Two Tivos To Paradise 07.01.11: True Blood, The Office, Trent Reznor, SVU, Suits, Boardwalk Empire, and more!

Posted by Al Norton on 07.01.2011

News on True Blood's high-rated premiere, a new boss at The Office, Trent Reznor working on a Year Zero series for HBO, a look at NBC's new show Awake, raves for Suits and more!



Hello friends. I hope everyone is excited for the long holiday weekend, with plans to celebrate safely. We will be taking the twins to see fireworks via a family member's house on the beach on Sunday, with a very mellow 4th of July planned.

The big, or rather, not-so-big-anymore news this week is that I have accomplished my goal and lost 50 pounds! 51, to be exact. This means I get to continue writing the column beyond the upcoming anniversary edition. This also means I am now wearing shirts I haven't fit into for several years. Thanks to all of you for providing the inspiration I needed – not getting to share the TV news with all of you each week lit the fire I needed to get healthy, or at least healthier. Next stop, 75 pounds!

Here's a fantastic trailer for Boardwalk Empire's upcoming second season…

Season 2 Tease

This is just plain funny…

Nurse Jackée from Jackée Harry

Hey, who wants a free t-shirt?!?! The folks at Syfy have an Alphas t-shirt to give to a TTTP reader, so here's the deal – go to our Facebook page, click "Like" if you haven't already, and then write "Alphas looks as awesome as a Friday with TTTP" on the wall and you'll be entered to win! We'll choose a winner on Tuesday the 5th. And just to prove that Alphas, which premieres on Monday the 11th at 10pm, is really that awesome, here is a trailer…





Just own the news like the Fourth of July.

You Can Check Out Anytime You Like But You Can Never Leave
Multiple outlets are reporting that James Spader is in talks to join the cast of The Office as a regular for the upcoming season, reprising the Robert California character he played in the finale in May. Apparently the plan would be for him to get the branch manager position only to transition into the CEO job within a short period of time, so he would appear on all the episodes but the "who will be the new branch manager?" storyline would resume next season. Kathy Bates plays the current CEO but with Harry's Law was renewed by NBC so her availability is limited.

Spader certainly made the strongest – and funniest – impression on the season finale, so color me happy that he may become full time. Most seem to think the Branch Manager position will go to Jim, Dwight, or Andy, but I am still holding out hope for Pam as a dark horse as I would love to see her ever-so-slightly start to realize that Michael may have been better at the job than she thought.

I've Been A Bad, Bad Girl, I've Been Carless With A Delicate Man
Last week we told you about how five actors were being flown to New York to test with Mariska Hargitay for the new male lead on Law & Order: SVU and now we know that Danny Pino has landed the part. NBC also announced that Kelli Giddish, last seen as the star of Chase, will join the cast as the female lead, a move necessitated by Hargitay's request for a lighter workload; midway through next season Hargitay's Detective Benson will receive a promotion, meaning she will remain on the show but in a supporting capacity.

While I will let the new actors work be the deciding factor on if these are good decisions, this is a big swing and a miss by NBC as far as using casting to generate buzz. Pino was on Cold Case for seven years while Giddish fronted the failed Chase last fall, meaning producers went for folks already associated with procedurals. Why not think outside the box a bit, bringing in truly fresh faces, like they did when Jeremy Sisto joined Law & Order? Is there anyone who didn't watch SVU before that is going to now because of these two new cast members? I believe the answer to that question is no, and that's a huge missed opportunity.

I don't think any SVU fans would not watch the show in the fall because Christopher Meloni's Stabler was gone – they may have tuned out if they didn't like the new guy but they'd give it a shot first – so why not change things up a bit? My favorite of the five they were looking at was Michael Raymond-James, best known for his work on Terriers and True Blood, but he was not the only good option out there. They could have gone older male - younger female (Esai Morales & Adrianne Palicki), older female - younger male (Elizabeth Pena & Gaius Charles), or with what have been my favorite pairing, the aforementioned Raymond-James teaming up with Natalie Morales.

Again, Pino and Giddish may end up being fine but this is a case where buzz that could have lasted all summer is instead a one week story, and in a world where buzz is king, that's not a good thing.

