Two Tivos To Paradise 9.21.07: Your Guide To The Busiest Week Of The TV Season
Posted by Al Norton on 09.21.2007
It's The Single Busiest Week Of The Year For Television And Two Tivos To Paradise Is Here To Serve As Your Guide, Plus All The Usual News And Fun Features You Have Come To Love! Click Here Now Or Forver Hold Your Peace.
Hello Friends. I hope many of you who clicked through on the Bill Simmons/ESPN.com link last week have stuck around to become regular readers, if for no other reason than to see how I find a to get that reference in each and every week. The Emmy have come and gone and now we are approaching TV Nirvana – the majority of the fall schedule kicks off over the next week and Two Tivos To Paradise is here to steer you in the right direction!
I usually use the space to talk about whatever random real life stuff has been going on with me, and along with the standard Red Sox rooting and real estate work, my week also included attending the funeral services for my wife's Grandfather. Norman Ledoux was old school when old school wasn't cool; a decorated World War II veteran who died last Saturday morning at the age of 85, he judged a person by how hard they worked and how they treated their family, and by that measure I don't think I will meet many better than he. The several hundred people who turned out for the wake were a beautiful testament to the many lives he enriched over the years. You will be missed, Norman; I hope Anna saved you some cake.
I can be what I want to and all I need is to get my news down.
All The Gold In California Is In A Bank In The Middle Of Beverly Hills In Somebody Else's Name The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place Sunday night, with The Sopranos walking away with the biggest award of the night, Best Drama Series. HBO's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee was the night's biggest winner with 6 of HBO's 21 total statues. Upsets included James Spader getting Best Actor In A Drama, 30 Rock winning Best Comedy Series, and Terry O'Quinn walking away with Best Supporting Actor In A Drama.
I apologize for the perfunctory recap above – if you are reading this column you obviously know who won what already. Let's get to my thoughts on the show as a whole…it sucked. And to put that comment in its proper context, I am not someone who thinks all awards shows are bad – check last year's rave for The Emmys, in particular the job Conan O'Brien did as host. No such luck this year; Ryan Seacrest did his best but I guess his best wasn't good enough, at least not on Sunday. The whole night seemed like a huge ad for Fox; I know Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton are major TV stars but would they have been presenting the second biggest award of the night if they didn't have a new show on Fox? And don't get me started on the Don't Forget The Lyrics segment – why didn't they think outside the box and have Joey Fatone from The Singing Bee get involved?!?! And the round stage? I get that change can be good, but change for change's sake can be dangerous, and in this instance they broke something that didn't need fixing.
I was extremely thrilled to see O'Quinn walk away with the win as Locke is one of the most compelling characters of the last 10 years, and Ricky Gervais was long due to be recognized for his work, although I thought Alec Baldwin deserved the nod. Sally Field's win mystifies me, if only because I continue to insist that her excellent performance belonged in the supporting category.
Overall the night was pretty sub-standard (see below for the sorry ratings news) and I would look for next year's telecast to be a return to normalcy, with lots of jokes about how much fun it is to see the entire audience.
Let Me See What Spring Is Like On Jupiter Or Mars
In an interview running in the current issue of TV Guide, George Lucas revealed that he had completed 40 of what he feels will ultimately will be 100 episodes of the animated series Clone Wars, set in the Star Wars universe between episodes II and III of the film series, and that the timeline is to debut the new show in the fall of 2008. He also confirmed that writing for a new live action series set between episodes III and IV has begun. While the animated version will contain familiar faces (Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, and Yoda) and be what Lucas calls a "PG-13 animated series", the untitled live action will focus on minor characters. Neither show has a network home yet.
I don't have particularly strong feelings about this as I thought episode III was really quite bad and it turned off whatever Star Wars interest I had left. That being said, there is a huge audience for this and it's pretty amazing the Lucas has financial power to make an entire TV series without any network funding whatsoever. I predict the bidding war on both of these will be record setting, especially with the various strikes looming over the entertainment industry.
She Says She Loves Me But She Comes And Goes As She Pleases
HBO has ordered six episodes of an untitled comedy written by Will Ferrell about a former professional baseball player who ends up finding work as a gym teacher. Ferrell co-wrote the pilot with Danny McBride, who will star in the series.
Insert joke about this series needing more cowbell here. It's a Will Ferrell written comedy being made by HBO; what more do you need to know?!?! Look for this to fill the void left when it's officially announced that this is Curb's last season.
