Two Tivos To Paradise 04.08.11: 30 Rock, The Office, Game of Thrones, Grey's Anatomy, and more!

Posted by Al Norton on 04.08.2011

News on 30 Rock possibly coming to an end, more possibilities for Steve Carell's replacement on The Office, a look at Game of Thrones, thoughts on Grey's Anatomy's musical episode, Glee goes Gaga and more!



Hello friends. Today is one of my two or three favorite days of the year, opening day at Fenway Park. This marks the 16th year in a row I will be in attendance and there is nothing that relaxes me more than taking my seat in row 1 of section 36, looking out at the field, and knowing that the baseball season is upon us. And yes, I still feel this way despite the hometown team's slow start.

Even cartoons get a reboot; witness the new ThunderCats…



I know I haven't mentioned my weight loss pledge in a while and that's because for most of 2011 I had dropped the ball. Ash Wednesday came along and I gave up all carbonation, at the same time cutting my eating and adding exercise to my daily schedule, and I'm thrilled to tell you I am 24 pounds lighter as of this writing, just a shade under half way to my goal with a little over three months to go. It just gets harder from here but I am confident I can make it happen!

Here's the latest trailer for TNT's Falling Skies…





A reminder that if you're reading this column you really should be following us on Facebook, too. Go to the Al Norton's Two Tivos To Paradise page and click like and you'll get all the headlines as they happen, plus some exclusive content/commentary as well.

You're from a whole other world, a different dimension, you open my eyes and I'm ready to go, lead me into the news.

I Woke Up Crying Late At Night When I Was Very Young, I Had Dreamed My Father Had Passed Away And Gone
The "Who is Replacing Steve Carell on The Office Sweepstakes" took an very interesting turn this week when three new names were announced as appearing in the season finale; Ray Romano, James Spader, and Catherine Tate will be joining Ricky Gervais and Will Arnett playing candidates for the branch manager position at Sabre's Scranton location. Will Ferrell is guesting on four episodes and his character will take over the job but he will be gone before the last episode of the season airs at the end of May, so he is not considered a long term option for the show.

It seems like the job would be between Spader and Tate; Romano has a job with Men of a Certain Age (which recently won a Peabody), Gervais doesn't have interest in taking the job full time, and Arnett has a pilot with NBC. While it's possible the producers might wait to see if the show gets picked up, the strong cast (Arnett, Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph), and writing/producing team (Lorne Michaels is an EP and the show was created by Emily Spivey, who wrote for SNL and The New Adventures of Old Christine) make it likely the show finds a spot on the fall schedule.

That leaves Spader, best known recently for his work as Alan Shore on The Practice and Boston Legal, which won him three Emmys, and Tate, who is a relative unknown here in the states but has starred in The Catherine Tate Show and Doctor Who in England. Because I am not as familiar with Tate's work it's hard for me to comment other than to say she may have Gervais in her corner, which is no small advantage, but I will say I really like Spader as an option. He proved his ability to shine when dealing with the absurd through much of his work with David E Kelley, not to mention a phenomenal guest spot on Seinfeld a few years back.

I also love the choice of Romano to appear on the finale; while many fans of The Office may think themselves way too hip and clever for the liked of Everybody Loves Raymond, the show at its peak was not only funny but also insightful into life as a married couple with kids, and folks who don't think he is Office-worthy have clearly not watched any of Men of a Certain Age, where he has proved himself to be an actor of surprising range.

I Need You To Soothe My Head, Turn My Blue Heart To Red
An eventful week in the world of network news, to say the least. On Tuesday The AP reported what been rumored for months, that Katie Couric would leave The CBS Evening News when her contract expires in June and would look to launch a syndicated daily talk show in the fall of 2012. Later that day multiple outlets had the story that Meredith Vieira would not be renewing her Today Show contract when it expired in the fall, and then on Wednesday Entertainment Tonight told the world that Matt Lauer had informed NBC that he would not be renewing his deal with The Today Show, meaning he would finish his run with the show in December of 2012.

Couric's departure is hardly news as it's been discussed almost since she took the job, and the biggest question is where her talk show lands, as in, will one of the networks try to grab it away from syndicators; one of the reasons there is such a hole in the daytime talk show lineup is that OWN gobbled Rosie O'Donnell up after it was assumed her show would be syndicated, filling the gap created by the loss of Oprah.

