Two Tivos To Paradise 10.28.11: Chuck, Once Upon a Time, Awake, The Walking Dead, Homeland, Jersey Shore, and more!

Posted by Al Norton on 10.28.2011

News and thoughts on renewals for The Walking Dead & Homeland, the start of Chuck's final season, a Scrubs reunion on Cougar Town and the huge Once Upon a Time premiere! Plus a look at NBC's mid-season replacements and more!



Hello friends. A run on important days in the Norton household came to a close this week; after birthdays celebrated by both myself and Mrs. Tivo this month we also enjoyed the joyous occasion of our 9th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Nothing major – times are tough, after all – but some flowers and desert from the Cheesecake Factory were a part of the day.

If you are reading this column and you have a Facebook account there is no good reason why you shouldn't have clicked like on the TTTP FB page. Aside from staying up-to-the-second on all TV headlines, there is a lot of fun to be had interacting with your fellow TV lovers. We've hit new daily, weekly, and monthly records for interactions (likes and comments) and people seem to really enjoy themselves.

Starz is on a bit of a roll right now, and who doesn't love Jeffery Dean Morgan?!?!?




This made me laugh quite a bit…

Child Star Psychologist with Kiernan Shipka from Kiernan Shipka


Now John at the bar is a friend of mine, get's me my news for free.

Big House, 4 Whips, Hella Tattoos
The fifth and final season of Chuck begins tonight at 8pm, with the final batch of episodes totaling 13.





Chuck is one of the great TV success stories of the last decade, with its five season, 91 episode run a testament to how a show with a small but loyal audience can keep it on the air. While its first renewal was not really in doubt, ever season after has been a tough call for NBC, with a fan campaign involving Subway playing a huge role in the season three pick up in particular.

Chuck's biggest problem has always been that it's tough to sum up in a couple of words or a 30 second trailer; yes, it is a secret agent action/drama, but it's also a workplace comedy as well as a show with a moving and well layered romance. it's sort of like taking a slightly less quirky version of The Office and mixing it with, well, anything on USA. As a matter of fact, there is no doubt that is NBC Universal were to get a hold of Chuck today, it would go directly to USA programming executives. I don't know which group I find more frustrating; the NBC advertising department for not coming up with a better campaign or the viewing public for not listening to critics and fans and giving the show a chance.

Fans of the show are quite passionate, most wishing the show could continue on past this coming spring, but I am pretty sure if I took any Chuck fan aside after the end of season two and told them the show would finish up its run in 2012 with 91 episodes, they would be thrilled to death with that concept. 91 episodes is enough where the show can live on in reruns, perhaps on Syfy of TNT. Also, while they won't be playing these roles anymore, this cast will be in VERY high demand for this coming pilot season, so there's a pretty good chance you'll be seeing them again very, very soon. My biggest worry is where I am going to go to get my Jeffster fix come next year.

My Body Aches, Trying To Go Back In Time But There's No Way, I Close My Eyes But When I Do All I'm Seeing Is His Face
CSI's showrunner Carol Mendelsohn has had one of the busier pilot seasons in recent memory, with her CBS based production company – Carol Mendelsohn Prods – active with no less than six new series in development.

*Throwdown Gun, FX; written by novelist James Ellroy, about two cops, one black and one white, the crime they cover up, and the impact it has on LA race relations.

*Unearthly, The CW; adaptation of novel by Cynthia Hand, teenage girl discovers she is destined to become an angel. The pilot is written by Kevin Murphy, who created Hellcats.

*The Hallows, The CW; adaptation of Kim Harrison's book series about a witch private eye in set in a world where magic exists and is known about. The pilot is written by Jordan Hawley (Smallville).

*Two Badges, CBS; adaptation of biography by Mona Ruiz and Geoff Boucher, about Ruiz' life as a well respected cop whose husband is in jail for murder and whose son was being drawn into the gang banger lifestyle. The pilot was written by Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife).

*The Murder Room, CBS; adaptation of book by Michael Capuzzo, about top level FBI profiler who puts a team together to solve some of the most difficult cases across the world. The pilot was written by George Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum).

*Widow Detective, CBS; cop who has lost three partners in the line of duty adopts their widowed families, from the living room to the kitchen to the bedroom.

*Scent of the Missing, TNT; adaptation of book of Susannah Charleson's novel about a woman who does search and rescue work accompanied by her golden retriever. Tricia Helfer stars as the lead, with Gerald McRaney in the cast as well.

Some of these sound a little generic but Mendelsohn is quite smart as the combination of most of these ideas being from books (as in, established source material) and many involved having TV experience makes for a much smoother process.

