Two Tivos To Paradise 08.12.11: Seth MacFarlane, True Blood, MasterChef, Jersey Shore, Breaking Bad, More!

Posted by Al Norton on 08.12.2011

News and thoughts on True Blood getting renewed, Jersey Shore returning to huge ratings, Eureka's future, Seth MacFarlane's new Fox series, raves for The Daily Show and more!



Hello friends. I'm glad everyone pulled themselves away from their "Things I Remember About…" Facebook pages to join us for the TV news. To be honest, my favorite piece of writing this week was when I posted on the Growing Up in Brookline page, "Remember when the Glee club went to Regionals and did that killer Journey medley?" but I got not even a single comment. Not even a like. Hey, I laughed out loud when I wrote it, so that's all that matters.

My Dad and I are taking the twins on their first ever trip to the zoo this morning and I may be more excited to them. We are going to Franklin Park Zoo, where they filmed much of Zookeeper, and I am thinking of shaving my beard and seeing how many people mistake me for Kevin James.

Speaking of what I look like, thought I'd let you know that not only have I kept the 50 pounds I lost off so far, my overall total weight drop is now 55 pounds. Yea, me!

Boardwalk Empire returns next month…

Season 2 Trailer

Will Dailey, the official singer/songwriter of TTTP, has a new album coming out later this year and the first track has just been released…

Counting on Karma by willdailey

If you've got Sirius you can hear him perform at Farm Aid this Saturday on Willie's Roadhouse, and you can see him live at the Thunderbird Café in Pittsburgh on the 16th as well as at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on the 17th.


And here's the first real trailer for the new season of Sons of Anarchy…




The scars of your news remind me of us.

In The Dark, I Like To Read His Mind, But I'm Frightened Of The Things I Might Find
Fox revealed a huge host of guest voices on their animated programming for the current season, including some reprising earlier appearances and those taking part for the first time.

The Simpsons will feature the likes of Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, Keifer Sutherland, Joan Rivers, Jeremy Irons, Andy Garcia, Jane Lynch, and Armie Hammer.

Those lending their voices to The Cleveland Show include Craig Robinson, John Slattery, Carl Reiner, Fergie, Kanye West, Florence Henderson, Phylicia Rashad, Will Arnett, Darren Criss, Bruno Mars, and MLB players David Ortiz, Joey Vatto, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier.

Ryan Reynolds, Ricky Gervais, Cate Blanchett, Anna Kendrick, and Ellen Page are among those who you will hear on Family Guy.

American Dad's star power includes Cee-Lo Green, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Kathy Griffin, Patrick Stewart, Shannon Sharpe, Anjelica Houston, and the Bones team of David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel.

In other Fox news, Seth MacFarlane will executive produce Cosmos: A Time-Space Odyssey, an update on Carl Sagan's classic PBS series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Sagan's widow Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Soter, who helped Sagan create the original, will executive produce the new version as well, and Neil deGrasse Tyson will host. The 13 episode season will run in primetime in 2013, the same year that MacFarlane's new version of The Flintstones premieres on the network.

Wow, a 13 episode science series airing in primetime is one thing, but on Fox?!?!? Don't get me wrong, this is great and I hope it's a hit as it may make networks realize that they can challenge their audience with more than idiots living in a house together and people running around trying to win money when it comes to unscripted programming.

I also applaud MacFarlane using his power with the network to get them to stretch a bit. There is no question that without his involvement this project does not get off the ground, at least not with Fox.

I Got a Hot Rod Ford And A Two Dollar Bill, And I Know A Spot Right Over The Hill
Joe Bastianich is a famed restaurateur, winemaker, author, and judge on FOX's MasterChef. We recently caught up with him to discuss the show, which just hit a series high in the ratings, and next week's season finale.

TTTP: What are the differences you've found in the contestants from season one to season two, both in terms of who showed up for the open auditions and for who you have as finalists?

JB: We saw more in terms of the numbers and in the level of talent during the audition round for Season 2, and we had a much broader range of high level talent to work with, but the Season 1 finalists were great as well. Whitney Miller, our Season 1 winner is definitely up to par with our Season 2 finalists.

