Two Tivos To Paradise 09.23.11: Fringe, Supernatural, Boardwalk Empire, Charlie Sheen, New Girl, Hawaii 5-0, More

Posted by Al Norton on 09.23.2011

A look at at the season premieres of Fringe and Supernatural, news and thoughts on New Girl and Two and Half Men dominating the ratings, Charlie Sheen's comeback, a recap of the Emmys, raves for Hawaii 5-0 and more!



Hello friends. I've been high on the beauty of the fall weather we've been enjoying here in Boston. Not technically fall, I know, but you can feel it in the air, and not just because the Red Sox are causing serious heart issues among the faithful. I am pretty confident they will hold on and that in next week's column I'll be mentioning them as I run down the opening week of the MLB playoffs (yes, hard as it is to believe, they start next weekend!!!).


I watched the American Horror Story pilot this weekend (review coming in a couple of weeks but I will tell you now, it's really something) so I thought I'd give you the teaser trailer…





If you didn't see our interviews with Daya Vaidya (Unforgettable) and Alison Sweeney (The Biggest Loser, Days of Our Lives), use the link at the bottom of the page to pull them up. Yes, the new recorder is working quite well, thanks for asking!

And I said, hey gunner man, that's quicksand, that's quicksand, that ain't news.

All The Gold In California Is In A Bank In The Middle Of Beverly Hills In Somebody Else's Name
The 63rd Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards took place this Sunday night. Before we get to the show itself, here is a list of the major winners…

-Drama Series: Mad Men (AMC)
-Comedy Series: Modern Family (ABC)
-Miniseries: Downton Abbey (PBS)
-Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
-Reality/Competition Program: The Amazing Race (CBS)
-Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, NBC)
-Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)
-Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, CBS)
-Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly, CBS)
-Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Barry Pepper (The Kennedys, ReelzChannel)
-Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslett (Mildred Pearce, HBO)
-Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, HBO)
-Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Margo Martindale (Justified, FX)
-Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Ty Burrell (Modern Family, ABC)
-Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Julie Bowen (Modern Family, ABC)
-Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce, HBO)
-Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, PBS)
-Directing for a Drama Series: Martin Scorsese (Boardwalk Empire, HBO)
-Directing for a Comedy Series: Michael Alan Spiller (Modern Family, ABC)
-Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: Don Roy King (Saturday Night Live, NBC)
-Writing for a Drama Series: Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, NBC)
-Writing for a Comedy Series: Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman (Modern Family, ABC)
-Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Julian Fellows (Downton Abbey, PBS)
-Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

The biggest surprise win was Kyle Chandler topping Jon Hamm, which was both a feel good moment as Chandler was recognized for his years of great work and also a head scratcher as Hamm's performance this season was his best to date and truly award worthy. Ty Burrell had my favorite acceptance speech, and I think most everyone could agree that the women nominated in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series all coming up on stage was the evening's most entertaining moment.

I particularly enjoyed the montages used to introduce each new segment of the awards, with a more diverse than usual set of shows features (Hey, USA finally made the Emmys!!!).

Jane Lynch did fine as the host, nothing that would get her asked back but nothing that she won't be able to live down, either. The sound mix did her no favors, that's for sure.

As far as the evening's low points, the two things that stand out the most were the In Memorium section being treated like a concert by the Canadian Tenors instead of a rememberance of those lost in the last 12 months. How many times did they need to cut back to them singing for long periods while at the same time omitting folks from the montage and claiming it was for time reasons.

The single worst thing about the show was the narrator who came on in between the winners being announced and them starting their speeches. I seem to recall this started a few years back with Peter Coyote at the Oscars and has now morphed into something very, very not funny.

Overall the show moved along at a brisk pace and some of my favorites won, so I consider it a moderate success.

The Reasons I Can't Stay Don't Have A Thing To Do With Being In Love
This has been a great week for Charlie Sheen, with the fired Two and a Half Men actor not only making gains in his bank account but also going a long way towards demonstrating his long term viability in the entertainment industry. Sheen was on his best behavior during a press push late last week, including visits to The Today Show, The Tonight Show and The Wendy Williams Show where he acknowledged he would have probably fired himself, too. He also presented an award at The Emmys on Sunday, wishing the folks at Two and a Half Men the best as the show continues without him. These appearances were done to promote Monday's Comedy Central Presents The Roast of Charlie Sheen, which drew the highest demo ratings for any telecast in the network's history.

Sheen's wrongful termination lawsuit against Warner Bros. was settled on Monday, with the actor receiving $25 million right away plus $100 million over 10 years as his share of the show's syndication profits.