The Today Show news is somewhat of a bigger deal as NBC has dominated the morning network wars for years now and two new co-hosts in two years would potentially open the door for ABC to make up some ground (CBS usually runs a very distant third). It's likely that they would promote from within on one of these two job openings, with Natalie Morales and Anne Curry being the frontrunners for Vieira's chair and Brian Williams and Lestor Strong possibilities to take Lauer's seat. I wouldn't be surprised to see them try to start grooming a guy now, maybe someone with a higher profile but less experience, so they have a year and a half to get the audience used to him before the switch happens. No idea who that might be but I heard Mario Lopez just signed up for some poli-sci classes.

One Night At The Disco I Wanted To Dance Slow, I Saw A Sweet Baby, Such A Fine Lady
HBO's high profile new series Game of Thrones premieres later in the month but they have made the first 14 minutes of the pilot available for your viewing pleasure…

Game of Thrones Exclusive Preview

Thrones is based on George Martin's best selling series of A Song of Fire and Ice novels, although that is not really why I am looking forward to it. The appeal to me is based on my feeling that almost everything HBO does, they do well, and that David Benioff is on board as a writer/executive producer/showrunner; his novel The 25th Hour was one of my favorite books of the last 10 years and he also wrote the screenplay for the fantastic movie version directed by Spike Lee, so I am more than wanting to see what he does with this. It's interesting to me that Benioff's co-showrunner is another novelist – Dan Weiss – and it shows the network recognizes how complex the source material is and that they need people familiar with the complexities and depth of books to handle the material being transitioned to television.

Sunny Day, Sweepin' The Clouds Away, On My Way To Where The Air Is Sweet
Our newest feature here at TTTP – the Sesame Street video of the week…



Like A Coin In Your Mint, I's Dented And I'm Spent With High Treason
Pilot season is winding down but there is still some news to report…

ABC
Jennifer Johnson, current showrunner for Chaos, has taken a similar position with Georgetown, a political drama pilot…

CBS
Greg Coleman (Cold Case) has landed the showrunner position on the high profile pilot Person of Interest, starring Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel and produced by Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams…Vince Uncensored, which already has the impressive headliner due of Michael Chiklis and Elizabeth Perkins, added Maz Jobrani (Better off Ted) and the legendary Georgia Engle (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Everybody Loves Raymond)…

NBC
The untitled comedy about a young Doctor who joins his family's medical practice has quiet the interesting cast; Jere Burns and Jean Smart play the parents, and Christopher Lloyd has now signed on as the Grandfather. The lead is Andrew J West, best known for his work on Greek and Privileged and the show comes from Dan Goor, who has Parks and Recreation, The Daily Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien on his resume…TTTP fave Jennifer Coolidge will guest in the untitled comedy starring Adrian Pasdar and Sarah Paulson…

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
Grey's Anatomy's musical episode was the most watched scripted show of the night in both totals and demos, up 30% in the latter…Wipeout dropped 17% to a season low…Private Practice was up 4% in the demos…American Idol was up 5% in demos and 3% in totals from last Thursday and ran roughshod over everything else…Not a great night for CBS, with The Big Bang Theory and Rules of Engagement hitting season lows and CSI & The Mentalist dropping as well…

FRIDAY
Camelot was the most watched series premiere in Starz history…Shark Tank won 8pm in the demos while the series premiere of Chaos finished tied for 4th, putting up season low numbers in that time slot for CBS…CSI: NY was the night's best scripted demo performer while Blue Bloods was the most watched show of the night, although both were down from their last new episode…Dateline was down 28%...20/20 had the night's best overall demos…

SUNDAY
The Borgias was the most watched Showtime series premiere in 7 years…The Killing was the second best series premiere in AMC history and pulled in more viewers than Mad Men's previous season average…The Kennedys became the most watched telecast in Reelz network history… CBS coverage of The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards won the night, up in demos from last year…Desperate Housewives dropped 18% in the demos with its first new episode in a month while lead out Body of Evidence, running in the Brothers & Sisters time slot as a way to provide an additional showcase, was down 35% in the demos from its Tuesday premiere…America's Next Great Restaurant was up 8%, the second week in a row of gains…

MONDAY
3.3 million people tuned in to the premiere of WWE Tough Enough, with 2 million of them in the 18-49 demo, so USA was quite happy…The season finale of Harry's Law hit a season low, down 19%...The NCAA Championship game was down double digits from last year but up from 2008 & 2009…Castle was down 9%...Dancing with the Stars dropped 12%...The Event was even with last week's season/series low…