Just Let Me Enjoy It Till It's Over Or Forever
Executives at the Sci-Fi network said this week that they had not made an official decision on the scheduling of the upcoming final season of Battlestar Galactica. Originally set to run the full 20 episode run starting in January of 2008, now there is serious thought being given to breaking it up into 2, 10 episode sets, with the second half airing beginning in January of 2009. Also being considered is reviving the presumed dead Caprica spin-off, which would be somewhat lighter in tone. At the very least it seems quite possible that a two hour movie will be made, with the option to have it turned into a new series or stand alone, like the upcoming Razor.
I would be a very unhappy camper if they break the final season up into two parts, not just because of the long wait but also because the larger the gap in time, the greater the chances that spoilers will leak out. The idea should be to reward the core audience of the show, not torture them.
Woke Up This Morning Feeling Fine, Got Something Special On My Mind
As mentioned above, next week is without a doubt the biggest of the year for TV fans as roughly 90% of new and returning shows hit the airwaves. That's a lot of television for someone to digest, so we are breaking it down to debuting shows in this section and old friends in the next. Dig in!
SUNDAY
*CW Now/ Online Nation, The CW
Both of these new magazine shows are The CW's attempt to take a tried and true format and inject some youth into it. How does it work out? How do these things ever work out? They should just partner up with Youtube for a weekly best of show.
MONDAY
*The Big Bang Theory, CBS
They cancelled The Class for this?!?! Seriously? Seriously? I am not saying this sitcom is without it's charms, in particular Johnny Galecki's performance as a geek trying to let his inner stud out, but the minute the plot lines found the two nerds getting pantsed by the jock, I yawned and started wondering if Duncan and Nicole ended up together.
*Chuck, NBC
Take a slightly nerdier Jim from The Office, give him the brain of John Doe (from Fox's short lived John Doe), and pair him up with the most ass kicking blonde TV has seen since Alias, and you've got Chuck. This summer's Burn Notice proved that the action-comedy is alive and well, and while Chuck is a little heavier on the comedy, it also comes with plenty of heart.
*Journeyman, NBC Journeyman is the best example of the awful trend in this year's group of pilots; WAY too much information was given out in the first 60 minutes. The network shoved time travel (think Quantum Leap), twisted romantic histories, gambling addiction, dead ex-significant others, and a shadowy "they" who may be pulling the strings (or trying to cut them) in a first episode that left me dizzy, and oddly bored. People don't watch shows because of twisty-turny plots, they watch shows because they care about the characters; the former without the latter is no fun, and neither is Journeyman.
TUESDAY
*Cane, CBS
I did not get a preview copy of Cane, or as I call it, Hermanos Y Hermanas, but when has Jimmy Smits ever done a TV audience wrong? LA Law, NYPD Blue, The West Wing…the guy is a genuine television star. The buzz is that the first episode has way too many plot lines – a major pet peeve of mine – but with a cast as talented as this one, I will be giving it a try. Besides, the return of the adult melodrama is one of the better trends of the last couple of years, so jump on the bandwagon while there is still room.
*Reaper, The CW
Best. Pilot. Ever. Ok, not ever, but hands down the best pilot of the season, and the closest that network TV has come to capturing the Buffy vibe, and by that I mean taking supernatural/other worldly storylines and mixing them into every day life in a way that is funny and clever but also with an ever present sense of danger.
WEDNESDAY
*Bionic Woman, Wednesday, NBC
If you like your action dark and moody, and lord knows I do, you have found a new favorite. The dark and moody part is hardly a surprise, with the show being executive produced by David Eick, one of the men behind the brilliantly dark and moody Battlestar Galactica, whose cast he has poached for various supporting roles in this new series. There is little resemblance to the light and fluffy Lindsay Wagner version of the 70's and that's not a bad thing as its 2007 now and this is a new, scary world. The title role is well played by Michelle Ryan, who makes the part her own, giving Jamie Summers 2K a sense of strength and power that the old tennis pro never had. This may be a tough sell as a mainstream hit but it's definitely my type of show.
*Dirty Sexy Money, ABC
Regular TTTP readers have been hearing about this show since last year, so obviously I am on board. Selling points? Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, Blair Underwood, William Baldwin, and a plot that could be called Six Feet Under meets Dynasty (well, at least that's what I call it)…what more do you need. Haven't seen this one either but that also makes it the show I am most looking forward to.