A Beautiful And Blinding Morning, The World Outside Begins To Breathe
When the networks send out the fall pilots to TV writers they do so with a note that says that these are not for review – there are sometimes changes that go on between the spring when they get picked up to the fall when they air – but rather just for discussion (paraphrasing a bit here), which essentially means tell people if you like them but if not, don't, because they finished product might be different. Taking their feelings into account, here are some quick thoughts on some NBC pilots I have seen…

Up All Night is a riot, as you would expect any show starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett to be. Anyone who is a parent will find the script incredibly authentic and Maya Rudolph is used just the right amount in the pilot. I am hoping future episodes focus as much on Arnett's days as a stay-at-home Dad as they do Applegate's work in PR.

Grimm has some potential. You've got monsters/demons, you've got people coming to grips with their destinies, you've got people with hidden agendas…all the stuff of a fun series. It also has its share of issues, but again, let's see what happens come the fall.

And then there is Awake…





Regular readers know that I base my viewing choices on the emotional pull I feel more than cool plot twists, and the best of course is when a show has both. Over the five years I've been writing TTTP my two favorite drama pilots have been Lone Star and The Cleaner. That neither show went on to be a big hit may say something about the way my tastes match up with the majority of the American viewing public but both were stories about deeply flawed individuals trying to make the complicated aspects of their lives work out while at the same times prove themselves worthy of love.

Lone Star in particular stood out because the lead character really was trying to keep the two women in his life happy, to be a good husband for them, while also demonstrating a large amount of undeniable selfishness in that he had two wives and was running a con on their friends and families. That he was able to rationalize these things in his head was one of the things that made the hour so compelling. In general, characters with issues are much more interesting than perfect heroes, and TV in the last 10-15 years has finally come around on this.

Awake easily joins the other two on the top drama pilot lists, and it's not hard to see how it and Lone Star were created by the same person (Kyle Killen) as there are similar themes; both lead characters are trying to have it all, displaying that aforementioned emotional selfishness of being unwilling to give something up even though that's the smarter, healthier thing to do. Add in the issues of loss and grief, rarely dealt with on television, and I'm even more hooked. The cast is excellent, the dialogue sharp, and David Slade, who directed Eclipse, 30 Days of Night, and Hard Candy, does an fantastic job using the hour to totally pull the viewer into the story and the characters; when we finally do find out which character died in the crash it will feel like a genuine loss.

A lot of the media has taken to referring to Awake as Inception-like but frankly that's just lazy writing. No knock on Inception, a very good movie, but that's like saying Cujo was Old Yeller-esque.

To sum up my feelings in a sentence NBC can use for their marketing, Awake is one of the most emotionally compelling pilots I've ever seen and I can't wait for episode two!

As far as the other NBC pilots go, I've either not seen them yet or don't have anything good to say, but I will continue to check in over the summer with updates on other fall pilots that should be on your radar screen.

Let Freedom Ring, Let The White Dove Sing, Let The Whole World Know That Today Is A Day Of Reckoning
It's a long holiday weekend, meaning the cable networks have marathon programming for your viewing pleasure…

Sunday 7/3
Teen Mom (MTV), 8am, 13 episodes
Say Yes to the Dress (TLC), 9am, 8 episodes
Twilight Zone (Syfy), 9am, runs through 3:30am Tuesday morning
Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime), 10am, All of season two plus the first two episodes of season three
48 Hours (TLC), 2pm, 13 episodes
Law & Order: SVU (USA), 2pm, 9 episodes

Monday, 7/4
Cake Boss (TLC), 6am, 29 episodes
Project Runway (Style), 6am, full season 6
Royal Pains (USA), 6am, 12 episodes
Cash & Cari (HGTV), 6:30am, 9 episodes
Hoarders (A&E), 7am, 15 episodes
American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior (Discover), 9am, 18 episodes
Border Wars (NGC), 9am, 18 episodes
Bewitched (TVLand), 11:21am, 16 episodes
Law & Order (TNT), noon, 10 episodes
Love That Girl (TVOne), noon, 18 episodes
Police POV (truTV), noon, 12 episodes
Rocky (XXX), 3pm, I - V
Single Ladies (VH-1), 3pm, 6 episodes

Also, it may not be a marathon but ESPN's coverage of Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, which begins Monday at noon, is always entertaining.

