Two Tivos To Paradise 11.16.07: The News Must Go On

Posted by Al Norton on 11.16.2007

Fox makes their own Family Guy episodes, Ellen cancells a trip to NY, Lost WILL air in 2008, new TV game shows, Trading Spaces goes back to the future, Christmas specials hit the airwaves, thoughts on Chuck, ratings news, the TV Pick Of The Week and even more...all in this week's edition of Two Tivos To Paradise!

Hello Friends. While there is still plenty of quality television for your viewing pleasure, the landscape for early 2008 is looking bleaker and bleaker. I will do my best to keep a positive outlook but also want to hedge my best by apologizing in advance if you find TTTP to be depressing over the coming weeks. On a more upbeat note, I picked up the new Killers' CD Sawdust, which is a collection of B-sides and rarities, including a cover of Dire Strait's Romeo And Juliet, one of my all time favorite songs, and was not disappointed. Also have been listening to James Taylor's new live disc, One Man Band, where the acoustic setting is perfect showcase for his remarkable songwriting skills; Never Die Young has never sounded better.

Something in the way she news.

Understand We'll Go Hand In Hand But We'll Walk Alone In Fear
With no further negotiations taking place between the studios and WGA, all of this week's strike news involves how the work stoppage is affecting the shows you love and the people who make them. Below are the highlights (or lowlights) of the last seven days of strike news.

*The biggest news of the week may be Fox's plan to air episodes of The Family Guy that were not completed by series creator Seth McFarlane. While it is within the network's rights to do so, McFarlane is on record as saying it would cause irreparable harm to his relationship with Fox. What's unclear is if Fox would bring in new people to voice the characters (Peter, Brian, Stewie) done by McFarlane or if they would use existing recordings edited together.

*Lost producers have confirmed that they will air the eight episodes they have completed as a mini-season if the strike does not end, quashing rumors that ABC might hold episodes until 2009. TV Guide.com is reporting that the final of those 8 episodes includes the return of two major characters. No spoilers here. Also from TV Guide.com is the news that while Seth Green has already shot his two episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Joshua Jackson's guest stint will not happen until the strike ends.

*Ellen DeGeneres' return to work caused a major uproar at the end of last week, with many striking writer's finding her "contractual obligation" to return to work to be a lousy excuse. The show's plans to tape episodes in New York next week were scrapped after the WGA made clear their intentions to heavily picket and protest the tapings.

*500 CBS News writers are set to join the picket lines on Monday. Apparently they are members of the Writers Guild Of America East and have been working without a contract of their own for over two years. In a related story for CBS, it has been reported that multiple writers for The Young And The Restless were going to cross the picket lines and return to work, which drew an immediate rebuke from the WGA, which in turn caused AMPTP to accuse them of using intimidation tactics to keep their members in line.

*Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence has refused NBC's request to whip up a make shift finale. This is scheduled to be the finale season of the sitcom and only 12 of the planned 16 episodes have been written, so the network was hoping Lawrence would piece something together they could advertise as a "series finale" in case the strike goes on for a long time.

*Rumors of The Tonight Show returning with guest hosts – regular host Jay Leno has been steadfast in his refusal to go back on the air while the writers are on strike – were shot down by multiple sources this week, with the reasoning being it would be hard enough for Leno to return without writers, let alone someone who has never done it before.

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head Honey, It's Only Top Twenty
The folks at TV Guide.com came up with a wonderful list of how many episodes each show has left to air so, thanks to the wonders of cutting and pasting (not to mention some editing as well), I present it to you for consumption and discussion.

30 Rock: 4, Aliens in America: 10, Back to You: 2, Bionic Woman: 2, Bones: 4, Boston Legal: 8, Brothers & Sisters: 5, Carpoolers: 7, Cavemen: 7, Chuck: 5, CSI: NY: 5, Desperate Housewives: 3, Dirty Sexy Money: 4, Friday Night Lights: 8, Gossip Girl: 5, Greek: 8, Grey's Anatomy: 3, Heroes 3, House: 5, Jericho: 7, Las Vegas: 11, Law & Order: SVU: 7, Life is Wild: 6, Medium: 9, Men in Trees: 13, Numbers: 4, One Tree Hill: 12, The Office: 0, Prison Break: 5, Private Practice: 3 or 4, Pushing Daisies: 3, Reaper: 2 to 4, Samantha Who?: 7, Scrubs: 7, Shark: 4, The Shield: 13, Smallville: 7, Supernatural: 3 to 5, Ugly Betty: 4 or 5

Sorry it's so dense but if I gave each one its own line this news report would be even more John Holmesian than usual. I also apologize for any shows not included but this is the best I could come up with.