TTTP: How have you changed/improved as a judge with a season under your belt? What's the one piece of advice you'd love to go back in time and give yourself at the start of season one?

JB: This year I was much more comfortable with the format of the show, and having that comfort made it easier to concentrate on the task at hand.

TTTP: Were you surprised at the technical skill level of some of your contestants? I am thinking inparticular about those cheese souffles.

JB: I was blown away by how well executed those cheese soufflés were. That was pretty phenomenal- I really did not think all 4 would be able to pull it off. It was impressive, and despite it being an elimination challenge, they all deserved to stay.

TTTP: I've got to ask about Christian; how much of what we saw was his true arrogance and how much was editing? Was he as unpopular with some of his fellow finalists as it seemed?

JB: Editing always comes into play, but they can't exactly make it up either. Christian is a truly talented cook, but he gets in his own way sometimes. Maybe watching the show will be a bit of a wakeup call for him.

TTP: What other food shows do you watch on TV? Do you see an end to all the food oriented programming that is so popular now?

JB: I like Top Chef, Tom is good friend of mine. Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations is always great. Like anything else, the popularity of food oriented programming might start to cool at some point, but I don't feel that will happen anytime soon. Just seeing the number of people who came out to audition for MC tells me that more people in this country are taking an interest in food and where their food comes from.

TTTP: Touching on another of your passions, do you think we'll ever see a reality competition show about wine making?

JB: That's an interesting idea...probably tough to do since the journey from grape to glass is a year in the making…

TTTP: What's in store for these final two episodes?

JB: Next week's episodes are not to be missed. I think this season, even more so than with season 1, we got to know the contestants so well that there is a real sense of investment in how things turn out for them- I think for the viewers as well. There's a lot emotion, drama, and certainly some surprises.

Don't miss the final two MasterChef episodes of the season, Monday at 9pm and then a two hour finale on Tuesday at 8pm where a winner will be chosen.

I Ain't Gonna Do You Wrong While I'm Gone, Ain't Gonna Do You Wrong, Cause I Don't Wanna
John Walsh will receive the Governors Award at this September's Emmy Awards telecast, given annually to someone who has used the medium of television to make the world a better place. Walsh's America's Most Wanted series ran on Fox from 1998 until earlier this year and played a role in the capture of over 1000 criminals. More importantly, the show was instrumental in finding over 50 missing children. Fox cancelled the show this past spring but told Walsh they wanted to bring it back as a special 3-5 times a year if the series could not find a home on a regular network.

This is a VERY long overdue honor – one I have been championing on this page for several years – and I am thrilled that Walsh's contributions will be recognized on the network he made them (Fox airs this year's Emmy on September 10th). I can think of very few people who dedicated themselves to the public good in the same way that he has for the last 30 years, and that's after living through a hell that would cause most people to lose their minds. Instead Walsh turned his family's tragedy into a mission to prevent others from feeling the same pain and anguish.

It's not like I was not going to watch the Emmys anyway but there is no doubt that the telecast just became even more of a can't miss event.

Like A Coin In Your Mint I Am Dented, And I'm Spent With High Treason
I've been lucky enough to receive screeners for most of the fall pilots and over the summer have been making steady progress through the stack of DVD's. As I've mentioned before, they always come with notes saying they are not finished products and therefore not for review but rather to get a general idea of what the show is all about. Here's a quick breakdown of what I've seen in the terms of what I'd want to see again…

I'd Season Pass Them Today If I Could
Awake (NBC)
New Girl (Fox)
Once Upon A Time (ABC)
Smash (NBC)
Up All Night (NBC)

Entertained Enough to Keep Watching
Bent (NBC)
Grimm (NBC)*
Prime Suspect (NBC)*
Ringer (The CW)
The Secret Circle (The CW)*

Will Watch A Second Time With Low Expectations
Alcatraz (Fox)
Free Agents (NBC)
The Playboy Club (NBC)
Revenge (ABC)
Whitney (NBC)

Will Watch A Second Time Because It's My Job
I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox)
Man Up (ABC)
Man's World (ABC)

*Mrs Tivo will require me to Season Pass these shows.

