Two Tivos To Paradise 05.09.08: The Mother of all TV News Reports

Posted by Al Norton on 05.09.2008

A major update on shows on the renewal bubble - great news for Reaper fans, is Ryan Seacrest replacing Larry King?, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Wrestling show, Battlestar Galactica's spin off gets its lead actors, your guide to this week's season finales, American Idol thoughts, raves for Grey's Anatomy, TONS of news and notes, the TV Pick of the Week and more, all in Al Norton'sTwo Tivos To Paradise!

Hello Friends. It was a crazy weekend for me as I was able to cross two very American places off of my "to go to" list. First up was the trip to Babies R Us, where Mrs. Tivo and I set up a registry. For those of you who have never been, the best comparison I can make is to a casino; no windows, no clocks, bright lights, and they pump in cool air. To call it overwhelming would be the understatement of understatements. We were trying to figure out how much of their "essentials" list were really just that (vs. being a way for them to get us to buy more) and then factoring in that what we did think was important needed to be purchased twice over. Double the kids means double the stuff.

Since we were at a big shopping plaza with multitudes of chain dining options, we capped off our experience by losing our Olive Garden virginities. While I hardly think people coming from Italy are really lining up to eat there, the food was fairly decent with the prices more than reasonable. I think you could put that last sentence in the dictionary under the phrase, "damning with faint praise."

Did you come here to read about my weekend or get the latest in TV news?!?!

I ain't much on Casanova, me and Romeo ain't never been news.

You Say Yes, I Say No, You Say Stop, And I Say Go, Go, Go
The Hollywood Reporter ran a story this Monday with their take on where the various bubble shows stand in their chances of renewal. How I Met Your Mother and Moonlight appear to be locks to return in the fall, and it also seems certain that The New Adventures of Old Christine will be back as well, either on CBS or in a new home at ABC. Boston Legal's chances appear to be solid, and the article gave great hope to Reaper fans when it said that momentum was in the freshman series favor. Shark and Women's Murder Club are unlikely to be on any network's fall schedule, and Men in Trees was officially cancelled this week by ABC. Eli Stone remains firmly on the bubble, with the decision having as much to do with the network's feelings on their batch of pilots as it does about the quality and prospects of the show itself.

As a big fan of Reaper, especially the episodes since they returned from the writer's strike, this was GREAT news. Other fans of the show continued to press the network, staring a mail campaign of socks (Sock is the name of a character on the show) to The CW. As I have stated before, Boston Legal starting in reruns this fall on TNT should go a long way towards ABC pulling the trigger on a 5th season.

I did want to say a few things about how ABC absolutely killed Men in Trees; what show could survive SIX time slot changes in less than two years? MIT had a bit of a following and while the first couple of episodes were pretty bland, it recovered well and had a natural charm to it that easily could have made it a success if the network had simply given it a real chance.

I Fear Rivers Overflowing, I Hear The Voice Of Rage And Ruin
Contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP broke down this week when the AMPTP walked away from the negotiating table on Tuesday with no scheduled plans to return. The issues are the same involved in the recent WGA strike – compensation for DVD sales as well as streaming media. The AMPTP feels that their deals with the WGA and the DGA laid the groundwork for future contracts but SAG seems to be saying each organizations needs and goals are different. SAG's contract expires on June 30th. The producers association has offered May 28th as a re-start date for talks but that hasn't been accepted as of press time.

I am very pro-union and can completely understand how much posturing is a part of negotiations but considering the millions of dollars lost during the WGA strike and the idea that there are three other new deals to look at as at least starting points, I was hoping that both sides might be a little more flexible in their positions. I am not saying that they are in the wrong, just that no talking is never a good thing. SAG needs to understand that AMPTP clearly will allow a work stoppage to take place if they feel it's the right thing to do, and the AMPTP can't just assume that SAG will automatically take the same deal as everyone else. Those of you looking for some positive news in this should know that AFTRA, the other, smaller actors union, began talks with the AMPTP on Wednesday and is expected to reach an agreement on a new contract in a timely fashion.

So You Don't Know Where You're Going But Still You Want To Talk
MSNBC is reporting that Ryan Seacrest is in "serious negotiations" to replace Larry King full time on CNN's nightly talk show. Seacrest, who has guest hosted Larry King Live on numerous occasions, was given the seal of approval by King in a New York Times story last year when King said he would be the ideal replacement. While the story is saying Seacrest could take over by the end of the year, his publicists had no comment and CNN is denying the story.

Say what you will about the real life Guy Smiley but the dude works hard AND gets results, which is a pretty amazing combination. He hosts LA's #1 morning radio show, is the front man for the #1 show on television SEVEN years running, and finds time to do E! News as well, not to mention produce some reality shows. I can see why CNN would want him considering all his other gigs would be free commercials for their nightly talk show, a show that could seriously use an infusion of younger viewers. One would assume that his E! News gig would be a casualty of this new job.

