAY
Blue Bloods won the night in totals and demos, and that pretty much ends any ratings good news…The Good Guys hit a new low for demos, the worst of any show on any of the five networks for the evening…Outlaw dropped for the second straight week, finishing with barely half of Blue Blood's audience…Medium and CSI: NY both dropped again, although both also won their hours…

SUNDAY
Undercover Boss became one of the few shows this season to improve from week one to week two, finishing second on the night in totals to timeslot mate Desperate Housewives…Brothers & Sisters achievement was even more so as it was pretty much the only show to be up from last season's premiere AND it went up in week two, too…CSI: MiamiCold Case in that timeslot last year…The Cleveland Show didn't improve from last week's unimpressive return and Family Guy was down 13% despite having Rush Limbaugh as a guest voice. To be fair, FG had far and away the best demos of the night…Boardwalk Empire was up 3% this week after a drop in week two…Deadliest Roads was the second most watched series premiere ever for History…

MONDAY
Mike and Molly was the only show on Monday night to show a week-to-week gain, a sign that the comedy has strong word of mouth…The Event was down 17% from last week and is now down 33% from its premiere…Gossip Girl hit season highs in totals and demos…Dancing with the Stars was the most watched show of the night with a shade over 20 million viewers while Two and a Half Men took the top demo spot…Hawaii 5-0 won totals and demos at 10:00 but Castle was a VERY close second in the former…House had the top drama demos of the night…

TUESDAY
Usual Tuesday winners, with Glee posting the top demos and NCIS garnering the most total viewers…No Ordinary Family was down 16% but still had a decent 8:00 showing…Detroit 1-8-7's 19% demo drop does not bode well for the future…The Biggest Loser had their lowest rated episode in series history…The Good Wife won 10:00 in both totals and demos…Life Unexpected hit a season high in their key demos…Parenthood was up a tick…

WEDNESDAY
Hell's Kitchen was up 7% and continues to be a strong performer…Undercovers dropped again, inching it closer to the bubble…Better With You was up at 8:30…Survivor easily won 8:00 in totals and demos…Modern Family had the evening's top demos, with Cougar Town being up 11% after two not so great outings…The Whole Truth was up 17% in the demos to stave off cancellation for at least one more week…Law & Order: LA dropped 25 % from last week's premiere but still won 10:00 in demos…The Defenders had the most viewers at 10:00 but gave CBS their worst original series demo number in that time slot in 7 years…

All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…FX picked up a 13 episode fourth season of Sons of Anarchy...My Generation became the second casualty of the new season, pulled by ABC after only two episodes…NBC shut down production on Outlaw. They plan on airing the episodes that were completed but unless ratings pick up, that will be it…Emmy nominee John Slattery (Mad Men) will guest on 30 Rock later this fall…HBO is working on an adaptation of the book The Member-Guest, about a guy working as a country club golf pro while trying to make a PGA comeback. Kevin Bacon is on board as an executive producer and quite likely to play the lead as well…Syfy made official what I told you here a couple of weeks back and picked up a 13 episode third season of Warehouse 13…Adult Swim picked up a second season of Childrens Hospital…Ben Silverman and Modern Family's Sofia Vergara are executive producing I Hate This Place, an adaptation of a popular Spanish comedy about a Father and Son who manage an apartment building. The show looks like it is headed to ABC…ABC Family cancelled Huge…Robert Patrick will appear on the new season of Big Love…Oxygen is working on a new reality show that follows Paris Hilton around in her day-to-day life…TLC has a new show featuring Brad Garrett talking with kids about current events in development. Ryan Seacrest Productions is making the show…Peter MacNicol will do a multiple episode arc on Grey's Anatomy…The new 9 episode season of MTV's 16 and Pregnant begins on October 26th…Lara Flynn Boyle is in talks with E! for a reality show about her life as she splits time between acting in Hollywood and living with her real estate developer husband in Texas…Keeping Up with the Kardashians gets a second spinoff later this year with Kourtney and Kim Take Manhattan…Sara Rue will be doing several episodes of Rules of Engagement as Jeff and Audrey's surrogate. Also, Joan Collins will guest as Russell's Mom…Krista Allen will appear on Life Unexpected…Syfy picked up a second season of Haven…NBC will air the two hour special Women of SNL on Monday 11/1, featuring classic sketches as well as new material…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
The top thing I watched since the last column went to press aka The Best of What's Around…
I frequently sing the praises of The Dish on these pages but with the show celebrating its 100th episode last weekend I thought it a great opportunity to remind you of just how funny this show is. Yes, it covers very similar material as The Soup, and yes, being on Style it may aim a bit more towards female viewers, but to both I say, so what? Pop culture is not hurting for targets rich for skewering so there is more than enough room, and even when both shows cover the same clips, the punch lines are always different (and frequently equally funny).