Sunny Day, Sweepin' The Clouds Away, On My Way To Where The Air Is Sweet
The Sesame Street video of the week…





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
Wilfred was the most watched comedy series premiere in FX history and the strong lead-in helped Louie improve on last summer's premiere demos by 47%...Rookie Blue won its time slot in demos…Burn Notice was down from last summer but up 20% in the demos from last November's mid-season return…Suits was up 47% from what Fairly Legal had been doing in that same timeslot for USA…Love Bites was down double digits in both total viewers and demos…ESPN's coverage of the NBA Draft had its best numbers since 2007…

SUNDAY
True Blood tied a series high in total viewers with its season premiere, up 6% from last year and even with last summer's season finale. Combining the viewers from the 9 and 11pm airings means 6.4 million viewers watched…Leverage was up 10% in total viewers from last season's premiere while running even with the demos…Falling Skies was down 29% in total viewers and 25% in demos from week one but those week one numbers were so strong that this was still a very good basic cable drama showing…

MONDAY
The Bachelorette reversed the recent trend and rose in the ratings, up 9% from last week, with lead-out Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition up 15%...MasterChef was down a bit from last Monday but up from the Tuesday airing…

TUESDAY
The Voice topped the night in both totals and demos, while lead-in America's Got Talent won the 8:00 hour in both as well…Wipeout was up 6% from last week's poor showing while 100 Ways to Leave a Game Show and Combat Hospital were both down…MasterChef finished third in the demos at 8pm…

WEDNESDAY
Although The Voice won 8:00 in all measurements, America's Got Talent was the night's most watched show in totals and demos…So You Think You Can Dance was down 15% from last week…Love in the Wild lost 45% of its AGT lead-in but did win 10:00…