TUESDAY
Not a great night for ABC; Dancing with the Stars dropped 28% in the demos while Body of Proof was down 23% in its second Tuesday at 10pm outing. Both did win their timeslots in demos…NCIS hit a season low, down 8% in the demos, although it's 18.8 million viewer totals will still rank number one for a scripted show for the week…Both The Biggest Loser and Parenthood matched last week's numbers..The Good Wife was up at 10pm…

WEDNESDAY
It's been three years since a comedy's season premiere did as well in the demos for Fox as Breaking In did, and it held on to its American Idol lead-in better than any comedy in four years…American Idol pulled in 22.5 million viewers, which will be tops for the week…Survivor: Redemption Island tied last week's demo season low…Mr. Sunshine finished its season up 14% in the demos but those numbers still weren't very good…Off the Map finished third in demos and totals at 10pm and is a lock to not return in the fall…SVU won 10pm in demos while Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior won in totals…

All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…30 Rock's producers denied star Alec Baldwin's quote that the show would end after next season's sixth season. Baldwin has said for some time that he would not renew his deal after next season…Glee's April 26th episode – Born This Way – will run 90 minutes and showcase the music of Lady Gaga…Deadline.com says Oscar winner Javier Bardem is in the final stages of contract talks to star as Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower, a project which includes three big screen movies and two seasons on TV. Bardem would only appear in the first TV season as the second, which would run between movies two and three, is set to be a prequel…HBO announced their summer premiere dates for True Blood (June 26th), Curb Your Enthusiasm (July 10th), and Entourage (July 17th)…Jeff Daniels has now officially signed on as the lead in Aaron Sorkin's HBO pilot More as the Story Develops…The legendary Burt Reynolds will co-star with Leanne Rimes in the CMT original movie Reel Love, about a girl who has made a life for herself in the big city but has to return to her small town beginnings after a family emergency…David Rasche will do multiple episodes of the new season of Bored to Death…Speaking of recurring roles HBO series, Gina Gershon will appear on How to Make it in America…Walt Becker, who directed Wild Hogs, and is teaming with Dave Caplan (The George Lopez Show, Rizzoli & Isles) on U-Boat, a cop buddy series for TBS…Gene Simmons will guest as himself on a May sweeps episode of Castle…Country music superstar Miranda Lambert is working with ABC Family on a new series based on Lambert's parents; her Dad was a retired police officer who teamed with her Mom to run a private detective agency. This untitled show would have their kids getting involved with the cases, too…Former head of NBC Ben Silverman is back at the network with Fashion Star, a new reality show set for 2012 that finds designers competing to get their lines in stores. Elle McPherson will host…The third season of Style's Jerseylicious premieres May 15th while Food Network's 24 Hour Restaurant Battle is back for a second go round on April 21st…Last Friday The Tonight Show had the most recently eliminated American Idol contestants on, a trend that will continue the rest of the Idol season…Cinemax is thisclose to giving a 13 episode first season order to Chemistry, a dramedy described as a high class version of Red Show Diaries. Sold….Mary McDonnell has been upgrade to full time regular cast member status for the final season of The Closer, fueling speculation that she will be the boss on the expected spinoff series Major Crimes…Deadline.com says Hope Davis will star opposite Tea Leoni in the HBO pilot Spring/Fall, about two longtime friends who run a fashion line…Desperate Housewives' narrator Brenda Strong will play Bobby Ewing's new wife on TNT's Dallas reboot…Adult Swim will premiere Black Dynamite next spring…Fox has picked up a second season of Bob's Burgers…Showtime picked up 12 episode first season of Homeland (thriller starring Damian Lewis, Claire Daines, Mandy Patinkin) and House of Lies (dark comedy with Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell)...Hope you're ready for more of the Jersey Shore gang as Snooki & JWoww and DJ Pauly D are getting spinoffs, with MTV giving both shows 12 episode first seasons...

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 am not really sure if Grey's Anatomy's musical episode last Thursday was the best thing I watched this week but it certainly was the most memorable, in ways both good and bad. If the episode had ended 10 minutes in, after a very moving version of Chasing Cars that showcased the vocal talents of Sara Ramirez (a sure thing), Chandra Wilson (not surprising) and Kevin McKidd (a bit of a shocker) I would have thought it was amazing, packing quite the emotional punch. As you may guess given the show's hour long time slot, it did not end 10 minutes in.