Host Danielle Fishell belongs on the short list of TV's Funniest Women, below Tina Fey, Kristin Wiig, and Amy Poehler…and that's about it. She is rarely, if ever, mean spirited in her barbs but that doesn't stop her from being brutally – and hysterically – honest at times, especially when dealing with reality shows. The distinction between her style and that of Joel McHale is that Joel seems to be coming from a "why would anyone watch this?" perspective with his high quality comedy while Danielle is much more "the voice of the viewer", if that makes sense. And no, my super secret crush on her has not influenced the high esteem I hold her in one iota, I swear.

The highest praise I can give the show is to say that anyone who watches and enjoys The Soup should be watching The Dish. This is not to say that someone who doesn't like The Soup might not still enjoy The Dish, just that the shows are like fraternal twins, another something I happen to know a little about.

People Say I'm Crazy Doing What I'm Doing. Well, They Give Me All Kinds Of Warnings To Save Me From Ruin
What's flashed before my eyes the last seven days…I know some have been disappointed with Grey's Anatomy so far this year but as I said last week, I very much enjoy that they are spending time dealing with how the events of last spring's finale have changed the lives of the characters. Also in the plus category is the work of Kevin McKidd, whose speech to Christina at the end of last week was fantastic. And much love to Sandra Oh as well for her work last week. I was amused that the show acknowledged in the opener what fans have known for a while, that the central love story of the series is Meredith and Christina…Just when I thought Community had made retro as current as they could, they go and have a popping & locking contest. Words cannot do justice to my affection for the series…Forgot to mention how great Heather Morris and John Stamos were on Glee last week. There appears to be no sophomore slump for the kids of New Directions…The League may still try a bit too hard to make everything come together at the end of each episode with Seinfeldian glee but that doesn't mean it's not a DAMN funny show…Mike and Molly has really grown on me, with the last scene this week showing more heart than anything I have seen on a CBS sitcom since The Class was so unjustly cancelled. Now if they could just do something about Molly's sister, like ship her off to Two and a Half Men…Every week I search for a new way to tell you just how great a show Terriers is and yet the ratings are still low, so I was thrilled to get two emails from readers last week telling me how much they loved it. This is a remarkably well acted, well written, and well filmed dramedy that is finally giving Donal Logue the showcase for his abilities. Some TV you watch and you feel bad for enjoying it, and some shows, like Terriers, remind you of just how good the medium can be…As much as Gossip Girl tries, its characters don't emotionally connect with the audience in any way close to the bond between One Tree Hill and its fans. I compare them because they are both on The CW and have a similar target demographic, but one has people that seem at least somewhat realistic, and the other just a lot of pretty people in nice clothes. I mean, how many times is hearing someone declare war on someone else actually fun?...Obviously I don't watch One Tree Hill for the realism but the idea that two people were shot in the stomach and/or chest and lay bleeding for 48 hours yet neither ended up dying defies any sense of logic, TV or otherwise. I thought they had a great opening to use Clay's death to introduce the new character of Will, but they went with Will dying and donating his organs. For some reason this bothers me more than when the dog ate Dan's heart….Martha Plimpton is well on her way to a Norty nomination, as is Raising Hope, which has not had any drop in quality or comedy in its first three episodes…The premier of Law and Order: LA was nothing fantastic but Alfred Molina (his first TV series) and Skeet Ulrich (his first series since Jericho) both shined…How heartbreaking was the last scene of The Big C, with Cathy finally telling someone about her cancer before throwing a just kidding in because she couldn't deal with the emotional intensity of her brother's reaction? …I had thought that Chris Colfer's Emmy nomination was a bit of a head scratcher - he was good, but not one of the five best supporting actors in TV comedy good - but this week's Glee had me rethinking that assesment. He carried the episode on his shoulders and most likely has a second nom all locked up. Overall the episode did a great job examining highly volatile subject matter and did so staying completely in tone with the rest of the series, which is a tall order most shows fall short of when attempting similar themes...Loved Brick finding out about all the lies Mothers tell their kids on The Middle this week...