All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…TTTP fave Pruitt Taylor Vince will be a regular on the new season of The Walking Dead. Lauren Cohen (Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries) will do multiple episodes as well…HBO has hired Jim Uhls (Fight Club) to write the script for Year Zero, a mini-series based on Nine Inch Nails' 2007 album that Trent Reznor is executive producing. The network is working with BBC Worldwide on the project…The new animated series Iron Man and Wolverine premiere on July 29th at 11 & 11:30 pm respectively on G4. Theses series feature characters from the Marvel universe appearing on both as well as interconnecting storylines…Production on the 26th season of MTV's The Real World has begun, with a winter of 2011 premiere date expected…Natalie Dormer (The Tudors) will appear on season two of Game of Thrones…Fox announced their fall premier dates: Tuesday 9/20 – Glee, The New Girl, Raising Hope; Wednesday 9/21 – The X-Factor; Thursday 9/22 The X-Factor, Friday 9/23 – Kitchen Nightmares, Fringe; Sunday 9/25 – The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, American Dad; Monday 9/26 – Terra Nova; Monday 10/3 – House; Thursday 11/3 – Bones; Wednesday 9/23 – I Hate My Teenage Daughter…Speaking of premiere dates, ABC revealed theirs as well: Monday 9/19 – Dancing with the Stars, Castle; Tuesday 9/20 – Dancing with the Stars Results Show, Body of Evidence; Wednesday 9/21 – The Middle (one hour), Modern Family (one hour), Revenge; Thursday, 9/22 – Charlie's Angels, Grey's Anatomy (two hours); Sunday, 9/25 – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two hours), Desperate Housewives, Pan Am; Wednesday 9/28 – Suburgatory, Happy Endings; Thursday 9/29 – Private Practice; Tuesday, 10/11 – Last Man Standing (one hour); Tuesday, 10/18 – Man Up; Sunday 10/23 – Once Upon A Time…Tim Sizemore will appear on multiple episodes of Hawaii 5-0 this fall as the new head of the Hawaii PD's Internal Affairs department, meaning he will be in charge of sorting out the events of the season finale…Michelle Trachtenberg will appear on two episodes of Weeds…The latest person to throw their hat in the "New Oprah" ring is Jeff Probst, who signed a deal to host a daily syndicated talk show starting in the fall of 2012…Fox's mid-season drama Alcatraz is becoming even more of a Lost reunion with Jack Bender, who was nominated for an Emmy for directing the series finale and also served as an executive producer, coming on board to join fellow Lost alums JJ Abrams, Elizabeth Sarnoff, and Bryan Burk on the creative side along with Jorge Garcia in front of the camera…Comedy Central ordered two sketch comedy series for 2012 including one starring comedian and The League star Nick Kroll…HLN's gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Casey Anthony trial has given the network its highest rated month ever, beating MSNBC every day and even topping Fox News in the 3 – 5pm hours. They are up 98% in total viewers and 48% in the demos from this month last year…Piers Morgan was up 16% in the demos from 2010's second quarter, when CNN was airing Larry King Live in the time slot, but down 33% from the first quarter of 2011 when the show premiered…More fall premiere dates, this time from CBS: Wednesday 9/14 – Survivor: South Pacific; Monday, 9/19 – HIMYM (one hour), Two and a Half Men, Two Broke Girls, Hawaii 5-0; Tuesday, 9/20 – NCIS, NCIS: LA, Unforgettable; Wednesday 9/21 – Criminal Minds, CSI; Thursday, 9/22 – The Big Bang Theory (one hour), Person of Interest, The Mentalist; Friday 9/23 – A Gifted Man, CSI: NY, Blue Bloods; Saturday 9/24 – Rules of Engagement; Sunday 9/25 – 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Good Wife, CSI: Miami; Monday 9/26 – Mike and Molly; Thursday 9/29 – How to be a Gentleman…Joe Rogan will return as host when NBC reboots Fear Factor next year…Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, 24) has joined the cast of the Aaron Sorkin's HBO Pilot More As This Story Develops…ABC confirmed that All My Children's final episode will air on September 23rd…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
The best thing I watched in the last seven days aka The Best of What's Around…
I must admit to going into the Suits series premiere with pretty low expectations; despite enjoying just about every USA original series, the ads for this did not grab me at all, playing a bit too much like Good Will Hunting meets Wall Street, if Gordon Gecko were a lawyer. Imagine my surprise when I was hooked within the first 10 minutes, and then grew more so with every segment. Smart, funny, and fast paced, Suits is the networks best pilot since Burn Notice.

Aaron Korsh, who created the series, has last year's failed legal drama The Deep End on his resume, but I think it's as much is work on Just Shoot Me and Everybody Loves Raymond that informs his writing here; the comedy is smart and comes from the characters, not so much wacky situations. It also helps that his two lead actors know how to use their intensity for both dramatic and lighter purposes. I was not that familiar with either Patrick J Adams or Gabriel Macht before this first episode but I came away quite impressed. In fact, while I think Adams may be looked at as more of the break out star, its Macht's Harvey Specter that I wanted to know more about, to keep watching.

I'm hoping that the writers and producers take full advantage of the many, many places the law can take you; too many legal series downfall is a big murder case every week. Flip through legal journals and check out all the random lawsuits filed and use that as your starting off point.

Of course any show smart enough to cast Rick Hoffman obviously has its priorities straight. Speaking of Hoffman, when is a strong comedy writer going to come up with a buddy show where he and Tony Hale play brothers. Or a couple. Anyway.

I was truly thrilled with what a wonderful little surprise Suits was and can't wait to see if future weeks can keep up the high standards set by the pilot.