Finally, on Wednesday Bruce Helford officially signed on as showrunner for Anger Management, an adaptation of the Adam Sandler movie that will serve as Sheen's return to TV. Helford, who worked in the same role on The Drew Carey Show and George Lopez, was the last piece needed before the series is shopped to networks, a process which should begin shortly.

Well, that didn't take long, did it? Sheen went from being a tired punchline to someone who was in on the joke in no time and now, with the ratings for the Roast in hand, can be easily packaged as an actor who the public wants to see more of. It will be mid 2012 before Anger Management makes its debut (at the earliest) and by that time even more of the bloom will have returned to the Sheen rose, at least if he manages to stay clean between now and then. I can see how FX, TBS, or Comedy Central would be interested in the ratings the show would pull in. My guess is they will try to structure a deal similar to the model Tyler Perry has used so well over the years, with a small amount of episodes in the first run and a huge guaranteed back order based on ratings triggered (as an example, 10 episodes up front with an additional 90 if negotiated ratings minimums are hit). I can already see the Rolling Stone "Rise and Sheen" cover story when the show premieres.

My Love Was True, Still You Through It All Away, Now Other Guys Will Have Me, They'll Appreciate My Love
Multiple cable networks have ordered first seasons of new shows in the past seven days so we thought we'd separate it out from the notes section.

ABC Family
*Bunhead; drama from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino about a Vegas showgirl who takes a job working at her Mother in-law's dance studio.

*Intercept; drama where a group of high tech college students solve crimes after picking up cell phone conversations.

*Baby Daddy; comedy that finds the baby-he-never-knew-he-had left at the door of a 20something guy.

*Village People; comedy in which a high powered business woman adopts a baby and the baby's teenage Mother.

MTV
*Underemployed; comedy about a group of friends struggling after graduating from college, created by Craig Wright, who wrote for Six Feet Under and Dirty Sexy Money.

*Zach Stone is Going to Be Famous; comedy starring Bo Burnham as a high school graduate who ditches his freshman year at college and hires a documentary film crew to follow him around.

*Catfish; reality show based on the movie of the same name where on-line friends meet in-person for the first time. The team behind the movie is executive producing.

*Hoods; reality show where a rich and famous celeb spends a week living in their old neighborhood. Ke$ha is featured in the pilot.

*Wait Till Next Year; reality show about the Lincoln Park High School football team and their 43 game losing streak.

*Wake Brothers; reality show about the rivalry between brothers and professional wake boarders Bob and Phillip Solvne.

In Daylight, In Sunsets, In Midnights, In Cups Of Coffee
The new fall season of TV is here! Starting this week we'll use this feature to let you know which favorites return and which series debut over the next seven days, with a little commentary on the new shows thrown in. Shows with an "*" are making their television premieres.

TONIGHT
A Gifted Man* (CBS), 8pm
The pilot I saw for A Gifted Man (it's since been partially redone) was a much different type of show then is on TV right now in that, a throwback of sorts to an era where one person would be the entire focus of a show (yes there are supporting characters but this is no team series), and where the weekly procedural stuff seems in equal balance to the larger story arc going on. It was also filmed with some very odd close-ups that were more distracting than anything else. The cast is solid, including Emmy winner Margo Martindale, but I am not sure if this quest-for-redemption is going to hold my interest. What does make it interesting is that the lead character doesn't feel like he needs said redemption, so that works in the show's favor.





Kitchen Nightmares (Fox), 8pm
Another season of people being told what f'ing idiots they are to run their restaurants the way that they do and that Gordon Ramsay wouldn't feed their food to his dog. Good times.

Supernatural (The CW), 8pm
Even a casual Supernatural fan like myself is excited to hear Carry On, My Wayward Son tonight!

CSI: NY (CBS), 9pm
To me the return of CSI: NY for another season is an example of a network saying, "hey, we couldn't find anything we liked better." Not saying they should have cancelled it, just that I can't recall one single person telling me they couldn't wait for a new episode of this show.

Dateline (NBC), 9pm
I bet you never knew there were this many crazy, mixed up murder/missing persons cases in the US, right?

Fringe (Fox), 9pm
The little show that could – perhaps the show with the biggest gap between the quality of the show and the size of the audience – returns to try to answer the question, "where's Peter?!?!?!"

Nikita (The CW), 9pm
I am not saying Nikita is great TV but it's one of the better shows the masses haven't heard of, with a really hard to find mix of fun action and drama. Nikita takes itself just seriously enough to pull the audience into its storylines but not so seriously that it can't enjoy its own outrageousness.