I'll Light The Fire, You Place The Flowers In The Vase That You Bought Today
TLC's Trading Spaces took a major step toward re-invigorating their slumping ratings by bringing back former host Paige Davis. Davis had been the shows front person during it's 2001 - 2005 heyday, and was let go when TLC decided to go host-less. Her return is not the only one planned for the series as the network has enlisted A Smith and Company, the team behind Hell's Kitchen, as new producers. They plan on shaking things up a bit, going away from only using neighbors on the show. Suggested possibilities include a divorced couple and feuding in-laws. Also returning to the series, which should relaunch early next year, are fan favorite designers Doug Wilson, Frank Bielec, Laurie Hickson-Smith, and Hildi Santo-Thomas.

Color me pleased. Trading Spaces used to be a Saturday night staple in our house but Mrs. Tivo and I definitely tuned out when they let Paige go, not so much because of her absence but specifically but just because the show got really generic overall. The series had a pretty major following and I guarantee this will lead to a spike in ratings. I would say that the Hell's Kitchen producers scare me a bit but clearly they are good for business as Fox has just renewed that series for two additional seasons.

I'll Teach You The Proper Ploys When You Talk To Boys, Little Ways To Flirt And Flounce
Nominations for The 34th Annual People's Choice Awards, which will air on CBS on January 8th with Queen Latifah as host, were announced this week, as were the nods for the Producers Guild Awards for top TV Drama and Comedy. Highlights include the rather dark trio of CSI, House, and Law And Order: SVU being up for the PCA for favorite drama, the totally 80's grouping of Patrick Dempsey, Keifer Sutherland, and Charlie Sheen for favorite Male TV Star, and Richard Belzer sneaking in with Chandra Wilson and Neil Patrick Harris for Favorite Scene Stealing Star.

Clearly the SVU fans vote quite a bit; as much as I love the Belz, I don't think of him come awards time. Since it was based on the pervious season, it makes sense that the Producers Guild would recognize Heroes as one of the five best dramas on TV, but it's still amusing considering how much the show has fallen in year two. It also seems that People's Choice voters have never heard of a show called The Sopranos.

If I Had A Boat, I'd Go Out On The Ocean, And If I Had A Pony, I'd Ride Him On My Boat
Ellen's Really Big Show, a variety special from Las Vegas, debuts on TBS this Monday at 9:30. Featuring Lyle Lovett and His Large Band as the house band, the show includes appearances by Sheryl Crow, Barry Manilow, Wayne Newton, Ryan Shaw, the African Children's Choice, magician Lance Burton, and the USA All-Star Jump Rope Team as well as comedians, dancers, and acrobats.

Sure, this isn't really news but I am a HUGE Lyle Lovett fan so I take any opportunity I can to expose his genius to the world. It's a nice time to be Lyle, with a critically lauded new album out, this gig, and also an appearance on next Sunday's Brothers And Sisters. Lylephiles, unite!

Once In While He Won't Call But It's All In The Game
With the changes of the writer's strike going into 2008 looking greater and greater, the networks are rushing a new batch of game shows into production. ABC has completed filming on Wanna Bet, a take on a popular German show where celebrities bet on contestants performing crazy stunts. Fox's Moment Of Truth is based on a controversial Columbian program where people are hooked up to a lie detector and answer increasingly personal questions for cash. CBS has Do You Trust Me, which finds teams of total strangers betting on how much they can trust each other. Amnesia is NBC's entry and also delves into the personal lives of its contestants. The CW will be the first with the new programs, with The Mother Of All Pageants launching on December 12th. Judges Carson Kressley (Queer Eye), former Miss USA Shanna Moakley, and Cynthia Garret will decide which of 8 mother-daughter teams wins this extreme beauty pageant.

Who names these shows? Is Do You Trust Me the most generic name ever? Not that ominous titles like The Chamber have always been TV gold, but can you imagine if all shows were named like this? Grey's Anatomy would become Hot, Whiny Doctors Sleep Around, House would switch to Grumpy Doctor Makes The Wrong Diagnosis For The First 50 Minutes, FX could rename Nip/Tuck Blood/Sex, and How I Met Your Mother would be…How I Met Your Mother. In other rhetorical question news, did the world need a mother-daughter beauty pageant?!?! The good news is the "daughters" in the title are all 18 and over, so there will be no JonBenet Ramsey jokes flying around.