Quick Notes
To clarify, I didn't think Alcatraz was particularly poorly made, it just didn't have a single character I found interesting or wanted to know more about, and I need more than a science-fiction mystery to pull me in. I like the cast – anything that puts Robert Forrester on screen gets points from me – and it certainly looks good, but it just wasn't my kind of show.

Ringer was decent enough but seemed to suffer from trying-to-hard-itis, especially with its less-clever-every-time-they-do-it use of mirrors (who do we see when we look in the mirror? is it the same person others do? Literally and figuratively, in the case of Ringer). The most succinct way to sum up The Secret Circle is to say if you watch The Vampire Diaries, you are this show's target audience and will probably want to give it a shot.

The biggest surprise to me was how charmed I was by Bent; not a lot of shows can get comedy out of a gambling addiction (it's not the main story but it does generate a couple of laughs without seeming cheap) and the leads work quite well together. Also, two words – Jeffrey Tambour.

While you might not think TV needs another musical, Smash is an adult drama about the making of a Broadway show that features a great cast doing strong work, solid writing, and yes, some spontaneous singing, although much of it finds a way to be in the context of the play by the time the number is over. Smash will be a smash, no doubt, and sadly, you'll be reading about a million variations on that line when the show premieres in January.

Actually, it's kind of interesting that NBC has three of the more interesting new shows of the season – Bent, Smash, and Awake – and they all are mid-season series. If I were them I would have watched the pilots and readjusted my schedule accordingly. Awake is still far and away the best thing I've watched this summer.

New Girl is a lot of fun and it's clear in the first couple of minutes that no one but Zooey Deschanel could have played the part. The rest of the cast does well, too, but this is her show the whole way, and she more than shoulder the load.

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
The season premiere of Jersey Shore was the most watched season opener in series history and the third most watched episode of MTV's pop culture freight train ever…Big Brother was the most watched broadcast network show of the night and also the top demo performer…Expedition: Impossible was down 13% after last week's big rebound…

FRIDAY
Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension was the most watched cable movie of the year with 7.6 million viewers and 2011's most watched scripted telecast of any kind in the 6-11 and 9-14 demos…

SUNDAY
The Glee Project hit a series high in totals and demos on Sunday night, up 16% in the former and 33% in the latter from the previous week. Compared to week one the show was up more than 100% in both…

MONDAY
Tia & Tamara was the most watched series premiere in Style history among women 18-34 and women 18-49, and considering that's the network's target audience, this was big news…Combining the original airing and the reply two hours later, VH-1's season finales did very well, with 4.6 million watching Basketball Wives and 3.3 million tuning in for Single Ladies. Overall the network had the best adult female demos from 8pm – midnight for all of TV… The three hour premiere of Bachelor Pad was up 8% from last season…Hell's Kitchen was the top demo performer of the night and hit a cycle high in total viewers…The economic crisis was good news for the cable news networks, with Fox News up 29% from its daily July average while CNN was up 21%...


TUESDAY
MasterChef hit a series high in total viewers…Hell's Kitchen won 8pm in demos…America's Got Talent sang a familiar tune – a new Tuesday low but still enough to win the night in demos…ABC's lineup of Wipeout, Take the Money and Run, and Combat Hospital were all down slightly from last week…Flipping Out hit a season high…

WEDNESDAY
A rare night of good news all around, with So You Think You Can Dance (+6%), Minute to Win It (+9%), Love in the Wild (+7%), and Big Brother (+8%) up in the demos…Big Brother was the night's top performer but SYTYCD's two hour average led Fox to a demo win…