Blue Bloods (CBS), 10pm
This will be an interesting season for Blue Bloods; it was far and away the most watched new seres of last season but there were multiple changings of the guards in terms of who was literally running the show, with rumors of a focus more on the procedural aspects of the plot as opposed to the more character driven parts. Of course, this flies in the face of what so many said they liked about the show, and what many of the cast said they signed on for, so we shall see what sort of growing pains are in store.

SATURDAY
Saturday Night Live (NBC), 8pm
Alec Baldwin breaks his tie with Steve Martin to be become the most prolific host in SNL history. Perhaps we might see another edition of The Mimic. Also, Raidohead.

SUNDAY
60 Minutes (CBS), 7pm
Quality, in-depth news stories. Really tough to go wrong with 60 Minutes.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC), 7pm
I don't want to ruin it for you but I've heard this episode has a big ending that you might need a handkerchief for.

The Amazing Race (CBS), 8pm
While the ratings for The Amazing Race are solid if not spectacular, it's clear that this is Emmy's favorite reality competition show.

The Simpsons (Fox), 8pm
Rumors this week of Fox discussing an all-Simpons channel. I have a hard time imagining this but I could see some sort of on-demand option where fans subscribed and could watch any episode, anytime they wanted. In other news, the show is back with a new season, its 23rd.

The Cleveland Show (Fox), 8:30pm
In true network synergy, Peter Griffin stops by to visit his old friend and neighbor.

Desperate Housewives (ABC), 9pm
The 8th and final season of Desperate Housewives begins Sunday night. The show is nowhere near as good/fun as it was at the start but last season recovered a bit from how bad the previous year was. The entire cast and crew knowing this is the last go round should make for a decent final run.

Family Guy (Fox), 9pm
I've never been a regular Family Guy viewer but made the decision to add it to the Season Pass list recently so I can enjoy a full season start to finish. Watch this be the year it sucks.

The Good Wife (CBS), 9pm
CBS has moved the show to this new slot in the hopes of finding it a wider audience. There's not a lot of dramatic competition on network TV here so it may work. In case you were considering giving this high quality show a shot but haven't watched before, here's a video to catch you up…





American Dad (Fox), 9:30pm
I've never actually seen a full episode of American Dad but those numbers I ran a few weeks ago about shows that are popular with men tells me Dad has a much bigger following than I'd realized.

Pan Am* (ABC), 10pm
Unlike The Playboy Club – this fall's other new period drama – Pan Am isn't trying for any sort of deep, layered storytelling; this is a breezy hour of TV that looks great, basically a typical nighttime soap that stands out by using a different setting as a backdrop. It's not going to change your life but it's not a bad way to spend an hour.





CSI: Miami (CBS), 10pm
Put in the Sundays at 10pm slot to die by CBS, CSI: Miami actually flourished last season. Caruso cannot be killed.

MONDAY
Gossip Girl (The CW), 8pm
The oldest looking teens in New York are back and are taking their act on the road to open season four.

Terra Nova* (Fox), 8pm
I haven't seen the two hour Terra Nova pilot but I am pretty excited; I have no idea if it will be any good, I am simply confident that the cool special effects will make at least the first episode worth watching. I do love Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars, The Closer) so I am happy he is back on TV.





Hart of Dixie*
The answer is, the worst pilot of the new season. The question, what is Hart of Dixie. Truth be told, it's almost so bad that it could be campy fun, and here's why; because they weren't trying to be bad! Too frequently people almost try to be bad to get the guilty pleasure vibe going but in order to really earn it the show has to think they are making something good and it just turns out terrible (same principal with quality Hawaiian shirts – you can't go ugly on purpose), and the latter is definitely true here. I am not saying don't watch, just that you should do so with the proper expectations.





Mike & Molly (CBS), 9:30pm
I wanted to like Mike & Molly, I really did. I enjoy the cast and the material has some real potential but the episodes ended up frequently going for lowest common denominator humor, with Molly and Mike's respective Moms being the worst cliché characters that sitcoms have to offer. I will give it another shot just to see if they learned any lessons from year one.

WEDNESDAY, 9/11
Suburgatory* (ABC), 8:30pm
If it sounds like damning with faint praise when I say Suburgatory is not the worst way to spend a half hour than you are probably right. It's not great but it does have its moments and chances are I will season pass it as I am always looking for vaguely amusing comedies to watch while doing household chores. I still haven't officially replaced Gary Unmarried as my official ironing show, so this could be it!