*Life, NBC
There is a scene about ½ way through the first episode of Life where Detective Charlie Crews is sitting at his desk biting into pears, discarding the mushy ones until he finds crispy, juicy perfection; it was at that point that I realized that Life was going to be much better than I expected. Damian Lewis (Band Of Brothers) plays Crews, just released from jail after 12 years when a murder charge is overturned; he got a big settlement from the state, part of which included his return to the police force. Yes, there is an obligatory conspiracy angle, with Crews trying to find out who framed him and why, but when Life focuses on how over a decade of hard time can change a person, not just in who they are but in what they believe in, it stands out.
*Private Practice, ABC
Am I damning with faint praise when I say it's better than the two part Grey's Anatomy episode that laid the groundwork for this spin off? Audra McDonald is an obvious upgrade from Merrin Dungey but that doesn't help Amy Brenneman, who is saddled with very, very bad opening story. Paul Adelstein finally gets the chance to prove he is leading man material, so for that reason alone PP deserves to stay on the air. As I have written before (and will probably write again), it saddens me that Tim Daly will find his success here with what is mediocre at best writing while his last two clearly superior efforts, Eyes and The Nine, did not last a season. Ahh, TV, she is a harsh mistress.
THURSDAY
*Big Shots, ABC
So much talent, such bad buzz. The good news is that Rob Thomas, late of Veronica Mars, has been called in as a consultant, and the last time ABC made a move like this just before the season started it was hiring Greg Berlanti (Everwood) for Brothers And Sisters, which turned out to be a stroke of genius. All of this is my way of saying that this may be worth sticking with even though the first episode is simply not that good.
Hope You Need My Love Babe, Just Like I Need You
If all the new shows above weren't enough for you, just about all the major returning shows are back this week as well. The guide below should help you through the craziness. The new format, with me offering comments about each night, was a big hit last week, so we will be sticking with it for the time being.
Tonight Painkiller Jane, Series finale, Sci-Fi Mrs. America, WE Crossroads, CMT
Mrs. Tivo is not happy with Sci-Fi these days, first canceling The Dresden Files and now pulling Painkiller Jane. Of course she was the only person I knew who watched both of them, so that may be a clue as to the networks motivation. Crossroads is my favorite music series and this new episode features the pairing of Kenny Babyface Edwards and Trisha Yearwood, who I think is one of the more underrated singers out there.
Saturday 100 Greatest TV Characters Marathon, Bravo
Wait, you'll watch 100 Greatest Child Stars for a fifth time but won't give this a try?!?!?
Sunday Cold Case Season Premiere, CBS The Family Guy Season Premiere, Fox The King Of The Hill Season Premiere, Fox The Simpsons Season Premiere, Fox Rock Of Love Season Finale, VH-1 Shark Season Premiere, CBS 60 Minutes Season Premiere, CBS
And so it begins. The Family Guy is an hour long tonight and is a Star Wars spoof of sorts, so that combination means internet usage will drop to record lows between 9 & 10 EST. Shark is breaking in a new night and several new cast members, although late football games will make it tough to Tivo. And if you are interested in seeing what groupie wins Rock Of Love (prizes include a lifetime supply of penicillin), well then you have some serious taste issues.
Monday The Bachelor Season Premiere, ABC CSI: Miami Season Premiere, CBS Dancing With The Stars Season Premiere, ABC Heroes Season Premiere, NBC How I Met Your Mother Season Premiere, CBS Rules Of Engagement Season Premiere, CBS Two And ½ Men Season Premiere, CBS
Watching the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother was like greeting friends I haven't seen in a few months, and I mean that in whatever way makes me sound less pathetic. It's the warmest comedy on TV right now – the opposite of Curb Your Enthusiasm – and shows no signs of slowing down despite the Ted and Robin break up. Also, Heroes is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anyone really watch The Bachelor anymore for reasons other than unintentional comedy? Are there people who watch for the romance?
Tuesday Bones Season Premiere, Fox Boston Legal , Season Premiere, ABC House Season Premiere, Fox Law And Order: SVU Season Premiere, NBC NCIS Season Premiere, CBS The Unit Season Premiere, CBS
The season premiere of SVU features a tour-de-force performance by Cynthia Nixon and what appears to be an attempt to paint Adam Beach's character as a bit of a idiot; I am not saying it wasn't entertaining but I don't know if that's what they were going for. Bones has become the biggest show you're not watching while proving that David Boreanaz is a lot more talented than I gave him credit for. The guy was great as Angel, don't get me wrong, but by creating another interesting, complex character in a different series he has removed himself from the "one trick pony" category. Boston Legal is back tonight with a 90 minute episode and it will be fun to see John Larroquette and William Shatner fight over scenery to chew. For more on tonight's choices, see the TV Pick Of The Week below.