A Beautiful And Blinding Morning, The World Outside Begins To Breathe
NBC has shut down production on their mid-season drama Awake after 5 of the 12 first season episodes have been completed in order to give time for work to be done on the remaining scripts. Howard Gordon, current showrunner on Homeland and with 24 on his resume, and Kyle Kilen, who last year created Lonestar for Fox, are both executive producers on Awake and are both in agreement on the decision to slow down to ensure quality. Since the show is a mid-season replacement, there aren't as many approaching deadlines to pressure them along.

Usually a shut down like this is a bad sign but in this case I think it's an excellent move. Awake was my single favorite pilot of the 2011-2012 season and taking the time to make sure they get everything right, especially with a plot as complicated as this one…





As I've written before, I had a very strong emotional reaction to the Awake pilot and really can't wait to see what the next 11 hours hold. What's very interesting is that three of the more interesting new shows of the 2011-2012 season were being held for mid-season by NBC. Along with Awake there is the musical drama Smash…





And the comedy Bent…




Odd that with Free Agents and The Playboy Club bombing, and Prime Suspect just barely holding on, NBC would keep three such interesting shows on the bench. Makes me wonder why the starters and the subs were put in the roles that they were. On the other hand, as a fan of all of them, I am glad they didn't rush one of them out there as a replacement without the proper build up. And with Smash set to air after The Voice in January, it's kind of a guaranteed hit. I'd put Bent right behind Community but I think it would fit with Up All Night as well.

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
For the first time in series history a season finale of Jersey Shore was down from the season finale previous, although the demos were second for all of television on the night…The Big Bang Theory was up 11%won the night in demos (tied for highest ever for the show on a Thursday) and in total viewers (second largest Thursday audience ever for the show)…Rules of Engagement opened very strong, up more than 50% in totals and demos from what How to be a Gentleman had been doing…Game Two of the World Series was down 10% from Game One…Grey's Anatomy was down but had the top drama demos of the night…The Mentalist was the most watched drama of the night and also won 10pm in demos…The Secret Circle was up an impressive 13% in the demos…

FRIDAY
20/20 giving America its first look at Mariah Carey's twins (I mean her babies!) led the show to win the night in demos, up 75% in that measure and more than 50% in total viewers…Blue Bloods was, as usual, the night's most watched show…Nikita had a nice showing, up 5% in total viewers and 20% in demos…CSI: NY won 9pm in totals and demos…Extreme Makeover: Home Edition did decently in its new time slot, and it won 8pm in demos…A Gifted Man won 8pm in total viewers…A slow start for Starz' Boss, which drew less viewers than the network's recent premieres like Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Camelot, and Torchwood: Miracle Day…

SUNDAY
Once Upon a Time posted the best demos of any new drama premiere this fall and was ABC's top new show of the season. The strong showing helped lead-out Desperate Housewives jump 10%, although Pan Am simply matched last week's numbers (to be fair, after 3 weeks in a row of drops, coming in even is a big improvement)…The huge blowout led to Sunday Night Football being down 27% and posting its lowest numbers in three years…A late NFL game and an interview with Steve Jobs biographer helped 60 Minutes jump 47%...Game 4 was the most watched World Series game of the season….

MONDAY
Hart of Dixie continues to be a bona fide hit for The CW, hitting season/series highs in demos (+33%) and total viewers (+19%)...Two and a Half Men was the top demo performer of the night – as it has been all season – but this week showed week-to-week gains for the first time all season, up in totals and demos from last week...Castle just topped Hawaii 5-0 in total viewers at 10pm but the latter crushed the former in demos...DWTS was the night's most watched show with 17 million viewers...

TUESDAY
X-Factor hit a season/series high in demos with their 2 hour, forty minute episode, winning the last hour and 40 minutes in that category…NCIS again dominated the night, winning in total viewers with 19 million (will be tops for the week, too) and in the demos…NCIS: Los Angeles was 9% in the demos for their best showing in the 18-49 group since February…Unforgettable won 10pm in totals and demos…Man Up was down 21% from last week's premiere…American Horror Story's audience continues to grow; the live viewing 18-34 and 18-49 demos were a series high and the 3 million total viewers was second only to the series premiere's 3.2 million...