Happy Endings (ABC), 9:30pm
The single biggest (pleasant) surprise renewal of the 2010-2011 season is back with another season of great ensemble comedy.

THURSDAY, 9/22
How to be a Gentleman* (CBS), 8:30pm
This fall has a number of new comedies and this surely is one of them. That's really the only good thing I can say about Gentleman, which was one of the least funny half hours I've seen recently. The fact that it's not THE unfunniest show of the new season says more about how bad some of these new sitcoms truly than it does about this show, which in any other year would win that designation with ease.





Private Practice (ABC), 10pm
One of my favorite guilty pleasures (and, to be fair, it does rise above that at times) is back for a fourth season of medical drama mixed around romantic hijinx. Benjamin Bratt joins the cast, and his presence makes TV a better place, so that's a plus.

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 Vampire Diaries was down 11% in total viewers and 16% in target demos from last fall but up in both from the season finale last spring…The Secret Circle opened well, holding on to 100% of its Diaries total viewer lead-in…The Wipe Out season finale was down 19% from last September's sign off…Just under 7 million watched The Jersey Shore, which posted the best demos for any show on TV on Thursday night…FX was thrilled with the season premiere numbers put up by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia…

SUNDAY
The 12.4 million total viewers who tuned in to the Emmys were a drop of 8% from last year but the demos were up 2%...E!'s pre-Emmy coverage was up 3% …NBC's Sunday Night Football won the night, up 3% from week two last season…

MONDAY
28 million viewers watched the season premiere of Two and a Half Men, a series high, and the demos topped the American Idol finale last spring. The last time a season premiere posted numbers better than this was Desperate Housewives in 2005…How I Met Your Mother enjoyed its best season premiere ever, up 31% from last fall...2 Broke Girls took full advantage of its Men lead-in to the tune of 19.5 million and the biggest fall comedy premiere in 10 years (though the last time a show started this big it was Inside Schwartz, which followed Friends and did not last long)...Hawaii 5-0 was down 13% from last fall's premiere even though its lead-in audience was doubled...The Sing Off was down 25% from its premiere last December...The Playboy Club tied Crusoe as the worst rated fall drama premiere in NBC history, coming in at numbers only slightly above those that got Lonestar cancelled after two episodes last fall...Dancing with the Stars was down 24% and became the lowest rated cycle premiere in franchise history. On the other hand, lead-out Castle was up 22%...The Hell's Kitchen Finale was up 4% from last week despite a full lineup of new competition,...Comedy Central Presents The Roast of Charlie Sheen was not only the most watched roast in franchise history but it also posted the best demos ever for a Comedy Central telecast…

TUESDAY
New Girl opened strong, up 36% in totals and 50% in demos from what Raising Hope did in that same slot last year. Even more impressive, it improved on the lead-in numbers from Glee in both totals and demos…Glee lost 30% in totals and demos from last season's opener…Raising Hope improved 17% in totals and 24% in demos from what Running Wilde did in the same timeslot last year…Big night for CBS, with NCIS pulling in 19.5 million and being up in totals (3%) and demos (7%) from last fall. NCIS: LA was up 14% and 6%, respectively, and Unforgettable topped The Good Wife's opening numbers from last season by 9% in totals and 16% in demos, winning 10pm in both categories…Dancing with the Stars first results show of the season was down 20% in totals and 33% in demos from the same episode last year…Body of Evidence was down 27% in the demos from its season one premiere last spring…The Biggest Loser opened with ratings that were 14% smaller in totals and 20% smaller in demos from September 2010…Parenthood lost 20% of last week's total audience but only dropped a very small amount in demos…Ringer was down 28% (total viewers) and 17% (demos) from week one…

WEDNESDAY
The X Factor finished first in demos and second in total viewers at 8pm and third in total viewers and second in demos at 9pm…The Middle was up 11% from last year to hit a series high in demos…Modern Family won the night in demos, up 18% from last fall…Revenge won 10pm in demos, a 127% improvement over what the debut of The Whole Truth did in that spot last year…Free Agents and Up all Night were each down 38% from week one…SVU's 2011-2012 debut was the lowest rated season premiere in series history, finishing third out of three at 10pm…CSI crushed all comers at 10pm in total viewers, finishing second in demos…

