Two Tivos To Paradise 10.19.07: Live From Las Vegas
Posted by Al Norton on 10.19.2007
Live from the Treasure Island hotel in the middle of the Las Vegas strip, it's Two Tivos To Paradise. A week's worth of TV news, plus free drinks while you read!
Hello Friends. This will be an abbreviated version of Two Tivos To Paradise as I am writing from Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas, enjoying a much needed vacation with Mrs. Tivo and the Tivo-In-laws. How much of a vacation could it be if I am still writing this? You know I could never let my readers down!
Bright light city gonna set my news, gonna set my news on fire.
Leavin' Home On My Own, I've Been Down Before
Starting next Monday, Jimmy Kimmel will co-host Live With Regis and Kelly – filling in for a vacation Regis Philbin – as well as his own Jimmy Kimmel Live by flying between New York and LA each day. After completing the morning version of his duel hosting gig in New York, he will hop on a plane and fly to LA to tape his own show before returning back to New York on the red eye.
This is a very smart move by Kimmel and ABC to up his profile as this has already received a ton of press, plus the Live With…audience is not his usual crowd so it will open him up to a wider group of potential viewers. Kimmel has threatened to drag some of the celebrity guests with him in his cross country journey, so the whole week should make for some must-see viewing.
I Hear You Singing In The Wire, I Can Hear You Through The Wine
Fisher Stevens is the new cast member of Lost, playing the voice talking to Jack on the other end of the phone on the finale. His character's name is Minkowski, which apparently is the surname of a German mathematician, causing some to speculate that it's more than a coincidence since his research on a possible 4th dimension was influential in Einstein's theory of relativity. In other Lost news, Sci-Fi and G-4 are sharing reruns, with a possible weekly 4 hour block in the works for the former.
While I am a HUGE fan of Lost, all these various scientific explanations of the island make me sleepy and/or feel kind of stupid. There are web sites out there with hundreds of thousands of words dedicated not just to breaking down every connection between the characters (that's the part I like) but delving into metaphysics to explain what is happening, and that's where I check out. It's a TV show, so I doubt the final explanation is going to be so complicated that a study guide is necessary to play along at home.
She Could Have Run Off With Some Texas Tornado, Some Mister Twister She Could Kick Up Her Boot Heels With
TV Guide is reporting that a tornado will be hitting Desperate Housewives in December, with two of Wisteria Lane's current residents scheduled to die in the storm.
Interesting that the tornado is touching down in December as events like this usually take place during sweeps. I am 100% positive that at least one of those to die will be some random supporting character who the audience couldn't care less about; maybe Susan's daughter Julie? Please?!?!?! It's like when 90210 hyped that someone would die and it turned out to be some friend of David Silver's we have barely been introduced to. That my level of 90210 fandom, by the way – I remember that the kid shot himself but not his name. Also, am I the only one who reads stories about a big storm on a network show and remembers when NBC did a blizzard that affected their entire Saturday night line up (Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses)?
But Of All These Friends And Lovers, There Is None That Compares To You
The Lifetime Network, capitalizing on the summer success of Army Wives, and, to a lesser degree, Side Order Of Life, has multiple new projects in development. It's My Party (following an LA party planner to the stars) and Matt Titus: Matchmaker will debut in January along with How To Look Good Naked starring Queer Eye alum Carson Kressley. On the scripted side of things, Molly Shannon and Steven Weber are signed to star in the original movie, More Of Me, about a wife and mother who develops multiple personalities to deal with the stress of life, Alyssa Milano is the lead in the "based on a true story" Wisegal, and Valerie Bertinelli and pop star JoJo are teaming up for True Confessions Of A Hollywood Starlet.
I will watch just about anything that Steven Weber does, and I loves me some Molly Shannon, so you know I will be watching More Of Me in November, although the idea sounds better to me as a series than a movie. I like my reality shows to teach me something, or at least expose me to a job or a lifestyle I am not familiar with, so It's My Party could be interesting; if people watch parties planned for spoiled rich teenagers (My Super Sweet 16), why not the same for adults? No matter what your thoughts on the individual programs above, it's always a good think when a network is actively developing new programming to expend its niche.
I'm On A Rock And I'm Ready To Roll
HBO signed Charles S. Dutton to an exclusive development deal last week, locking up the award winning actor, writer, and director for series, mini-series, and movies. Dutton first rose to pop culture prominence for the 1991 Fox sitcom Roc although he had been a highly successful stage actor since the early 80's. He is a Yale School of Drama graduate who has the interesting distinction of receiving Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony nominations as well as being a convicted felon.
This is terrific news for fans of quality television as Dutton is phenomenal talent. How many adjectives did I use in that last sentence? Doesn't matter as he deserves them all. He has won Emmys both for acting (The Practice and Without A Trace) and directing (The Corner), and brings a level of intensity to every project that is unmatched in TV today. I have never thought The Corner got enough credit – it's one of the best mini-series I have ever seen and without it, The Wire would never have existed. I can't wait to see what he and HBO come up with!
