Two Tivos To Paradise 01.20.12: Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Green Arrow, Justified, The Late Show,
Posted by Al Norton on 01.20.2012
News and thoughts on The Walking Dead getting extended, Game of Thrones getting its return date, Mad Men getting super-sized, the Justified season premiere, The CW's Green Arrow series-to-be and more!
Hello friends. We've had shovelable snow twice this week, with a third occurrence scheduled for Saturday, so it looks like winter is finally here. And yet, thanks to the Yankees moves last Friday night to greatly strengthen their rotation, I know spring is just around the corner.
I went 5 for 8 with my Golden Globes picks and was quite happy about two of those that I missed as in those cases (Homeland, Modern Family) they awards went to the truly deserving parties.
The new Starz drama Magic City premiere on April 4th…
We've got TWO giveaways going on over at the TTTP Facebook page right now; Syfy has given us a three pack of t-shirts (Being Human, Ghost Hunters, Face Off) and if you post "Being TTTP" on our wall before the end of the day on Sunday you'll be eligible to win. The second giveaway is courtesy of H2 and their new show America's Book of Secrets, which premieres tomorrow night at 10pm. What's America's Book of Secrets, you ask? Well I'll let them tell you…
America's Book of Secrets uncovers the controversial truths behind some of the most confidential secrets in American history. The new series takes a look at historical landmarks throughout the country and reveals mysteries through captivating footage and live interviews and we're sure you'll be amazed with what they'll witness. The show will surely ignite discussion and interest! Tune in this Saturday, January 21st at 10pm on H2!
…This giveaway is a Patagonia jacket and umbrella (cool, right?!?!) and for this you need to post "I Love Secrets" on our wall, with a winner chosen at random on Monday morning.
Standard rules apply – one entry per contest per person, must have a US mailing address (sometimes Canadian address are ok but these prizes aren't be shipped by me), and you can't have won anything in the last six months. Obviously you should be clicking like on our Facebook page if you have not already because along with these contests we also offer up-to-the-minute coverage of the world of TV, plus it's a fun way to interact with fans.
NBC is hyping The Voice almost as much as they are the Super Bowl…
Blue jean baby, LA lady, seamstress for the news.
I Work All Day Out In The Hot Sun, Stay With Me Now ‘Till The Mornin' Comes
The New York Times and multiple other outlets are reporting that David Letterman is thisclose to signing a two year extension with CBS to host The Late Show. His current deal expires in August of this year so the new contract would run through 2014 and bring his late night talk run to over 30 years, breaking the record currently held by Johnny Carson. CBS is also in talks with Craig Ferguson on an extension of his deal as host of The Late Late Show but there is no word on how far along those talks are.
As I mentioned last week, I recently taped a week's worth of all the late night shows to see if anything major had changed, and while I did not find myself tempted to give The Late Show a season pass I did think that he seemed much more relaxed than I'd remembered him being. I really think that the scandal of a couple of years ago was very liberating for him in that the whole world found out about his dirtiest of secrets and…nothing happened. He didn't lose his job, his ratings didn't go down, and guests didn't refuse to be booked. Think about how that would feel in your life; everyone finds out the one thing you never wanted them to know and, sure, there are a rough couple of weeks, but in the end there is no collateral damage to speak of. I think that's allowed a certain level of goofiness to come out; while he's always had a kind of devil-may-care attitude with his humor but now it seems less cynical and more genuine.
I know it is in Craig Ferguson's current deal that he gets to move up to 11:30 if/when Letterman leaves and I assume he negotiate the same thing in a new deal (or at least try) but I am not sure that would actually be a good fit. As much as I love what he does – his is far and away the most entertaining hour of talk on TV right now – and would be thrilled to see him exposed to a larger audience, I don't know that his style would play at 11:35pm and I worry about the mainstream changes the network would try to force on him. From a logistics point of view his schedule would need to change since currently much of The Late Late Show is taped in advance and for 11:35pm they'd need to do everything same day to keep current.
Since we are discussing late night shows and successors, it seems clearer and clearer to me that Jimmy Fallon will eventually take over The Tonight Show. Leno isn't going anywhere anytime soon but I think Fallon has reached a level of quality and acceptance that would make for a very graceful transition. He may not have the same passionate fan base that Conan O'Brien did coming out of Late Night but he's also not likely to turn off the current Tonight Show audience the way O'Brien did in some ways.