All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…
Michael Imperioli and Adrian Pasdar have joined Ed Burns and Michael Rapaport as the four leads of HBO's upcoming 40, a comedy from Entourage creator Doug Ellin about a group of friends dealing with the landmark birthday. While I love this casting I can't help but feel the snarky sneak into my brain when I think how great it is that HBO and Ellin are giving us another series about a group of white male friends…Natalie Portman is on board as an executive producer for ABC's Scruples 2, based on the classic 70's novel by Judith Krantz, which spawned a highly successful mini-series on the network in 1980…John Wells (The West Wing, ER, Southland) production company is working on an adaptation of the UK women's prison drama Bad Girls for NBC…Courtney Cox and David Arquette are developing 10 Years for NBC, a comedy that follows the ups and downs of a group of friends over the course of a decade…Jennifer Garner will executive produce Cartoon Marriage, a comedy for ABC based on the book by married New Yorker cartoonists Liza Donnelly and Michael Maslin…ABC Family renewed Make It or Break It, ordered more first season episodes of The Lying Game, and cancelled The Nine Lives of Chloe King and State of Georgia…We told you this summer how ABC had a Dr Jekyll – Mr. Hyde series in the work and now comes word that they are actually developing a SECOND show using the Robert Louis Stephenson classic as the source material, this one executive produced by Mark Gordon (Grey's Anatomy, Army Wives) and written by Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer's Apprentice). Obviously they are not putting both of these shows on the air so they're planning on going with whichever seems stronger…When The Real Housewives of New York returns for a new season it will be without cast members Jill Zarin, Cindy Barshop, Kelly Bensimon, and Alex McCord, the biggest turnover in franchise history…HBO is working with Vice Media on a newsmagazine being described as "60 Minutes for young people." Not-that-young Bill Maher will executive produce…VH-1 picked up a first season of The June Ambrose Project, a reality series that follows the stylist/designer to the stars (Sean Combs, Kelly Ripa, Kim Cattrall) as each week she tries to give a celebrity a new look…Lester Holt has been named principal anchor on Dateline, replacing Ann Curry, who is busy with her Today Show co-hosting gig now…Richard Schiff will appear on multiple episodes of Showtime's upcoming dark comedy House of Lies…OWN has picked up a six episode first season of Secret Talent Scout, a reality show where talent scouts scour the country incognito trying to find new stars…Charlie Sheen settled his wrongful termination lawsuit with Warner Brothers this week, with the rumored payout being $25 million plus $100 million for Two and a Half Men's syndication profits broken up over the next 10 years…Fox has ordered a FOURTH Gordon Ramsay show; Hotel Hell finds the angry Scotsman visiting floundering hotels/motels (Holiday Inn), inns, and B & B's accompanied by a team of hospitality experts, giving the establishments the makeover treatment. This pretty much guarantees that there will be new episodes of a Ramsay reality series on the network 12 months a year…Sam Rami is executive producing a pilot for CBS about a female FBI agent who goes undercover in a homicide department in St Louis, working cases and at the same time leading an investigation into corruption in the department…

Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
(The Best of What's Around aka The Best Thing I've Watched In The Last Seven Days)…
Hawaii 5-0 returned to kick all sorts of ass on Monday night. I know that's not the most intellectual of reviews but my reaction to the sophomore season premiere was much more visceral than cerebral as there were multiple fight scenes in the first 15 minutes. Add in having Terry O'Quinn back on my TV screen and a surprise appearance by James Marsters and I was all kinds of giddy.

While they may have gotten McGarrett out of jail a tad too easily, we did get to meet new characters, set the agenda for the new season, and get a big plot twist at the end to go along with the hand-to-hand combat sequences (and, if I may add this note, those types of action scenes are so much more compelling than a shoot out). Richard T Jones, so great on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is on board this season and conveys the integrity we'd love to have in our real life politicians.

I was a solid fan of Hawaii 5-0's first year but the opening hour for season two has me very much looking forward to what lies ahead.