There were several glaring issues with the rest of the outing, much of which can be summed up by acknowledging that this was a musical episode put on by people who don't do musicals, so the pacing was off and the transitions between dialogue and music anything but seamless. It also seemed like much of the cast thought they had to act differently because it was a musical; Chyler Leigh has a fantastic voice but her "I don't hate you" to Mark was perhaps the single worst line reading in series history. Jesse Williams didn't do his talents justice with his performance as well. Also, what was the point of bringing Addison on only to give her three lines of dialogue and no real singing?!?!

The other big problem I had with the hour was the inconsistent logic of the premise; in the beginning it seems clear that what we are seeing/hearing is the way Callie's brain is processing everything after a major trauma, hence the random singing. That's fine and works great for the opening but there is plenty of singing that takes place when she is not around, so then we are not seeing things through her eyes/hearing through her ears but rather everyone just happens to be singing. I suppose you could argue that what we were seeing was her imagination but that's just not true because we saw key plot points unfold that have nothing to do with her.

When doing an episode like this you should go one of three ways; make it all a dream or one person's imagination, make the singing a plot point (a la the spell in Buffy's Once More with Feeling) or don't acknowledge it at all, treating it like it's simply what people do, at least for that half hour/hour. By creating a conceit but not holding to it you end up looking like a time travel movie that rewrites the rules halfway in. Am I treating this too seriously? Of course I am. I mean, have you met me?

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the hour because I did, greatly. Sara Ramirez pretty much guaranteed herself a Norty nomination as she carried these 60 minutes on her shoulders and did so amazingly. Along with the aforementioned Chasing Cars, the standout musical numbers were How to Save a Life (obvious, of course, but well done and moved the story along) and a show stopping version of The Story by Ramirez that closed the hour.

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 …





How can you not love that clip?!?! The choice of Taylor Hicks was a masterstroke of comedy…Tim Daly deserves some type of award for his ability to rise above much of the Private Practice absurdity and still bring elements of real emotional drama to the show…Chaos was WAY better than I expected, with a top notch cast generating some quality laughs and keeping the tone both funny and at time tense, a tough combination. I would be much more excited for the show if CBS hadn't thrown it on Friday nights at 8pm in April with no lead-in and no real hype, essentially taking a, "we made it, we might as well show it" attitude…One of things I really enjoyed about Elton John's SNL hosting gig was the way he actually told jokes during his monologue; it seems like that happens less and less. Also liked the Knights of the Realm sketch, and I always love the ESPN flashback sketches – the product placement jokes are always a riot, thanks in no small part to Jason Sudeikis' delivery…I tried to watch Body of Proof but just couldn't get past the feeling I was watching a show put together like kitchen soup – start with some House, throw in some of the CBS formula, mix in a strong female lead character that ABC does well, and you're left with a wholly unoriginal series despite Dana Delaney's best efforts…The last two weeks of Justified have been as good as TV gets, with rich character scenes mixed in with plot points that move the story along. As I mentioned last week, the casting on the show is dead solid perfect…The Soup Awards were as entertaining as advertised, although I am very disappointed Jerry the Pool boy didn't win…I think it's time I stopped referring to Parenthood as the best drama on network TV and simply call it one of the best dramas on TV, period. This past week's hour was phenomenal, with acting and writing that rang authentic in a way that has become the show's trademark…Auction Hunters is certainly a fun little show, with a large part of the appeal being the small time nature of the guys. Yes, they want to hit it big, but they need to hit at least something to keep paying their bills…The Hard Times of RJ Berger is three episodes in to the new season and proving that last year was no fluke; this is one of the most genuine comedies on TV, and even when a plotline ends up being a bit of a cliché, the performances more than save the day…I reviewed new series Breaking In and The Killing last week but now that they've aired I'll remind you that I thought both were excellent as a way of getting you to post your thoughts below...

TV Pick Of The Week
Regular readers know how impressed I was with season one of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution – it made my list of the best shows of 2010 and Oliver was one of my TV Entertainers of the Year – so it's no shock that I am very much looking forward to Tuesday's season two premiere. This time Oliver is taking his attempts to improve the quality and healthiness of school lunches to LA and he's even less welcomed this time around.

Those who blanketly disparage reality television should really check JOFR out as it's a close-to-perfect mix of information and entertainment. I can't think of a single show other than 30 Days that has ever done as good a job shining a light on an issue important to all of us yet while fully engaging the viewer.