Over at CBS the question would be who replaces Dave when he retires or who replaces Craig when he moves up and takes Dave's job. I know Jon Stewart's name is frequently tossed around when talking about future Late Show hosts but I have a very hard time imagining him leaving his current gig. Yes, the big network money would be more but, let's face it, the work would be a lot more, too, if for no other reason than you would be doubling the length of the program. Plus I get the feeling Stewart very much enjoys interviewing the folks that he does on The Daily Show, many of whom would never get a second of air time on a major network show. Maybe the glitz and the glam of the big three would lure him in but I think he's quite happy with what he does now and all the Emmys he has stacked up on his mantel.
Trying to think creatively about potential hosts for any openings on the shows that may occur, the first name that comes to mind for one of these gigs is Neil Patrick Harris. Obviously that wouldn't happen until How I Met Your Mother finishes its run but there is no question he could be great at the job. Dana Gould has the funny and the smarts but is likely not known enough, and the same goes for Chuck Nice. D.L. Hughley's stint as a CNN host didn't go so great but he's still a solid option. Aisha Tyler would be a possibility if she hadn't just taken the gig on The Talk. It should go without saying that Joel McHale would be fantastic in talk show host mode and could do weekly Soup-esque segments. My personal pick would be David Allen Grier; he's a face and name much of the audience is familiar with, he's personable, and he showed with the brilliant one season run of The Chocolate News that he can do social and political satire with the best of them.
Feel free to use the comments section below to say who you think would make the next great late night talk show host!
I Know There's Nothing In Their Hearts But Every Time I Take One In My Arms It Starts
AMC used the TCA's to announce some big news regarding their returning series, including increasing the season three order of The Walking Dead from 13 to 16 episodes and giving The Killing an April 1st date for its season two premiere. Mad Men creator and showrunner Matt Weiner also confirmed that the show's season premiere would be one 2 hour episode and not two episodes show back to back. The Killing's return will also be two hours and season one will be available on-demand starting March 1st. Kevin Smith's reality series Comic Book Men will run with The Walking Dead when it returns next month for the second half of season two.
This is what Weiner said at AMC's reception at the TCA's regarding the season premiere
As I started writing [the premiere], it started spreading and spreading and spreading…I was like, ‘There is too much story. I could either cut this thing down, or I think I have a Mad Men movie here.' I had a great team helping me develop this story and we just sort of went for it. And the network was excited. I was like, ‘We've been gone for so long, let's give [fans] a big Mad Men movie to start the season."
Considering I am hard pressed to come up with a storytelling misstep from Weiner and Mad Men over the show's first four seasons, the idea of a script so big and so good they didn't want to cut it at all sounds positively dreamy to me.
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 21 days…
THURSDAY Person of Interest won 9pm in totals while hitting series highs in that measure as well as in demos…The Big Bang Theory won the night in totals and demos, up double digits in both…The series premier of Rob gave CBS its best Thursdays at 8:30pm numbers since May of 2010…The return of 30 Rock was up 20% in the demos from Community's last new episode but was also the show' lowest rated season premiere in series history…The series premier of The Finder ranked 4th in the demos at 9pm and was down 30% from what Bones had been averaging in that time slot…Grey's was down from last week but still won 9pm in demos…Up All Night was up 5% in its new Thursdays at 9:30pm home…The Firm was down 30% from its Sunday premiere and came in below what Prime Suspect had been averaging in that time slot…
FRIDAY
The first new Fringe of 2012 tied a series demo low…Blue Bloods won total viewers and demos for the night. In other news, the sun rose and set…The season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares won demos at 8pm, while CSI: NY tied the series finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for the demo win at 9pm…A Gifted Man continued with their streak of winning 8pm in totals with middle-of-the-road demos, meaning CBS is going to have another tough call to make come the spring…Week two of Portlandia was up 26% in total viewers and 29% in demos…
SATURDAY