WEDNESDAY
Game six of the World Series being rained out and the other networks airing mostly reruns led to a huge ratings win for ABC, with The Middle, Suburgatory, and Happy Endings posting double digit increases in demos and or totals, and Endings hitting a series high in the former…Revenge was up to win 10pm in both totals and demos…

All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…FX landed the rights to Anger Management, the sitcom that will mark Charlie Sheen's return to TV, and will premiere it in the summer of 2012...AMC picked up a third season of The Walking Dead, Showtime picked up a second season of Homeland, Comedy Central picked up a third season of Workaholics, and A&E picked up a third season of Beyond Scared Straight…E! will move new episodes of The Soup to Wednesdays at 10pm as of November 30th…Brian Grazer said publicly that the TV portion of the huge Dark Tower adaptation will air on HBO, although there has been no confirmation of that by the network. The original plan was for three big screen movies, with two seasons of TV to run in between their release…Cougar Town is hosting an all out Scrubs reunion in their upcoming season, with Zach Braff and Robert Maschio guesting on an episode that finds Sarah Chalke (she'll be a major part of this season), Ken Jenkins, and Sam Lloyd returning to Abed's favorite show…Catherine Tate will reprise her role as Nellie Bertram from last spring season finale of The Office for multiple episodes in 2012..Leah Remini has signed a deal with ABC to star in and executive produce a comedy for the 2012-2013 season…Desperate Housewives' Doug Savant will guest on an episode of the upcoming season of Hot in Cleveland…Mena Suvari will appear on American Horror Story…Josh Berman, who created Drop Dead Diva for Lifetime, is working with the network on adapting the non-fiction book Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office into a comedy series…Tom Hanks is executive producing Players, an HBO comedy about college athletes…Jon Favreau will write, direct, and executive produce the comedy pilot Tweaked, about the lives of single parents…Alan Ball's latest HBO pilot is Wichita, about a Kansas Dr who performs abortions and who finds himself center stage in the pro choice – pro life battle. Ball is executive producing with Devin Friedman, who wrote Savior vs. Savior for QG, about the late Dr. George Tiller, who was murdered by a fringe member of the pro-life movement for his work running the Women's Health Care Services facility in Wichita…NBC picked up a second season of the Survivor meets The Dating Game reality series Love in the Wild…TTTP fave Mitch Peliggi (Sons of Anarchy, Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural) has joined the cast of TNT's Dallas…Fox has renewed The Wendy Williams Show through the 2013-2014 season…In an attempt to help Pan Am change its course ABC has hired former Lost executive producer Steven Maeda as showrunner…Jenna Elfman and TTTP fave John Hannah have joined Ryan Phillippe as guest stars for the new season of Damages…The Lifetime drama pilot American Housewife is set to star Melanie Griffith and is executive produced by Griffith and her husband, Antonio Banderas…Grey Damon (Friday Night Lights) will do multiple episodes of The Secret Circle…Oxygen has ordered first seasons of The Eva Marcille Project (former ANTM winner's life as an actress/model) and LA Style (four celebrity publicists), both reality series…TTTP fave Jennifer Coolidge is having a recurring role on 2 Broke Girls written specifically for her; she will play a new neighbor of the two leads…MTV cancelled The Buried Life after two seasons…Fox has confirmed that both Chord Overstreet and Jonathan Graff will return to Glee for multi-episode runs later this season…When Bizarre Foods returns for a new season in January it will be US based; Bizarre Foods America finds everyone's favorite crazy eater Andrew Zimmern finding out what sort of odd things are being eaten in our country's kitchens and backyards…Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Road production company has sold three comedy pilot scripts to NBC; DILFS (30something Dads dealing with maturity issues), Fat Rob (former rap star dealing with his fame and his family responsibilities), and Rick (adorable dork who marries an older woman and has a step-son his own age)…

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)…
Dark is the word when it comes to TV dramas the last few years, and it's meant great things for the overall quality of television, but sometimes all that darkness has you longing for something more traditional, more warm and fuzzy in its good vs. evil battle, which is one of the reasons Once Upon a Time was such a wonderfully charming breath of fresh air on Sunday night.

The women of OUAT really stand out, including a smartly underplayed turn by Jennifer Morrison and a star making performance from Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen. This is a women's world, with the men either boys, side notes, or in comas, and that's a nice change of pace from most of prime time.

Obviously I have no idea if the fun will last but I am as excited for hour two as any other show that has aired this fall, and that's saying something.

