Two Tivos To Paradise 11.23.07: News To Be Thankful For
Posted by Al Norton on 11.23.2007
Is the end of the WGA strike near?, the underwhelming cast of the celebrity Apprentice, more dancing shows on the way, a surprisingly packed upcoming 7 days of TV viewing, ratings news, raves for 30 Rock, the TV Pick Of The Week, and more...all in the new edition of Two Tivos To Paradise!
Hello Friends. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, with lots and lots of good food and very little of the anxiety that can accompany family gatherings. The past seven days for me included seeing Bruce Springsteen (a set list that included quite a few old, old tunes, including Kitty's Back and The E Street Shuffle), watching Sci-Fi's new mini-series Tin Man (more on that next week), and gouging myself on my cousin Sue's incredible chocolate chip brownies. Yea food.
It's a smaller than usual news report this week but that's to be expected with the holiday. And the strike.
A screen door slams, Mary's news waves.
Try To See It My Way, Do I Have To Keep On Talking Till I Can't Go On?
The Writers Guild of America and The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have agreed to resume talks, with formal negotiations starting up next Monday. Both sides also agreed to refrain from making any further public statements until then, with the hopes that some of the animosity may subside by the time they sit down again.
This is far and away the best news of the week. While sitting down at the table doesn't guarantee an end to the strike, it's the first step we have been waiting for. If they could somehow manage to get a new deal agreed to by the end of the year, most of the TV season would be completed without a problem, 24 being the potential major exception. I don't want to get too excited but you can't have peace without peace talks.
Understand We Go Hand In Hand But We'll Walk Alone In Fear
The latest in other strike related news…
*Young and The Restless writers vehemently denied a story in Variety that they were looking into ways to cross the picket lines, saying their writers meeting for pizza was something they all agreed to do weekly while the strike was continuing.
*Rumors persist that CBS late night programming could return with new episodes in January of 2008 if the strike were to continue that long. In a non-related story, employees of both The Late Show With David Letterman and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson will be paid full salaries through the end of the year.
*Interesting situation for Carlton Cuse of ABC's Lost, who returned to work as a producer on the show while continuing to be on strike as a writer. Even more so since he is a member of the WGA's negotiating team.
*Elizabeth Taylor showed she still has some pull when she convinced the WGA to not picket a production of Love Letters that is taking place on the Paramount lot on December 1st. The event is set to raise over a million dollars for her Aids foundation and features James Earl Jones.
I Don't Care If You Twist Or Jive, Just As Long As You're Lookin' Alive
Nickelodeon and MTV have new dance-centric shows in the works, both with big name stars attached. R & B sensation Chris Brown is executive producing a pilot for Nick that focuses on the back up dancers that tour with him. MTV has green lighted Randy Jackson Presents American's Next Dance Crew, which is being billed by some as an "urban So You Think You Can Dance".
Wow, it's a good thing Randy Jackson was available for the MTV show! Dancing clearly equals ratings in the current TV marketplace, with Dancing With The Stars being a Nielsen machine, and Fox's So You Think You Can Dance kicking butt in the summer, so it makes sense that other networks would want to get a piece of the action. Which reminds me – in case any of you were curious, my favorite Star Trek episode is A Piece Of The Action. What's that, you weren't curious? Ok, moving on…
But Till I Get Myself Straight I Guess I'll Just Have To Wait In My Rubber Suit A-Rubbin' These Cars
The official contestant list for the upcoming celebrity edition of The Apprentice was released by NBC this week. The show is back in New York after a one season move to LA, and the participants will be playing for charity. The series is set to return on January 3rd with a Thursdays at 9:00 time slot, although that could change if/when the strike ends.
-Trace Adkins (Country Singer)
-Carol Alt
-Steven Baldwin
-Nadia Comaneci
-Tiffany Fallon (Playmate Of The Year, 2003)
-Jennie Finch (Olympic Softball Player)
-Nely Galan (Telemundo Producer)
-Marilu Henner
-Lennox Lewis
-Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent Judge)
-Omarosa
-Tito Ortiz (UFC)
-Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos)
-Gene Simmons
So much for the A-list that The Donald was bragging about when they first announced their plans a few months back; he dropped Brittney, Paris, and Lindsay's name in that initial press conference, not to mention saying that NASCAR's Jeff Gordon would be taking part as well, which drew an immediate denial from Gordon's publicist. There is no truth to the rumor that Steven Baldwin took part because he was hoping to get a job at the end.
Hope You Need My Love, Babe, Just Like I Need You
If, like me, you assumed that the seven day period starting the Friday after Thanksgiving would be uneventful TV wise, you, like me, would be quite wrong. Below find a quick guide to an action packed week.