Because of the blowout nature of the game, the Broncos – Patriots did not come close to the record breaking ratings some predicted but CBS was more than happy with the 28 million+ average it had in primetime, with a high of 33 million watching during the 9:00 hour…
SUNDAY
The Golden Globes matched last year's numbers…Thanks to the overrun of the Giants – Packers game Fox has a huge lead-in to their prime time lineup and Napoleon Dynamite ended up as the third most watched comedy premiere of the 2011-2012 season (behind 2 Broke Girls and New Girl)…Once Upon a Time was down 11%, Desperate Housewives 10%, and a playing-out-the-string Pan Am tied the series low its last new episode put up…The Undercover Boss premiere was down 21% from last season…
MONDAY Alcatraz opened strong, giving Fox its best drama series debut numbers in 3 years…NBC's celebration of Betty White's 90th birthday averaged a huge 14 million total viewers, with demos that went up every half hour. The preview of Off Their Rockers that followed had 12.2 million viewers and held onto 90+% of the lead-in demos…The first new Gossip Girl of 2012 matched the numbers put up by the last new Gossip Girl of 2011…The Bachelor was up 9% but still finished fourth in the demos…How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls each gained 9% in the demos…Hawaii 5-0 won 10pm in totals and demos…Rock Center with Brian Williams was up 80% in the demos…Pretty Little Liars hit a series demo high for the second week in a row…
TUESDAY
The CW's attempts to find a second hit reality series (after ANTM) will likely continue based on the truly awful numbers Remodeled put up in its premiere, finishing a VERY distant fourth in totals and demos in the 9:00pm timeslot, losing almost 50% of its lead-in audience. It was the nights lowest performer in those measures as well…Fox had a good night with Glee and New Girl up in their returns and each winning their timeslot in demos…An NCIS rerun was the nights most watched show with a little over 13 million total viewers…Parenthood won 10pm in demos while Body of Evidence won in total viewers…Last Man Standing was up 24% at 8pm and the rerun that followed easily topped the numbers Work It had been putting up…Tough cable drama battle at 10pm; White Collar, was down 25% from its summer finale last August but was up in the demo, Justified was down from season two's premiere but outperformed that season's total viewer and demo average by 16% and 9% respectively, and Southland was down double digits in totals and demos from season three…
WEDNESDAY
The biggest ratings news of the week was the sharp year-to-year drop of the American Idol season premiere, down 17% in total viewers and 24% in the demos from 2011. That's the biggest season-to-season loss in series history. To be fair, it will also end up being the most watched show of the week in total viewers and demos…Are You There, Chelsea was down 22% from its just ok week one numbers…CSI won 10pm in total viewers and demos while SVU hit a series low in the demos…Modern Family had the best non-Idol demos of the night…Criminal Minds was the most watched scripted series of the night with 12.83 million viewers but hit a season low in demos…Shows down double digits in the demos (i.e. the Idol effect) were the aforementioned Chelsea, The Middle, Suburgatory, and One Tree Hill…Harry's Law lost almost a full ¼ of its total viewers but somehow managed to keep its meager demos intact…
All The Young Dudes, Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors… ABC pulled Work It from the lineup after just two airings, replacing it with reruns of Last Man Standing in the short term and scheduling Cougar Town's new season to take the Tuesdays at 8:30 slot as of February 14th…Syfy is showing a lot of faith in Warehouse 13, bumping their order for the show's upcoming 4th season by 7 episodes, bringing the total to 20…The CW has ordered pilots for Green Arrow, The Carrie Diaries (a Sex and the City prequel following Carrie Bradshaw in high school), and Beauty and the Beast (a reboot of the cult favorite series from the 80's)…Oxygen made official what everyone knew was coming, picking up a second season of The Glee Project…Glee has cast Rachel's Dads; Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jeff Goldblum have landed the roles, with their first appearance coming on the upcoming Valentine's Day episode…NBC was quite busy this week, ordering pilots for Kari Lazar's untitled comedy (female best friends with very different lives, from the creator of The New Adventures of Old Christine), Frontier (a western written by Shaun Cassidy, with Thomas Schlamme directing the pilot and executive producing), Midnight Sun (adaptation of Israeli series Pilars of Smoke, about a group of commune folks who