Wednesday Criminal Minds Season Premiere, CBS CSI: NY Season Premiere
I'll take two shows I don't watch for $200 please, Alex. Actually it works out quite well as I will be kept plenty busy by the ABC & NBC line up's on Wednesdays. Thanks, CBS!
Thursday CSI Season Premiere, CBS Grey's Anatomy Season Premiere, ABC My Name Is Earl Season Premiere, NBC The Office Season Premiere, NBC Smallville Season Premiere, The CW Ugly Betty Season Premiere, ABC Without A Trace Season Premiere, CBS
An hour of My Name Is Earl? An hour of The Office? Paint me happy. Finding out that Ugly Betty was not a one season wonder and returns with a fantastic season premiere? Paint me ecstatic. James Marsters debuts on Without A Trace? Paint me orgasmic. In a heterosexual, TV loving he-man kind of way, of course. To keep me from going too far over the edge is the always melancholy Grey's, which always loves to remind its characters (and the audience) that the other shoe is never that far from dropping.
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 last week…It may have something to do with the unbelievable sports match up's on national TV on Sunday night (Pats-Chargers on NBC and Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN) but The Emmys averaged an audience of just over 13 million, a drop of 18% from last year and the lowest numbers since 1990. NBC's Football Night In America topped the night in all the key demographics…So much for the good review I gave it helping at all; Nashville drew in the worst demos Fox has had in that Friday night time slot in over a year…The first half season finale of Saving Grace pulled in 4.2 million, a series low for the freshman drama…The Biggest Loser's second week numbers matched the premiere (7.9 million)…The season four debut of Beauty And The Geek produced 3.34 million viewers, a 30% drop from last year's kick off…Big Brother's finale had an audience large enough – 8.5 million, on par with last year – that unfortunately guarantees a season 9…While Prison Break opened with 20% drop from the season two bow, K-Ville actually outdrew it's lead in, getting a shade under 9 million viewers and being the second most watched show of the night, trailing only a Two And Half Men rerun…The season three premiere of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia was up 62% from season two, and the audience of 2.3 million represented a series high…Back To You won it's time slot in both total audience (9.44 million) as well as the target demos...Till Death lost just about 18% of that lead-in...A hair over 9 million people decided to tune into the premiere of Kid Nation, but the real key will be week 2...Gossip Girl opened well for The CW, with it's 3.65 million matching last season's same time slot premiere of One Tree Hill and besting The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll. The network is rerunning it several times before episode 2 next week in the hopes of building momentum...
All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry Notes, Pilot Updates, & Casting News…The New York Post is reporting that NBC executives are considering making Britney Spears the co-star of Occasional Wife, an in-development sitcom with Matthew Perry attached as the lead...Thebest news of the week? AMC has renewed Mad Men for a second season…CBS won a huge bidding war for Eleventh Hour, a Jerry Bruckheimer produced adaptation of a sci-fi themed BBC series…SNL vet Molly Shannon is doing a multi episode stint on ABC's Pushing Daisies…Jimmy Kimmel will return as host of ABC's American Music Awards in November…Kevin Federline's stay in One Tree Hill has gone so well that producers have asked him to become a regular cast member…Fox announced that 24 will have a two night premiere in January (13th & 14th), highlighted by the return of Carlos Bernard aka the presumed dead Tony Almeida…Gilmore Girls alum Lauren Graham signed a multi-million dollar development deal with NBC, so look for her back on the air no later than fall of 2008…It was reported by a UK newspaper this week that Quentin Tarantino turned down the opportunity to direct an episode of Heroes…Annie Potts has joined the cast of TNT's Family Guy, playing William H Macy's wife…Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange will star in HBO's adaptation of the classic 70's documentary Grey Gardens…
Turns Out Not Where But Who You're With That Really Matters
The top thing I watched since the last column went to press AKA The Best Of What's Around...This is tough for me as I can't really tell you much about the single best thing I watched this week without ruining a future review. The pilot for Pushing Daisies is everything you have heard it is and then some; think of it as a one hour Tim Burton movie, albeit somewhat lighter in tone and brighter in color. I am not sure about the long term commercial future of a show with this strong a look and feel, but it's something fans of quality TV should be looking forward to – mark October 3rd on your calendars now.