*TONIGHT Fashionably Late With Stacy London, TLC (Series Premiere) Numb3rs, CBS Star Trek Enterprise, Sci-Fi (All Day Marathon Spongebob SquarePants, Nickelodeon (All Day Marathon)
Judd Hirsch's former Taxi co-star Christopher Lloyd stops by Numb3rs, which leaves me hoping they work the question, "what do you do at a yellow light?" into the script.
*SATURDAY Toby Keith Classic Christmas, TLC Saturday Night Live, NBC
Nothing says the holiday season is upon us like a good old fashion holiday special. What are the odds Toby utters the word Hanukkah on screen? This week's SNL is titled Thanksgiving Leftovers, featuring a collection of holiday themed sketches from years past.
*SUNDAY Brothers And Sisters, ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC Hannah Montana, Disney (All Day Marathon) The Simpsons, Fox
Two Tivos favorite Steven Weber begins a multi-episode guest stint on B & S; if there was double season pass status available on my Tivo, it would be for moments like this. The Simpsons is having a Frazier reunion, with Kelsey Grammer reprising his role as Sideshow Bob, along with David Hyde Pierce as his brother and first time Springfield voicer John Mahoney as their Dad. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is celebrating their 100th episode with a two hour special featuring the return of many of the show's most popular families. If you have read the recent stories about the Miley Cyrus concert tour setting sales records, Disney's Hannah Montana marathon is a great opportunity to find out what all the fuss is about.
*MONDAY Dancing With The Stars, ABC Notes From The Underbelly, ABC (Season Premiere)
It's the final chance for the dancers to impress the voters on DWTS. I thought Jennie Garth was going to win, so clearly my finger is not on the pulse of whomever it is that votes for these shows.
*TUESDAY Bones Charlie Brown Christmas, ABC Dancing With The Stars, ABC (Season Finale) House, Fox
If you've been watching DWTS up till this point it would seem silly not to catch the finale and see who wins. While we are on the subject, at some point are they going to have enough former winners (and semi-finalists) to do an All-Star edition? Over on House, the new team will finally be in place when the final cut is made, probably at 9:58 or so. TVGuide.com is reporting that you Bones ‘shippers will be VERY happy with tonight's episode.
*WEDNESDAY Christmas In Rockefeller Center, NBC Criminal Minds, CBS How The Grinch Stole Christmas, ABC Shrek The Halls, ABC
ABC debuts what they hope will become an annual holiday event with Shrek The Halls, featuring all the movies key players returning to voice their characters. With the third movie just coming out on DVD last week, this will pull huge ratings. Criminal Minds is carving out quite a niche with their guest spots; Malcolm In The Middle's Frankie Munoz, who stops by this week, is the latest former squeaky clean face to darken things up a bit, joining James Van Der Beek from last year and Jamie Kennedy from a couple of weeks ago.
*THURSDAY Celtics-Knicks, TNT
Ok, this isn't as big as some of the others, but it is the latest installment in the big Boston – New York rivalry, and with how things are going behind the scenes with the Knicks lately, who knows who will be on the floor (or the bench) for them.
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 season four premiere of Project Runway was the highest rated premiere episode of any kind in the network's history, up 20% in total viewers from last year's kick off, and 24% in the key demos…The last new Office of the year (and maybe longer than that, depending on the strike) picked up a ½ million viewers from the previous week…The returning Goran Visnjic helped ER pick up a million viewers, although it still trailed Without A Trace by almost 5 million…The Next Great American Band continues to finish in 5th place on Fridays at 8, trailing the three big boys and The CW's Smackdown…Deal Or No Deal surged past the 10 million mark to top Friday evening in total viewers…The Ghost Whisperer – Moonlight pairing is making winning the demo battle on Fridays a regular thing…Last Sunday's Dexter brought in the highest ratings for an episode of any series in Showtime's history…The American Music Awards brought in their highest numbers in three years for ABC…Fox's animated Sunday night lineup got a huge boost from the football game overrun, including King Of The Hills best demos in four years…Football Night In America's Pats-Bills match up drew in the night's largest audience (13.5 million) but the blowout caused many to tune out after 9:00 pm…Shark benefited from the absence of Brothers And Sisters to post season high totals…Not sure what to make of How I Met Your Mother matching last week's totals but The Big Bang Theory dropping 16%....In other CBS sitcom news, Two And A Half Men and Rules Of Engagement were up…Dancing With The Stars semi-final pulled in a shade over 23 million viewers…Samantha Who? set a new high with 15.43 million…CSI Miami high of 16.22 million pairs of eyes…Tuesday's airing of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special doubled the audience that usual time slot holder Cavemen gets…The semi-final results of Dancing With The Stars picked up over 3 million viewers from last week and was up 11% from that same outing last season…