TV Pick Of The Week
The folks at 30 Rock go out on a big limb this week when they do a live episode! Sure, the comic timing of this bunch is as sharp as it gets after five seasons but there's nothing like live television to get the nerves going. ER and Will and Grace each did live episodes on NBC in years past with success, and the Fox comedy Roc did an entire season live in the early 90's, so this isn't groundbreaking in any way, but the plan is for them to change things up when they do it a second time for the West Coast, which is pretty cool.

Here are some outtakes from the show, to give you an idea of what may happen when things are live…



Don't miss 30 Rock live, Thursday at 8:30 pm on NBC.

Hope You Need My Love, Babe, Just Like I Need You
Here is some other noteworthy programming of the next seven days…

*TLC premieres its new reality series Auctioneer$ tonight at 10 pm. I am pretty sure you can get everything you need to know from the title.

*TBS and TNT share the Wild Card round this weekend, with games on Saturday at 5 and 8:30 and a quadruple header on Sunday with first pitches at 1, 7, 4:30, and 8 pm.

*Judd Nelson stops by Two and a Half Men (9:00 pm, CBS) Monday night.

*Cynthia Nixon begins her recurring role on The Big C this Monday at 10:30 pm on Showtime.

*Haley and Mia from One Tree Hill stop by Life Unexpected on Tuesday night in a good old fashion crossover episode.

*Teen Mom, which would get a ton of publicity about the ratings it pulls in for MTV if not for a little show called Jersey Shore, brings its current season to a close Tuesday at 10 pm.

*The Vanilla Ice Project (9 pm, Thursday, DIY) finds the former pop star enjoying his new career renovating houses. This show not being on VH-1 is the first sign that it very well might be better than you think.

*Ann-Margret, who won the Best Guest Actress Emmy last year for her episode of Law & Order: SVU may be going for two in a row with her performance on Thursday's CSI (9 pm, CBS).

*I must admit to be pretty pumped for the premiere of Food Feuds (10 pm, Thursday) on the Food Network. Iron Chef Michael Symon travels the country as the ultimate judge on restaurant rivalries.

*The latest city to get their own Real Housewives franchise is Beverly Hills, and it premieres Thursday at 10 pm on Bravo.

Two Tivos To Paradise
30 Rock, After the Catch, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antiques Roadshow, Archer, Big Love, Bones, Bored To Death, Breaking Bad, Brothers & Sisters, Burn Notice, Celebrity Apprentice, Cake Boss, Chopped, Chuck, The Closer, Community, Cougar Town, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, The Dish, Entourage, The Event, Eureka, Fact or Faked, Flipping Out, Food Network Challenge, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, Ghost Hunters International, Ghost Lab, Glee, The Good Guys, Gossip Girl, Great Food Truck Race, Grey's Anatomy, The Hard Times of RJ Berger, Hawaii 5-0, House, How I Met Your Mother, How To Make It In America, Hung, If You Really Knew Me, Iron Chef America, Justified, Kate Plus 8, Last Comic Standing, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Launch My Line, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Life Unexpected, Mad Men, Make Me A Supermodel, Man v. Food, Medium, Men of a Certain Age, The Middle, Mike and Molly, Modern Family, Next Food Network Star, Next Iron Chef, The Office, One Tree Hill, Paranormal State, Parks & Recreation, Private Practice, Project Runway, Psych, Raising Hope, Real Time With Bill Maher, Rescue Me, Royal Pains, Rubicon, Rules Of Engagement, Sanctuary, Saturday Night Live, Shear Genius, So You Think You Can Dance?, Sons of Anarchy, The Soup, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, Sports Soup, Supernatural, Table For 12, Terriers, Top Chef, Top Chef: Masters, Top Design, Torchwood, True Blood, V, The Vampire Diaries, Warehouse 13, Web Soup, Worst Cooks In America,

People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. Next week, same space, more news, blah blah blah. Enjoy the long weekend!

Feedback is encouraged via the comments section below as well as [e-mail].

Sources for this week's column include Daily Variety, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, and Hollywood Reporter (plus the web sites for those publications) as well as Aintit.cool.com and Deadline.com.