Am I the only one who thinks Blood/Sex would be a great title for a vampire show?

There's A Tree In The Grand Hotel And One In The Park As Well, The Sturdy Kind That Doesn't Mind The Snow
Lifetime announced plans for their annual holiday film festival, "Fa La La La Lifetime", 25 nights of holiday movies hosted by Carson Kressley and Melissa Peterman (Reba). Staring on December 1st, each night of programming will feature a movie with the spirit of the season, including five new original movies:

*12/1 Holiday Switch – Nicole Eggert stars in a "what would my life have been like if…" fantasy.

*12/8 Lost Holiday The Jim And Suzanne Shemwell Story - Jami Gertz and Dylan Walsh play an estranged married couple battling the elements to stay alive in a story inspired by actual events.

*12/9 An Accidental Christmas – Children of separated parents (Cynthia Gibb and David Millbern) conspire to reunite their family for the holidays.

*12/15 Christmas In Paradise – Two families deal with recent hardships on a holiday vacation in the Caribbean. Charlotte Ross and Eureka's Colin Ferguson star.

*12/25 A Family Holiday – Full House's Dave Coulier tries to prove he is a mature adult in order to inherit $10 million.

If all the holiday candy at CVS and two Boston radio stations already converting to an all-Christmas format didn't make me realize I needed to start my shopping, the press release from Lifetime did the trick. I am sure most of you will not be tuning in but perhaps your Mom's, Aunts, Grandmothers, Wives, and Girlfriends will, so why not score some points by knowing a little bit about what will have them reaching for their handkerchiefs.

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…The CSI-Without A Trace crossover produced massive numbers for CBS; 21.9 million watched part one (up 17% from last week) and 21.39 watched the conclusion on WAT (an INCREDIBLE 47% gain from last week)…Despite those great numbers, Grey's Anatomy still topped the night in the key demos…Almost 11 million people tuned in for Ugly Betty's big non-wedding episode…Ghost Whisperer is gaining some momentum, winning not just it's Friday at 8:00 time slot but the entire evening for total viewers (a shade under 10 million)…Finishing a close second in the overall audience race on Friday night was Numb3rs…The Women's Murder Club - Moonlight battle is turning into another CSI – Grey's, or Criminal Minds – Private Practice match up, with everyone week one winning the overall battle (WMC) and the other topping in demographics (Moonlight)…Desperate Housewives topped Football Night In America's Colts- Chargers match up for total audience as well as demos…Brothers And Sisters beat Shark in both categories, too…Good news for quality family television; both Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens In America saw modest increases this week…K-Ville dropped 22% from it's last new episode…Heroes seems to be getting some momentum, with this week's episode winning the 9:00 hour in demos…Samantha Who? continues to enjoy the Dancing With The Stars lead-in to the tune of over 14 million viewers…Tuesday night at 10 saw both SVU and Boston Legal picking up viewers…Pushing Daisies won the Wednesday at 8 hour in total audience and demos...The biggest news of the ratings week is that Criminal Minds topped Private Practice in demos for the first time all year...This week's Kitchen Nightmares was the most watched in the show's short history...Clearly my making this week's Life the TV Pick Of The Week was partly responsible for 1/2 million increase in viewers...

All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry Notes, Pilot Updates, & Casting News…Keeping Up With The Kardashians has been renewed for a second season by E!...Henry Thomas stars in the new A & E pilot Under, playing a street criminal who goes into the witness protection program and ends up on the NYPD. The pilot is to be directed by the great Charles S Dutton, but I'm not sure how that matches up with the exclusive development deal he signed with HBO last month… Gretchen Mol has joined Dermot Mulroney and Emily Watson in Lifetime's The Memory Keeper's Daughter…FX renewed Damages for not one but TWO seasons, a total of 26 episodes…Michael Rispoli (The Black Donnellys) has been cast on The Oaks, a Fox drama about three different families who live in the same house in three different time periods…French Stewart stars in the ABC Family pilot Happy Campers, about a family making a cross-country trip…A & E has green lighted a pilot for Garage Sale, where Ileana Douglas helps celebrities get rid of their junk…The pilot for Kath & Kim, NBC's comedy pilot starring Molly Shannon, will be directed by Paul Feig (Freaks And Geeks)…E! has Last Model Standing: Miami Models in the works. A one hour competition special, it has the potential to turn into a regular series with new locations each week…James Blunt will show up on an episode of Las Vegas early next year…Fox won a bidding war for Starting Over, a new comedy starring Bernie Mac as a newly divorced Father who lives with and works for his son… Now that Viva Laughlin has been cancelled, Jason Winters is returning to his role on Brothers And Sisters…