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 went into Wilfred with no expectations and ended up laughing quite a bit. It was an incredibly well made pilot and even the parts I didn't find funny were clearly exactly what they wanted to do, so I was impressed. Not sure how much life is in a show like this in terms of making sure it's not the same thing week in, week out, but I already season passed it to find out…In Plain Sight's strong season continues, with a continued emphasis on relationships as opposed to impending danger. Of course when you are doing a lot of the former, it makes for great drama when the latter appears…I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Burn Notice season premiere, which was solid but nothing special. It took me until the end to figure out why I wasn't as into it as usual and then I realized it was because they didn't help anybody; fighting superspy bad guys might be kind of exciting but it's in no way compelling from a storytelling point of view. I am looking forward to a return to the formula we've grown to love this week…Covert Affairs and White Collar have had fun starts to their new seasons, finding ways to break a bit from their standard settings but still maintain the quality (and tension) level. I'd really love to see a crossover that involved Annie and Neal meeting up…I was shocked at how shocked Justin was to go home on Food Network Star; yes, he can cook circles around most of them but that's only half the competition. Clearly the judges don't see all the behind the scenes stuff because if they did, Penny would be gone already as she comes across as perhaps the most unlikeable person on the show. Seriously, why would anyone who watched FNS want to watch a show hosted by Penny?...The single most entertaining segment I watched last week would have to be Bob Costas visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in particular their opening of baseball cards from 1989. Costas is a great guest and Fallon is smart enough to let him talk. In general I find Fallon's interviews to be the weakest part of the show – a show I greatly enjoy, by the way – as his energy and enthusiasm can't cover his stiffness. While I would enjoy less Anthony Weiner and Arnold Schwarzenegger jokes, the monologues are quick and the desk segments a riot…Any discussions of the best, most adult TV couples of the year has to include Terry and Erin from Men of a Certain Age. I don't know why it took me so long to realize Erin was played by Melinda McGraw, who made such a strong impression as Bobbie Barrett on Mad Men a couple of seasons ago. I loved Terry trying so hard, Erin telling him to take it slow, and then Terry laying everything on the line with his, "I've spent my whole life taking things slow" speech. Scott Bakula may not be up for a Norty in a couple of weeks but there is very little doubt he will next July…

TV Pick Of The Week
I know that a lot of the readers of this column are on the younger side so if you were wandering around Times Square and saw the statue of George M Cohan you might wonder who he was. One of the most prolific Broadway songwriters and producers in history, with over 50 shows running over a 20 year period. He has over 300 songs to his credit, with Yankee Doodle Dandy, Give My Regards to Broadway, You're A Grand Old Flag, 45 Minutes to Broadway, Mary is a Grand Old Name, and Over There. Cohan was also a performer himself, growing up in a family that put on a travelling revue.

Yankee Doodle Dandy, which airs Monday at 8pm on TCM, is a biography of Cohan's life, with the great James Cagney in his only Oscar winning role. At the time Cagney took the part he was most famous for playing gangsters and tough guys; the only modern equivalent I can think of is if Samuel L Jackson took the lead in a musical, and then nailed it.

To say this movie is a classic is a huge understatement; it's incredibly acted, with wonderful music, and also works as a nice little history lesson as well. Don't miss Yankee Doodle Dandy, Monday at 8pm on TCM.

Not only is TMC giving us Yankee Doodle Dandy on Monday night at 8pm but they also are airing a Marx Brothers triple bill starting just after midnight that night (technically Tuesday morning, 12:15am) that consists of Duck Soup, Monkey Business, and Animal Crackers; you younger folk who are not familiar with the brilliant comedy of the brothers Marx would do well to Tivo/DVR these as they are truly classics.

Two Tivos To Paradise
24 Restaurant Battle, 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, Burn Notice, Celebrity Apprentice, Cake Boss, Chopped, Chuck, The Closer, Community, Cougar Town, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, 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, Happy Endings, The Hard Times of RJ Berger, Haunted Treasure, 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, The Killing, Last Comic Standing, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Mad Men, Man v. Food Nation, Men of a Certain Age, The Middle, Mike and Molly, Modern Family, Next Food Network Star, Next Great American Restaurant, Next Iron Chef, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, The Office, One Tree Hill, 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 Show with Norm McDonald, Supernatural, Table For 12, Top Chef, Top Chef Just Desserts, Top Chef: Masters, Top Design, Torchwood, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, The Voice, The Walking Dead, Warehouse 13, Web Soup, Wilfred, 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 the 5th Annual Norty Awards – our picks for the best in television over the last 12 months!!! Who knows, a couple of winners may even stop by to accept.


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.