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…As I mentioned last week, the new series whose rave reviews mystifies me the most is 2 Broke Girls. Kat Dennings is funny and surely deserves better than this crude, unoriginal set of lame punchlines. A great example of how forced the show is is that the new girl couldn't just have a rich Dad who cuts her off but instead has to have a fictionalized Bernie Madoff as a Father. I enjoy sexual humor as much as the next guy but "is it clam chowder or is it semen" is just not material worth my time…I am not a regular Two and a Half Men viewer but I did tune in to see the series being it's post-Charlie life and came away feeling the way I always have when I watched it; vaguely amused and wondering what all the ratings fuss was about. I thought they could have made the funeral the entire episode, giving that talented (and beautiful) group of ladies more time to shine, and I wish they had done something more original than write Ashton Kutcher's character as emotionally clueless. Also don't know why they needed to make Dharma and Greg so unhappy!...The second of the two new How I Met Your Mother's was easily the better one, and I felt that way even before Victoria – easily my favorite of Ted's non-Robin girlfriends – showed up in the last scene. The show might want to consider going away from the whole "character has video posted on the internet" plot device for a little while…The closing moments of the Eureka season finale showed why Colin Ferguson will continue on to great success when the show signs off next year; the intensity he showed as Sheriff Carter tried to save the day (and Alison) was much more so than the usual "end of the world of the week" and it added to the scene in a big way…Jeffery Ross proved his status as a comedy god on the Mike Tyson, err, Charlie Sheen Roast. I also loved that Kate Walsh took part; it's fun when people who you don't think of show up, and some of Sheen's best punchlines were directed at her…The Parks and Recreation premiere was a great indicator that the incredibly high quality of last season was no fluke…Harry's Law's changes came abruptly (that was perhaps the fastest construction job and business merger in history, not to mention how quickly they hired a firm's worth of attorneys) but the overall tone is now MUCH closer to Boston Legal than it was during the show's first season, and that's a good thing…Raising Hope returned as charming as ever, although Sabrina being so enamored with a young Jimmy was a tad creepy to me. I know they are simply following up on last season's finale and showing us yet another version of Jimmy she is in to (while still not being into the current Jimmy), but it was still a bit weird, although keeping in tone with the wonderful oddness of the whole show…Another week, another fantastic half hour of Crave. Easily my favorite food show right now…The Middle returned with a very strong hour of family comedy; making the jump to a sixty minute episode can be tough for sitcoms but the Heck Family handled it well. The very funny Ray Romano scenes helped, too…Not a fan of Top Chef: Just Desserts having EVERY SINGLE WEEK be a team challenge. It's not a team coompetition, so why shape the show this way? I'd rather have much fewer contestants if it was a matter of screen time management...

TV Pick Of The Week
I almost feel like Boardwalk Empire got a bit lost in the shuffle the last few months, with Mad Men (deservedly) winning the Emmy and Game of Thrones getting the tons of critic and fanboy love, which is really too bad since it really is one of the best shows on television. When your mixing bowl includes equal part brilliant acting (and casting), layered and long term story arcs, and incredible sets and costumes with an exquisite eye for detail and authenticity, you know what comes out of the oven is going to be tasty.





Don't miss the season two premiere of Boardwalk Empire, Sunday at 9pm on HBO.


Hope You Need My Love, Babe, Just Like I Need You
Other viewing options from the next seven days (obviously most/all of the highlights are listed above in the Season/Series Premiere Section)…

*HBO Sports re-airs the Mayweather-Ortiz fight from last weekend tomorrow night at 9:45.

*The Great Food Truck Race (Food) crowns a season two champion Sunday at 9pm.

*Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime) brings its third season to a close Sunday at 9pm.

*Trace Atkins is the latest to take part in the CMT music performance series Invitation Only.

*A new season of Sesame Street – the show's forty second – begins Monday morning on PBS; check your local listings for times.

*Showtime comedies Weeds (10pm) and The Big C (10:30pm) bring their seasons to a close on Monday night.

*24 Hours in the ER is a new BBC America reality series that premieres on Tuesday night at 9pm.





*MTV's Awkward wraps up its freshman season with a one hour episode on Tuesday at 11pm that answers a couple of big questions, including who wrote the damn letter!!!

*Season two of BBC America's brilliant police drama Luther premieres Wednesday at 10pm.

Two Tivos To Paradise
24 Hour 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, Crave, 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, Free Agents, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, Ghost Hunters International, Ghost Lab, Glee, Gossip Girl, Great Food Truck Race, Grey's Anatomy, Happy Endings, 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, 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, Outside the Lines, Parks & Recreation, Private Practice, Project Runway, Psych, Raising Hope, Real Time With Bill Maher, Rescue Me, Restaurant Impossible, Ringer, Rocco's Dinner Party, Royal Pains, Rules Of Engagement, Sanctuary, Saturday Night Live, The Secret Circle, 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, Up All Night, 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. Hey, if you haven't check out the TTTP Facebook page you really should because aside from it being a phenomenal way to stay updated on breaking TV news plus interact with your fellow TV lovers, we're going to be giving away a DVD set a week for the next six weeks, all done with contests held solely on the FB page. Come visit us, click like, and enjoy the fun!

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.