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…Last Wednesday saw Criminal Minds topping Private Practice by over 2 million but PP winning convincingly in the 18-49 crowd. Very similar results this week, too…Same week, same Thursday at 9 story, with CSI winning by a shade under a million but Grey's dominating in demos…Without A Trace won the Thursday at 10 battle, and Big Shots had its overall numbers up even though 3 million viewers choose not to watch the second half of the episode…The gap between Dirty Sexy Money and Life is getting pretty narrow (we here at Two Tivos think both shows are worth watching!)…The premiere of Women's Murder Club was the most watched show on Friday night in both total audience and the demos…Friday Night Lights second airing in it's new timeslot dropped 16% from week one. Rumors are flying that it will be shifted to Monday at 10 in place of the floundering Journeyman…What a difference a week makes; Sunday's Football Night In America on NBC drew ½ the audience it did seven days earlier…Desperate Housewives was watched by over 18 million, and time slot opponent Cold Case was up close to 2 million from last week…Samantha Who? benefited from strong reviews and a Dancing With The Stars lead in to pull in 14.5 million viewers…Chuck picked up a little over a million in total audience from last week…CSI: Miami was up 10% from last Monday…There's no stopping NCIS, up 19 17.4 million this week…Cane is now down 23% from its premiere…Speaking of such things, Bionic Woman is now down 37% from it's opening episode…Pushing Daisies was topped by Deal Or No Deal in a big way for total viewers but easily won the time slot in the key demos…Good news for Fox – both it's Wednesday night comedies (Back To You & Till Death saw gains this week, with the latter topping the former)…
All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry Notes, Pilot Updates, & Casting News…24 fans have something to look forward to; www.24trailer.com will debut the first extended look at day 7 of the hit Fox show next Thursday (10/25)… The CW is developing The Collection, a drama based on the life of Isaac Mizrahi…USA has ordered 10 episodes of The Starter Wife, it's Emmy nominated mini-series from last summer, with Debra Messing signed on to return.…Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles debuts on Fox on Monday January 14th. Prison Break will have it's ½ finale in December and then return in April…CBS is working on Million Dollar Password, an updated, higher stakes version of the original, with Regis Philbin as host…Ron Howard is producing The Church Of Reggie for Fox, about a guy who starts his own religion from the back porch of his house…Benjamin Bratt is starring in A & E's The Cleaner, about an addict who goes clean while in prison after making a pact with God and then tried to help others…In other A & E news, Patrick Swayze will star in The Beast, playing a FBI agent training a new partner while being investigated for breaking more than a few of the rules…Will Smith is looking to turn Hitch into a TV series that he would executive produce, although no network is attached just yet…Never a good sign when a show's order is cut before it even hits the air but that's the case with Fox's high profile The Return Of Jezebel James…You may recall reading a story in TTTP a few weeks back about how this may be the final season of ER, so you might expect to see a lot of former stars stopping by. Word this week is that Gloria Reuben will be reprising her Emmy nominated role in January…Rumors abound that Fox is thisclose to giving Back To You a full season pick up…Kitchen Nightmares got renewed for a second season by Fox…The CW cancelled Online Nation, replacing it with reruns of Aliens In America…
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…While Bionic Woman has had some pretty wild quality swings, Katee Sackhoff has been a stand out and last Wednesday's episode was an amazing showcase for her versatility. No woman on TV conveys the intensity she does with the same level of emotion, and no one is better at being both a strong, confident women and a scared little girl at the same time. She is funny, smart, tough, and beautiful, and is far and away the best thing about the show. Wow, Al, drool much?
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…LOVED last Thursday's My Name Is Earl, giving us some insight as to everyone's back story without compromising anything they had laid out previously. Seeing The Closer's Raymond Cruz in red bikini briefs singing Delta Dawn was highly entertaining…Dirty Sexy Money continues to be a wonderful mix of over-the-top and genuine emotion, with no issues switching tones back and forth…One of the things I like about this season of Grey's Anatomy is they have taken the first few weeks to re-establish the characters and their new situations before launching into any major new storylines. Alex telling the other interns that George was a repeater was the asshole move of the year, and also perfectly in character. Let's hope that the writers find a way to salvage Callie as actress Sara Ramirez deserves better than to mope her way through each episode…Shark's constant playing with the timelines is really starting to grate on me. I know it's a TV show but the way they have the cases happening at one pace but the character's personal lives at another is a great reminder of why the Law And Orders choose to focus on the cases and not screw things up….James Spader took a lot of heat when he was nominated for, and then won the Emmy for Best Actor In A Drama Series last month, and even though I really thought James Gandolfini should have taken home the statue, one needs only to watch one of his closings to see why he is as respected in the industry as he is. Last week's case about the HIV positive high school student suing her school for only teaching abstinence featured Spader at his finest. This is Boston Legal's most consistent season in some years…Last Friday's The Soup was the funniest in recent memory, with great jokes about Tila Tequila, Brian Adams, and the return of the pickle girl…How awesome was Andy's serenading of Angela on The Office? Take A Chance On Me has been in my head all week…
TV Pick Of The Week
Fox debuts The Next Great American Band tonight and I will be there watching. Ok, I will really be on a flight from Las Vegas to Boston, but my Tivo will be recording every second of the auditions, which promise to be painfully entertaining. Goo Goo Dolls lead singer Johnny Rzeznik and Sheila E are two of the judges, and the third is Ian "Dicko" Dickson, the British version of Simon Cowell. Wait, Simon's British, too, but he's really one of us now, so it's not the same thing. The show shares the same producers as American Idol, so you know it's going to be well made, amusing, and manipulative; what else could you want from Friday night viewing? Don't miss The Next Great American Band, Friday at 8 on Fox.
Two Tivos To Paradise, Weekly Update 30 Days, The 4400, Aliens In America, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antique Roadshow, The Apprentice, Battlestar Galactica, Best Week Ever, Big Love, Bionic Woman, 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, Dirty Sexy Money, Entourage, Eureka, Everybody Hates Chris, Flipping Out, Ghost Hunters, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, The Hills, House, How I Met Your Mother, Jericho, Kid Nation, King Of Cars, Last Comic Standing, Law And Order, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Lost, Mad Men, Medium, Moonlight, My Name Is Earl, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Next Food Network Star, The Office, One Tree Hill. Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, Reaper, 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
People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. We'll be back next Friday with the full rundown on the week in television plus what should be an expanded What I've Been Watching section as I have LOTS to catch up. Have a great week!
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.