All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry Notes, Pilot Updates, & Casting News…David Hasselhoff is negotiating to appear in NBC's upcoming Knight Rider TV movie/pilot…Dirty Sexy Money was given a full season pick up by ABC…In other DSM news, Lolita Davidovich is joining the cast as a nurse who catches the eye of Donald Sutherland's Tripp Darling…Following up on last week's story about new game shows in the pipeline, ABC announced that Duel, a six night competition in which 20 contestants mix poker skills with trivia knowledge, debuts on December 17th…One Tree Hill returns on Tuesday, January 8th, temporarily bumping Reaper from The CW schedule…Speaking of returns, KYLE XY is back on ABC Family on January 10th for the second 10 episodes of season two…Lorraine Bracco has been cast in a recurring role on NBC's upcoming Lipstick Jungle…Quarterlife, the MySpace drama from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the team behind 30Something and My So Called Life, has been optioned by NBC, which will turn the 36 eight minute episodes into 6 half hour installments…Good news for fans of Life (like me) – NBC is airing the first half of a two part episode following the Heroes fall finale on December 3rd, with the second part in the regular Wednesday time slot two days later…Torchwood's season two debuts on BBC America on January 26th, featuring the debut of James Marster's character. Coincidently, the season one DVD hits stores four days earlier…
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 last two weeks of 30 Rock have made it clear why this show is the reigning Best Comedy Emmy winner; their balance of different styles of humor as well as sub plots has never been better. Alec Baldwin and new love interest Edie Falco have great chemistry. The show is at its funniest when it's not focused on Tracy but let his craziness float among the different stories, although I still must admit to wondering when Jordan ends and Morgan begins. I loved the various SNL'ers showing up this past week, especially Fred Armisen's appearance. And don't get me started on the genius that was David Schwimmer as Greenzo. Even though The Office has way more heart, I think 30 Rock has surpassed it as the best half hour comedy on TV.
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 holiday makes for a small section this week…Are Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer making their regular salaries for House this season? They have barely been on so far, and didn't even make a cameo in this week's episode, which featured a nice turn by patient-of-the-week Steve Valentine…I was highly entertained by the whole "General Idea" thing in How I Met Your Mother. Jason Segel (Marshall) was clearly having a lot of fun with the slap torture of Barney. Have to mention how fantastic Neil Patrick Harris' Borat costume was…Killing off Isaiah Washington's character on Bionic Woman makes sense as it will hopefully continue (accelerate) Jamie's maturity process. The show's energy level takes a nasty dive on episodes that Katee Sackhoff does not appear…I am enjoying this season of Grey's Anatomy more than some (at least according to a sampling of the emails I get each week), and this past Thursday's episode, equating the hospital social structure to that of high school, hit all the right notes for me…Never in a million years did I ever think that William Baldwin would be have as good as he is on Dirty Sexy Money. Finally, the atrocity that was Sliver is being erased from my mind…Despite the fact that so much of it is obviously staged, I find myself watching Kitchen Nightmares much more frequently. My favorite part is when they show how nasty the kitchen and food storage areas are…Really liked this past week's Ugly Betty, in particular the interaction between Claire Meade, Yoga, and Betty's Dad…This week's Aliens In America was the best since the pilot and perhaps the top in the show's young history. Adhir Kalyan shines brighter and brighter as the writers let Raja show different sides to his personality…Heroes was pretty fantastic this week, with Jack Coleman being particularly deserving of praise. It's amazing that three weeks ago I was considering giving up on this show and now two of the last three outings have been top notch. The only downside to the hour was Nicholas D'Agostino, who's line readings as West were so bad I was rewinding to make sure I was over reacting. We're talking about Andrew Shue territory here, folks…If they gave an award for best primetime décolletage, it would without a doubt be given to to Pushing Daisies Kristin Chenoweth. This is not to take away from the quality of her performance but that mermaid costume? My God!...
TV Pick Of The Week
Fans of Battlestar Galactica, AKA the Best Show on Television, have been waiting for Razor (9:00 pm, Sci-Fi) for months. A stand alone movie with two story threads, one set in the BSG timeline when Lee first took over Pegasus and the other the follows Admiral Cain and crew after the cylon attack, it features a couple of highly interesting plot developments, including some info that, if believed, may make the future look a little darker than expected. The real highlight of the two hour event is the performance of Stephanie Jacobsen, who will be seen starring in ABC's Life On Mars next year. Don't miss Razor this Saturday on Sci-Fi.
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. We'll be back next week with news on the end of the writer's strike (power of positive thinking, people!) as well as whatever else takes place over the next seven days. Have a great week – see you 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.