disappear in Alaska and the big mysteries the search for them uncovers), and Do No Harm (a medical drama about a top flight neurosurgeon who has a Hyde-esque alter-ego who puts all his accomplishments at risk)…Not to be undone, ABC picked up pilots for Counter Culture (comedy about sisters who run a family owned Texas diner), Gilded Lillys (new drama from Shonda Rimes and co-creator of The Nine KJ Steinberg about a brand new, top of the line 1890's NYC hotel), and an untitled Kari Lizer comedy of their own (high power business executive gets laid off and becomes stay at home Mom to her teenage daughters)…Justin Hartley (Smallville) will appear on multiple episodes of Hart of Dixie…Speaking of former Smallville regulars, Cassidy Freeman will guest on The Vampire Diaries…A&E confirmed that the 10 episode first season of Longmire, which stars Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, and Lou Diamond Phillips, will premiere this summer, with production starting in March…A&E is developing Bates Motel, a Psycho prequel that will look at Norman Bates as a teenager…HBO announced that Game Change will air on Sunday March 10th and the season and/or series premiere dates for Game of Thrones (4/1), Girls (4/15), and Veep (4/22)…Speaking of April premiere dates, new seasons of The Big C, Borgias, and Nurse Jackie all bow on April 8th…The series premiere of Major Crimes will air the week after The Closer, the show it is a spinoff of, airs its series finale…Lifetime has picked up a six episode first season of Dance Moms: Miami, meaning it looks like the network has finally found their reality building block…Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me, Grey's Anatomy) has been cast as one of the leads in an untitled USA pilot from White Collar creator Jeff Eastin about four undercover agents from various federal and local agencies who live together in the seized mansion of a crime lord that serves as their safe house…The Grammys have not had a host in seven years but that will change next month when LL Cool J fronts the music honors special…David Koechner has signed a holding deal with NBC - joining Army Wives' Sally Pressman and The Closer's Corey Reynolds as the third established talent to do so this off-season – that will likely have him starring in Friday Night Dinner, an upcoming adaptation of a British comedy from Greg Daniels and may lead to his reappearance on The Office…Josh Freedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has sold The Asset to Fox, a drama pilot about a female CIA agent working out of their New York office…Speaking of NBC holding deals, Book of Mormon star Andrew Rannells has signed one and the plan is for him to star in the Ryan Murphy/Alison Adler comedy about a gay couple and the surrogate they use to have a baby. Rannells will also be seen on the upcoming HBO comedy series Girls…CBS has bought a comedy from Nick Stoller about a guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend but still has to sit next to her at work. Stoller co-wrote The Muppets and directed Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek…
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)… Justified returned in top form this week, giving us a less-than-full-strength Raylan, some old favorites, some new friends, and leaving us wondering how exactly all these things will come together over the next few months.
The scene with Boyd and Raylan and the Marshall's office was the prime example of what the show does best, giving us talented actors delivering sharp yet always realistic dialogue while we try to figure out what's really going on. Sometimes, like in this case, we find out by the end of the episode, where we saw Boyd in prison with Dickie Bennett, and sometimes it will take the whole season, as in figuring out how this somehow ties in to what Neal McDonough's Robert Quarles and Mykelti Williamson's character, who we'll meet this coming Tuesday. This coming Tuesday is also where we find out that Boyd's reason for going to prison with Dickie Bennett might not be exactly what we thought it was.
I did an interview with Walton Goggins that ran this past week (check out the links below to find it) and he said something about the show that really stuck with me…
That's the thing about Justified; the conversations with these actors, every actor who comes in from Jeremy to Margo to Neal to Ti to Nick Searcy, everyone one of these guys gets that when you're speaking Elmore-speak, you're saying one thing but meaning something else. That's the most interesting conversation you can have on screen and we get to do it on a daily basis.
Justified had a strong first season but jumped up to take a spot amongst the top shows on TV with season two, a spot that the clearly seem ready to prove was no fluke.