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 keep hoping that 2 Broke Girls gets better and becomes a show worthy of Kat Dennings impressive comedic talents but all I get are the same retread sex jokes every week…Mandy Patinkin is doing the best non-musical work of his career on Homeland, which is saying something since the guy has an Emmy win and a bunch of other nominations to his credit. There is no question that the show is the best new dramatic series of the fall and it's no coincidence that it's also one that challenges its viewers to think…I really can't tell if Amanda likes her boyfriend and was into their sexual encounters or if she's simply following her plan, and that's sort of why I like Revenge. Emily Van Camp plays it so close to the vest that when she finally does have any sort of emotional outburst it will be that much more powerful…Great to have Jimmy Fallon back after a week off, although I don't like the timing of his return and Craig Ferguson going on vacation…The Republican Presidential race continues to provide The Daily Show with enough material to make the show an hour if they wanted. Ahhh, I can only dream…While Neil Flynn was a riot on Scrubs, there was nothing in the performance that made me think he had the skills he's shown on The Middle, playing a very realistic Dad of three and showing a deft touch at the family stuff as much as the straight comedy…Every time I see Charisma Carpenter in a guest role like last week's Supernatural I find myself wondering why she isn't a regular on a series. Like Desperate Housewives couldn't use her passion and venom on Wisteria Lane, or she couldn't play a rival attorney for Harvey on Suits, or a girlfriend who takes over Ted's life on HIMYM…Why do I still watch Gossip Girl?...Last week's Hangover-esque episode of PSYCH was laugh out loud funny and also had one of the better mystery plots the show has had in some time...Learning that most of The League is improved (much like Curb there is a basic outline of what the main points of the scene are and then the cast just goes at it) makes me love the show that much more...The Walking Dead is off to an incredbly strong start, mixing heart stopping tension with a lot of interesting interpersonal dynamics...The various medical cases of the week may ebb and flow in terms of quality but the acting quality on Private Practice is always high, which is what has kept the show on this long. The little scenes between the actors when they are discussing the part of the show based in the real world - the relationship and identity issues that come with life - resonate strongly...Want to talk about a show you don't see here? Head on down to the comments section and tell us what you've been watching!

TV Pick Of The Week
One of the biggest food weeks in recent memory begins Sunday with the premiere of The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Sunday at 9pm on Food. With competitors Anne Burrell, Michael Chiarello, Elizabeth Faulkner, Chuck Hughes, Robert Irvine, Beau MacMillan, Geoffrey Zakarian, Spike Meddelsohn, Marcus Samluelsson, and Alexandra Guarnaschelli, this is perhaps the best collection of culinary talent in TV history…






Then on Wednesday the latest edition of Top Chef - Top Chef: Texas – premieres; while some seasons of TC are better than others, it's never been anything less than season pass worthy…





Don't miss the season premieres of The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs (Sunday at 9pm on Food) and Top Chef: Texas (Wednesday, 9pm, Bravo).

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

*Grimm premieres tonight at 9pm on NBC. It's decent enough but plays like Buffy/Supernatural-lite more than anything else. I wish the lead character had been a woman as there are lots of quality actresses looking for ass-kicking parts while David Giuntoli kind of seems more bored than anything else. The main appeal here is the work of Silas Weir Mitchell (Burn Notice, My Name is Earl, Prison Break)

**It's the 22nd annual Treehouse of Horror outing for The Simpsons (Sunday, 8pm, Fox), a series of short films that embrace the full spirit of the season while throwing a knife in the back of pop culture.

*One of TV's best holiday traditions is the annual live outing from the gang at Syfy's Ghost Hunters. Monday's outing kicks off at 7pm from the Pennhurst State School and Hospital.

*Katie Holmes guests as the long discussed Slutty Pumpkin on How I Met Your Mother (8pm, Monday, CBS). I've long enjoyed Holmes' work on TV (she was wonderful in her Eli Stone turn a couple of years back) and there is no doubt in my mind she could carry a series if she wanted to.

*Will Ferrell fans who want to see folks lauding their favorite comedic actor should tune in to Will Ferrell: The Mark Twain Prize (9pm, Monday, PBS).

*Melinda McGraw, so great on Men of a Certain Age earlier this year and best known for her work on Mad Men, guests as one of Gibbs' ex-wives on NCIS (8pm, Tuesday, CBS).

*Covert Affairs is back to close out its second season with a run of new episodes starting Tuesday at 10pm on USA.

*Bones baby-delayed season premiere airs Thursday at 9pm on Fox.






*Burn Notice, coming off of an ultra-strong start to the current season, including the introduction of Jere Burns as the new big bad, returns Thursday at 10pm on USA.

Two Tivos To Paradise
24 Hour Restaurant Battle, 30 Rock, After the Catch, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antiques Roadshow, Archer, Auction Hunters, 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, Family Guy, 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, 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, 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, New Girl, Next Iron Chef, The Office, One Tree Hill, Outside the Lines, Parks & Recreation, Private Practice, Project Runway, Psych, Raising Hope, Real Time With Bill Maher, Restaurant Impossible, Revenge, 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, Suburgatory, Supernatural, Table For 12, Terra Nova, 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 news from the last seven days. Check back with the site on Tuesday for my interview with reality TV producer SallyAnn Salsano on Tuesday and then a chat with The Middle's Atticus Shaffer.

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.