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…The lesson I learned this week is, "Always Trust Your Readers". Loyal TTTP fan Greg Keily has been on me for a couple of weeks to catch up in my Chuck viewing, so with Mrs. Tivo out on Tuesday night I took the opportunity to stage a mini-marathon, and let me just say, wow, this show is much better than I remembered. I loved the pilot but the second and third episodes were mediocre personified. The last two episodes of Chuck have been funny, entertaining, and filled in the viewers on some very important back story. Zachary Levi deservedly gets loads of praise for the heavy lifting but the supporting cast has been shining as well lately, in particular Josh Gomez, C.S. Lee, Ryan McPartlin, and Vik Sahay. And let me just say, for a variety of reasons, TV is much better place when Julia Ling is on screen. While the show might do well to incorporate some sort ongoing villain, they have done a great job exploring the effect that becoming a spy has had on Chuck's life; can't wait to see the Lou – Sarah showdown!

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…Despite my misgivings about if doing a detox at home really is a good idea, this week's Brothers And Sisters intervention episode was pretty powerful, especially Justin's rage at everyone in the room and then Kitty's response that finally made him stop. It will be interesting to see how the writers go about having Justin try and repair his relationship with Rebecca; to say he owes her an apology is the understatement of the week… It was kind of surprising that Best Week Ever didn't even reference the writer's strike on Friday night. The highlight of the episode was once again Doug Benson, analyzing the trailer for The Bucket List…Amid a cast deservedly praised for the naturalistic performances, no one inhabits their character's skin on Friday Night Lights, or on any show, like Tyler Kitsch does Tim Riggins…Farthingale, this week's episode of Life, was the best in the show's short history and was a great example of moving the overall story along while giving viewers a great case to chew on, one of those great "this story has nothing to do with what you think it does" mysteries that the Law And Orders used to do so well…Gossip Girl continues to occupy a world that I am not sure actually exists, but that may be why I find it to be such a guilty pleasure…The lovely Lindsay Price stopped by as Ted's girlfriend of the week on How I Met Your Mother; the punishment period for starring in Couplingis over, so there is no longer any reason she shouldn't be a regular on a show. Maybe former co-star Colin Ferguson could get her hooked up with Eureka… Nip/Tuck's second episode of the season was just as strong as the premiere, and I think these two will rank with the best in the series history. It's amazing to me how energized the show has become with the move to LA – Ryan Murphy clearly is in the writing "zone"…It amazes me that even with an MVP like Patrick Warburton on it's team, Rules Of Engagement continues to be mediocre at best. I would much prefer to watch a show about just Warburton and Megyn Price as a husband and wife than the current show, but the big guy's comic abilities keep me coming back for more…Heroes was a bit of a let down for me this week, especially after last week's outing was SO good. I am enjoying David Anders a lot more in the present than I did in the past but enough with Maya already. Also, and I don't mean to sound like I am complaining too much, but what was up with Kristen Bell's wardrobe?!?!?

TV Pick Of The Week
Tonight at 8:00 pm TV Land debuts The Top 50 Greatest TV Icons, a new special that…counts down the top 50 greatest TV icons (duh!). The show honors both actors as well as specific characters and should be a quality mix of old and new. I will be incredibly disillusioned if James Garner doesn't turn up at some point and am keeping my fingers crossed that either Andre Braugher or Frank Pembleton (his character on Homicide: Life On The Street) gets the props he/they deserve. Real fans of television should not miss The Top 50 Greatest TV Icons this Friday on TV Land.

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, Chuck, 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, Nip/Tuck The Office, One Tree Hill. Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, Reaper, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rules Of Engagement, Run's House, Samantha Who?, 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. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, surrounded by friends and family. Eat a ton but don't forget to leave room for Two Tivos To Paradise on Friday morning!

Feedback is encouraged at [e-mail].

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.