All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…We reported last week that Eureka would air a full 13 episode fifth season next summer and then a 6 episode mini-season to serve as the show's finale episodes but Syfy announced this week that next summer's 5th season would be it. The network did agree to give the producers one more episode (bring the final season total to 14) so they could craft a real series finale…On a similar note, USA renewed In Plain Sight for an eight episode 5th season that will be the show's last...Syfy picked up a 4th season of Warehouse 13...Alan Ball is said to be thisclose to signing a deal to continue to oversee True Blood, which HBO just renewed for a 12 episode fifth season, but he's also got other projects in the works, like executive producing Banshee, a series in development at Cinemax. How's this for a plot summary – an ex-con with some serious martial arts chops poses as a recently murdered Sheriff in Pennsylvania Amish Country. It's The Riches meets Witness meets Walking Tall…TBS cancelled Lopez Tonight after two seasons, with last night's episode being the final broadcast…NBC passed on Pushing Daisies' creator Bryan Fuller's attempt at a Munsters reboot last year but new NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt has asked Fuller to take another pass at the script. Fuller's update is rumored to be a dramedy focusing on how Herman and Lily came to be a couple...Lionsgate is not confirming anything but they appear to be considering a deal to launch a Tyler Perry network, either through a cable channel they currently own or buying one and re-branding it. The network's programming would include new series/movies as well as existing product Perry has created. Considering how sharp a businessman Perry is, this would most likely be for a HUGE amount of money…ABC confirmed that the upcoming 8th season of Desperate Housewives would be the show's last, with a series finale airing in May of 2012…TNT has ordered a third season of Rizzoli & Isles…USA has officially picked up a 16 episode second season of Suits…Jay Scherick and David Ronn, who teamed to write the script for The Smurfs, have sold a workplace comedy set at a police station to ABC…Norty winner Diana Maria Riva has joined Rob Schneider and Cheech Marin in CBS' untitled comedy pilot that may get a mid-season life… Army Wives star Catherine Bell will star in the TNT movie Good Morning, Killer, an adaptation of an April Smith novel that could work as a pilot to a new series. Bell, who will play an FBI special agent, is signed on for one more season of Wives on Lifetime, a season many speculate will be the show's last....Breaking Bad writer George Mastras has sold two new projects, a legal drama to Fox TV and an action/thriller to FX…CBS is working on an updated version of Bewitched while House producers Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner are developing a modern telling of Frankenstein for NBC…Jeff Fahey and Justin Hartley (Smallville) will play brothers on an episode of Chuck…Ryan Seacrest, Harvey Weinstein, and Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino are teaming up for a series adaptation of the bestselling 2002 book The Nanny Diaries for ABC. The book was also a movie that did not do particularly well at the box office in 2007. Sherman-Palladino will write the pilot…Speaking of books/movies that ABC is looking to turn into series, the network has The Lincoln Lawyer in development…Top Chef's upcoming 9th season will take place in three different Texas cities (Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas) and feature Emeril Lagasse and Huge Acheson joining Tom, Gail, and Padma at the judge table…Lifetime has ordered a first season of American Supernanny, a version of the show that features, well, an American Supernanny. They have a nationwide search to find her going on right now…Busy week for Spike, ordering 20 more episodes of Repo Games while picking up first seasons of new reality shows Undercover Stings (following police on sting operations, from Cops creator John Langley), Big Easy Justice (following a New Orleans bounty hunter, produced in tandem by Al Roker and Jennifer Lopez' companies), American Digger (following a relic hunter, from the folks behind Auction Hunters), and Worlds Worst Tenants (following a professional evictor and property manager)…Rosanne Barr is developing Downwardly Mobile, a blue collar sitcom with 20th Century Fox. Once a showrunner is attached they will shop to networks…The CW is working on Acting Out, a comedy from Todd Graff, the writer/director of the 2003 big screen movie Camp; this series is about folks who work at a struggling performing arts summer camp. It was originally conceived as an hour long dark comedy (the description that was used was "Glee meets Bad Santa") but it's being retooled…Seth MacFarlane will host Comedy Central's Roast of Charlie Sheen, set to air on September 19th. This will be MacFarlane's third consecutive roast he has hosted…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
(The Best Thing I've Watched in the last 14 days aka The Best of What's Around)…

The Forecloser!

The Daily Show - The Forecloser
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show brings me joy.