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…The pilot for Gossip Girl was bad television done right, with ridiculously rich teens, actors who look way too old to be in high school, and enough alcohol consumption to make a Lohan blush. One of the best parts was Ed Westwick as Chuck, who dives into the James Spader/Craig Sheffer part with gusto. Having Kristen Bell narrate the series went a long way towards holding my interest as it filled the Veronica void in my life… Haven't really had time to process Kid Nation and decide if I will watch again, but I did find myself feeling embarrassed for all the parents who let their children take part. Bravo to little Jimmy for getting the hell out of dodge, and shame on CBS for making the host ask him twice if he wanted to leave…Now that it's actually been on the air I can talk about the REALLY generic plot twist of Back To You, with Kelsey Grammer being the father of Patricia Heaton's daughter. Seriously? Seriously? That's the best they could come up with? I saw that coming down Main Street, hoping I was wrong every step of the way. It's not that the show is bad, it's that it's kind of sad that all of that talent got together and this was the best they could come up with…K-Ville's plot twist problem was not the twist itself – that Cole Hauser's character is actually an escaped convict – but the execution; why have Anthony Anderson find out about it at the end of the first hour? How about if they just told the audience, and then we could be left guessing about his motivation for while before getting more and more information about his background. Done the right way and I would have be more than willing to overlook the other deficiencies of the overly action packed pilot just to see where they went with it but now it's just another show I won't be watching…I wrote last week about how much fun Joel Gretsch seemed to be having playing Evil Tom on The 4400, totally forgetting that the first time I noticed him was playing just such a part in Taken, the amazing Sci-Fi mini-series from a few years back. I have seen all but the last 15 minutes of the finale and so far it's excellent; the producers made several right moves this year, none more so than focusing on the Tom Baldwin-Jordan Collier relationship…Mad Men continues to impress and may qualify as the best show on TV your not watching. Unless of course you are watching, in which case consider yourself a part of the in-crowd… I enjoyed the finale of Rescue Me, especially the ending not being a fire or some sort of cliffhanger. This was a bit of a transition season for the FX dramedy, with some of the series' best guy dialogue ever and some nice advancement of Tommy's dealing with his alcoholism, albeit without some of the buzz generating moments the show had been famous for…Best Week Ever's return gave me a big smile, although I don't know the Sizzler in it's current format works. I liked the mock-Insider version of last spring with Chuck Nice but am aware I am in the minority on that. More Frangella, more Doug Benson…
TV Pick Of The Week House returns on Tuesday night at 9 after a finale that found the entire team gone by episode's end. Dr. Greg is still on his own in the premiere, bouncing his ideas off of anyone who will listen, or take a bribe. It's fun to see Hugh Laurie on his own for a change – it's not hype, the man is just that good in this role - and the House-Wilson back and forth has never been better. The show would have been my pick of the week for the overall quality of the episode but a joke about one of the show's constant diagnosis options early on is worth the price of a ticket to regular fans; more interesting is the subtle way the show's case-of-the-week suggests that the Good/Bad Dr may not always be right when it comes to his theories on relationships. Don't miss House this Tuesday on Fox.
Two Tivos To Paradise, Weekly Update 30 Days, The 4400, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antique Roadshow, The Apprentice, Battlestar Galactica, Best Week Ever, Big Love, Bones, Boston Legal, Brothers And Sisters, Burn Notice, The Closer, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Dead Zone, The Deadliest Catch, Desperate Housewives, Destination Truth, Entourage, Extras, Eureka, Everybody Hates Chris, Flipping Out, Ghost Hunters, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Hills, House, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, King Of Cars, Laguna Beach, Last Comic Standing, Law And Order, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Lost, Mad Men, Medium, My Name Is Earl, Monk, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Next Food Network Star, The Office, On The Lot, One Tree Hill, Painkiller Jane, Project Runway, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rules Of Engagement, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Shark, Shear Genius, The Soup, Supernatural, Top Chef, Top Design, Ugly Betty, Welcome To The Parker
Additions :None Deletions :None
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. We'll be back next week with info on even more new fall shows, plus let you know all the important ratings tuff, so you know what not to get too attached to. Check out the rest of 411mania's daily news reports, but don't go giving your heart to anyone but me – see you here next Friday!
Feedback is encouraged at twotivostoparadise@yahoo.com.
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.