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 twenty one days…
A VERY strong episode of Glee on Tuesday night, mixing major plot points with a lot of music, and the above scene was one of my favorites. As one of my readers noted on our FB page on Wednesday, the moments when Sue show's her humanity make clear how fantastic a character she is and how amazing Jane Lynch is in the role. Eric Stoltz did a great job directing this hour, one the best of the Glee season…I know I've praised him on these pages before but Brian Benben's work on Private Practice really makes me wonder why I went so long without seeing him on my TV…Enjoyed the return of White Collar quite a bit even if there really wasn't ever a legit tension that something bad would happen to Mrs. Suit. I like the twist at the end that clearly sets up not only the on-going arc for this season but could change the tone of the show quite a bit going forward in a way I think is healthy for its long term future... The season premiere of 30 Rock made me laugh a bit but not in any way that made me think, "oh, how I've missed this show" and worse, it drew attention to the horribly unfunny (and simply odd) way in which they wrote off Jack's wife. Clearly with the death of Kim Jong Il they will be revisiting this but I still think it has to be at-or-near the top of the "stupidest sitcom plot points of the last 10 years" list…LOVED Parks and Recreation last Thursday, especially the idea of wearing red carpet in your shoes…I have no idea if The Finder has a shot at long term success but opening with John Fogerty doing a blistering version of Fortunate Son was more than enough for me to give it a few weeks to find itself. Damn, that's good music, and the show was much better than I would have thought from watching the hour of Bones last season…Ricky Gervais seemed pretty almost muzzled while hosting The Golden Globes, with nothing really all that witty or brutal. Michelle Williams acceptance speech was a highlight, as was Claire Danes winning for Homeland and well as Homeland's win for Best Drama. Seth Rogan had the only line that made actually laugh out loud…A decent How I Met Your Mother, with the stuff in the city being on the boring side (other than the two new sets of opening credits) while the action at Marshall and Lily's house being quite funny. Chris Elliot should be on my TV on a MUCH more regular basis…New Girl had me in stitches throughout – LOVE when Lizzy Caplin is on my TV screen – even though "the hero's my penis" isn't as good a line as "the hammer is my penis"…Burt's "I'd Rather Be in Virginia" t-shirt was but one of many, many Raising Hope highlights this week. Fred Willard is always worth watching, we got another appearance from Drakkar Noir, and the best study song since Coach and Sam sang about Albania…I, like a lot of men in this town, greatly enjoy making love to my wife…
TV Pick Of The Week Shark Tank is not only one of my favorite reality shows on TV right now, it's one of my all-time favorites, mostly because of the simplicity of the concept; folks come and pitch their business concepts – most are actual running business already, some smalltime, some doing well but looking to take the next step – and the four "sharks" decide if they want to invest. Seriously, what could be more American than people trying to make their dreams come true…on television?!?!
The sharks are all highly successful business people who have a very good eye for good ideas and also know where the money is and isn't, and they're never shy at telling people that they are digging in the wrong place. They also have enough personality where the in-fighting among them is entertaining but never really the focus of the show, and in those rare instances it is the focus it's because multiple sharks want a piece of the same pie.
Since we are now in season three I am hoping to see more updates on previous participants, both folks who had their ideas invested in by the sharks as well as check-in's with people who either turned down the deals they were offered or were rebuffed entirely as my guess is some of them have met with success after being seen by millions of people as well. They could do an entire where-are-they-now episode and I think a couple of big time feel good stories would go a long way towards establishing the show's business credibility (the people on it have plenty but we need to be shown a product or business that is thriving post-Tank).
Don't miss the season three premiere of Shark Tank, tonight at 8pm on ABC.
Hope You Need My Love, Babe, Just Like I Need You
Other viewing options from the next seven days…
*How big a football day is Sunday? The NFL Network starts their pregame coverage at 9am!!! The Ravens – Patriots game starts at 3pm on CBS, followed by the Giants – 49'ers at 6:30pm on Fox. What's the over/under on ads for Touch during the Fox game?
*It's all about the ladies this week on Live! with Kelly, with women filling Regis' old chair; Kim Kardashian (guests are Lucy Lawless and Kevin McHale) is on Monday, Mary J Blige (Cynthia Nixon and Chris Harrison) on Tuesday, Kristin Chenoweth (Alan Cumming, Emmy Rossum) on Wednesday, Cat Deeley (Nick Jonas) on Thursday, and Carrie Ann Inaba (Chelsea Handler) finishes up the week.
*Bizarre Foods becomes Bizarre Foods America (Monday, 10pm, Travel) when Andrew Zimmern puts the focus on the good old U S of A.
*E! gets a better idea of what their development deal with Ross Matthews may lead to when he guest hosts Chelsea Lately (11pm) Monday – Thursday.
*Touch doesn't get a regular spot in the Fox lineup until the spring but they are giving the pilot a special preview airing on Wednesday at 9pm following American Idol…
*Criminal Minds (CBS) celebrates 150 episodes this Wednesday at 9pm followed by Marg Helgenberger's departure from CSI at 10pm.
*Will Arnett does double duty on Thursday, reprising his role as Devin Banks on 30 Rock (8pm) before his steady gig on Up All Night airs at 9:30pm.
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, The Finder, 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, Hell on Wheels, 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 Accessory, 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, Texas Multi Mammas, 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 Friday with all the latest TV headlines! Have a great seven days!
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.