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…





Anyone who has followed comedy for the last few years knows how amazing it is that the two of these guys sat down for this scene, and it says a lot about both of them that they would play it the way that they did. To me, right now, Louie is the second best comedy on TV, behind only Community…I've always said that characters don't have to be likeable, just interesting, and Breaking Bad is certainly taking that to extremes as of late with Walter White being anything but likeable, and yet the show still works because what he is is fascinating. You can see him think, you can see him making bad decisions and still understand why he went down that road, and you can see his blind spots, even when he can't. I can't think of any show in recent memory that has kept up this level of intensity and tension week in and week out. I know why the show isn't for everyone – those last few lines I'm sure are the opposite of what some people think of as entertainment – but for those who do watch, this is amazing stuff. The scene in last Sunday's episode where Walt and Skyler rehearsed their gambling addiction story for the family was amazing, equal parts tense, funny, and heartbreaking; the moment when she thinks he is apologizing for all he has done but then realizes he is simply trying out a line is crushing…Four episodes in and I feel exactly the same way about Awkward – funny but trying way too hard. I'm still watching, of course, so that says something…Suits may be the most surprising new series of 2011; I went in with low expectations – nothing about the ads grabbed me – and it's probably my favorite USA series right now. Not the best USA series – I think Burn Notice is still the top quality product they are making, especially this season, which has been excellent, but Suits puts me in a good mood each and every week…They're dropping like flies over at Jeff Lewis' office. What made the two recent firings on Flipping Out so interesting is that they were both so different, one a build up over time where a boss felt that someone simply couldn't do the job and one was what seemed like a small incident that just blew up…Really enjoyed the Falling Skies finale, especially the last scene, which played like Close Encounters if someone had had a gun to Richard Dreyfus' head…

TV Pick Of The Week
Food Network Star is my favorite food-based reality competition series as it mixes two things I love – food and television – and has what I think is the best judges panel in all of reality television. This season has featured a fantastic group, including the show's first genuine villain (I am not a big viewer of the type of reality TV that finds contestants plotting to sabotage each other so I found what Penny did last week to be shocking and truly awful and hope they call her out on it in the final hour), and several folks who would seem to be quite worthy of their own show.

I am pulling for Jeff in a big way but also feel that he is likely to get his own show if he doesn't win, following in the footsteps of runner up's the last couple of years. In fact, I might prefer to watch him on a show where he travels the country in search of fantastic and unique sandwiches to a daytime show where all he does is make them. In any event, he's got a future in the biz, as does the Mama's boy, Vic Mo. To me, Susie needs to win this or we'll never hear from her again, which is not a knock on her obvious cooking skills but just a reflection of how non-engaging I find her.

We'll know soon who the winner is! Don't miss the season finale of Food Network Star, Sunday at 9pm on, well, Food Network.

Hope You Need My Love, Babe, Just Like I Need You
Other viewing options from the next seven days…

*Coverage of the PGA Championship begins Friday at noon on TNT, then on Saturday and Sunday it's 11am on TNT and then 2pm on CBS.

*Yes, Karaoke Battle USA (tonight, 9pm, ABC) is really a show, and the title does pretty much tell you everything you need to know.

*The first seven episodes of The Big C's (Showtime) second season air in marathon form starting Sunday at 2:30pm.

*CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock (Sunday, 8pm, ABC) is a three hour look at the four day party that I CMA Music Festival, which gives fans access to their favorite singers in ways they usually can only dream of. Reba, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, and Brad Paisley are among those with performances.

*No Falling Skies means TWO hours of Leverage on Sunday!

*Season two of The Great Food Truck Race premieres Sunday at 10pm on Food. Season one was entertaining enough and I am hoping they've stepped things up a bit with some experience under their belts.

*The Marriage Ref brings its second – and most likely final – season to a close Sunday at 10pm with a panel that includes Bill Maher.

Two Tivos To Paradise
24 Restaurant Battle, 30 Rock, After the Catch, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antiques Roadshow, Archer, Auction Hunters, Awkward, The Big C, 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, Falling Skies, Fairly Legal, Flipping Out, Food Feuds, Food Network Challenge, Food Network Star, 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, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Louie, Mad Men, Man v. Food Nation, Men of a Certain Age, The Middle, Mike and Molly, Modern Family, Necessary Roughness, 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, Rocco's Dinner Party, Royal Pains, Rules Of Engagement, Sanctuary, Saturday Night Live, Shear Genius, So You Think You Can Dance?, Sons of Anarchy, The Soup, Suits, Supernatural, Table For 12, Top Chef, Top Chef Just Desserts, Top Chef: Masters, Top Design, Torchwood, Tosh.0, 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 all the latest in TV news and perhaps even a drop in visit from one of favorite Friends of TTTP!

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.