Don't miss the season premiere of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Tuesday at 8pm on ABC.

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

*Who Do You Think You Are (tonight, 8pm, NBC) brings its second season to a close with a look at the family tree of Ashley Judd.

*Wishing that American Idol were a little more Scotty-centric? Then CMT's Next Superstar, which premiers tonight at 9pm, might be just what you've been looking for. It's Country Idol, even down to Nigel Lythgoe as the executive producer. The season premiere of The Singing Bee serves as the lead-in.

*Colin Quinn's off, and then on Broadway one man show Long Story Short comes to HBO this Saturday night at 10pm.

*The Judds (Sunday, 9pm) is a new reality series on OWN that follows the Mother-daughter superstar duo on their reunion tour.

*The Comedy Awards (Sunday, 9pm, Comedy Central) has the potential to be funny and entertaining but part of me wonders if comedy and awards shows really mix.

*River Monsters (Sunday, 10pm, Animal Planet) is back for another season…





*Thirteen makes her first appearance of 2011 on tonight's House, and apparently she's been in prison. Fingers crossed Sybil Danning was the warden, fingers crossed Sybil Danning was the warden.

*Law & Order: LA returns on Monday at 9pm with two new episodes, and by 10:59pm you may almost feel like you're watching a different show than what debuted last fall. That's not a bad thing, especially since Alfred Molina will get more time to shine, although I can't think of a series that has hit the reset button mid-season like this to point to as an example of success.

*Season one of Syfy's version of Being Human comes to a close Monday at 10pm…





*Paranormal State, or as I like to call it, Dawson's Ghosts, kicks off a new season with episodes at 10 and 10:30 pm.

*Season 7 of Deadliest Catch premiers Tuesday at 9 with an opening few minutes that series creator/producer Thom Beer says is guaranteed to leave you in tears, unless of course you have a heart of stone.

*Tuesday is cable series premier night, with two new reality series (Braxton Family Values at 9pm and Sinbad: It's Just Family at 10pm) on WE while Comedy Central debuts Sports Show with Norm McDonald at 10:30pm.

*As I've mentioned previously, series that sit on the shelf for months and months and months usually air this time of year as a way for the networks to get some return on their investment and maybe catch lightning in a bottle, as is the case with ABC's Happy Endings, a comedy about a group of friends dealing with a wedding between two of them that was called off.

*Paul Reiser returns to NBC with his new comedy, The Paul Reiser Show (Thursday, 8:30pm. Good thing he was available to do it or they would have had to totally rework the concept…





*Will Ferrell starts his four episode run on The Office (NBC) this Thursday at 9pm.

*If I made a list of my favorite Craig Ferguson guests, Kristen Bell would be at-or-near the top, so it's worth mentioning that she's stopping by The Late Late Show (CBS, 12:35am) on Thursday night.

Two Tivos To Paradise
30 Rock, After the Catch, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antiques Roadshow, Archer, Auction Hunters, The Big C, Big Love, Boardwalk Empire, Being Human, Bones, Bored To Death, Breaking Bad, Breaking In, Brothers & Sisters, Burn Notice, Celebrity Apprentice, Cake Boss, The Chicago Code, Chopped, Chuck, The Closer, Community, Cougar Town, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Daily Show, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, The Dish, Entourage, Eureka, Fact or Faked, Fairly Legal, Flipping Out, Food Feuds, Food Network Challenge, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, Ghost Hunters International, Ghost Lab, Glee, Gossip Girl, Great Food Truck Race, Grey's Anatomy, The Hard Times of RJ Berger, Hawaii 5-0, Hollywood Treasure, 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, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Mad Men, Man v. Food, Men of a Certain Age, The Middle, Mike and Molly, Mr. Sunshine, Modern Family, Next Food Network Star, Next Great American Restaurant, 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, Restaurant Impossible, Royal Pains, 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, Top Chef, Top Chef Just Desserts, Top Chef: Masters, Top Design, Torchwood, Traffic Light, True Blood, V, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Warehouse 13, Web Soup, Worst Cooks In America,

People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another Two Tivos To Paradise.





We'll be back next week with a look at the final season of Friday Night Lights plus all the latest and greatest in TV headlines. Hell, we'll even throw in some snark thrown for good measure.

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, TVline.com & Deadline.com.