I have no idea if Seacrest would be able to handle the political conversations that are a large part of the current show but there is no doubt he is a draw and this is a ratings driven business. Lord knows he would be a better investment than Katie Couric, who actually had been rumored to be up for this job in a move that would have allowed CBS to get out from under most of her contract, get CNN a big name person to host their flagship show, and put Couric back into a setting she can excel in. Whenever it is that King steps down, look for CNN to pull out all the stops to send him off to retirement, with a ton of publicity and a host of A-Listers (or at least people who used to be A-listers) stopping by to pay their respects.

It's Not The Things You Do That Tease And Wound Me Bad
Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For Elle Woods will debut on MTV on June 2nd, a reality series where the winner takes over the lead in the Tony award winning Broadway show. Hosted by Haylie Duff, this 8 episode series will not be done live and also not feature any audience voting; the judges (including series director Jerry Mitchell and casting agent Bernard Telsey) will have final say over who replaces Tony nominee Laura Bell Bundy as the new Elle Woods.

Regular TTTP readers know this is the kind of reality competition series I like – one where there is a real prize at the end, not just cash. And for 10 aspiring actresses, what could be bigger than a Broadway lead?!? Perhaps more so than just about any reality show ever, this will be a life changing experience for the winner. I like the move away from audience voting as it was too much a part of Grease: You're the One That I Want. Let's hope the producers of this show, which include Duff, learn from the mistakes of that earlier program and make it as much about the performance as it is about the singing. Word that they aiming to be more Project Runway than American Idol is certainly a step in the right direction.

Well I Started This Dance In My Neighborhood, Now Everybody's Doin' It Cause It Feels So Good
CMT has given an eight episode order to Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, which, as the title suggests, will pit 10 celebrities against each other in a series of matches and challenges that will leave one of them crowned Celebrity All-Star Wrestling Champion. Hogan and fellow executive producer Eric Bishoff will serve as two of the three judges, with the third to be named later. Other positions to fill include two trainers that will put the competitors through their paces.

If the celebrities that take part are on par with those who CMT got to take part in it's bull riding series, we can look forward to seeing recent Big Brother winner Adam putting Dustin Diamond in a headlock. My big question here is, since we all know that pro-wrestling is staged, how are they going to handle choosing a winner? Will they agree from the outset who wins? Can we get one of the guys from Jackass to take part so there are some guaranteed high spots?

And With Your Hair Combed Right And Your Pants Fit Tight, It's Gonna Be All Right
Season 7 of American Idol is actually season one when it comes to my watching. All season long I will be providing a weekly diary of the action as well as covering any AI related news items. SSDW when it comes to the ratings; the 21.25 million that tuned in were the largest audience of any show for the night (and will turn out to be the biggest of the week as well) but were a drop of 13% from last week. 22.4 million people were in front of their TV sets watching Wednesday's results show, up from last week but down from last year.

Ok, let's get to the fun part…

TUESDAY
-It's the Final Four, American Idol style.

-Shockingly enough, Simon is wearing a gray sweater...with a V neck!!!

-It's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night, with the contestants choosing from the Hall's list of 500 most influential rock songs of all time.

-David Cook starts things off with Hungry Like the Wolf, which makes me wonder who made this list...This is barely passable, although Paula is dancing like a woman looking for someplace to go at closing time...What exactly does "Smell like I sound" mean anyway?

-Syesha is up next doing Proud Mary, which is an obvious choice but also a necessary one since she needs to pick a song the audience really knows ...I am not sure if she will make it to the final 3 but she has surely proved she belongs here.

-Jason pokes fun at himself a bit by doing a Bob Marley song, and to be fair he seems a bit more awake this week...I must admit to having always thought I Shot the Sheriff was a terribly overrated tune.

-David Archuleta sings Stand By Me, another in a string of technically sound but emotionless performances...Watch Jeff Bridges in Starman and see if you don't notice any similarities...I wouldn't be surprised if Archuleta turned up naked in Anna Devane's garage is all I am saying...Wow, I will be shocked if anyone gets that reference...

-David Cook's second song is Baba O'Reilly, which means somewhere Paul O'Neill is coming up to bat...This should get him into the next round pretty easily.

-Syesha is doing a Sam Cooke classic, recently covered pretty well by white boy soul singer Gavin DeGraw...If she leaves this week it's with her head held high...Girlfriend needs some waterproof make up.

-Good lord is Jason really doing Mr. Tambourine Man? And then he forgets the lyrics?!!? I smell a Fox crossover – there is no doubt we will be seeing Jason and Wayne Brady in the same camera shot before the end of the summer! Is he the single worst singer to make it this far in the show's history? I will give him credit - he is wearing a kick ass shirt.

-The Archuleta Youth Movement does Love Me Tender with the passion of a eunuch...Maybe he will show some passion when his dreams comes true and he becomes a real boy.

WEDNESDAY
-Howie Mandell is here tonight...Insert a "record deal or no deal" joke here.

-I know Fox is doing market research on how to improve the show next year, and here's the biggest tip – kill the group singing segments.

-David My Robot Buddy Archuleta can't even complete a sentence, maybe because his creepy stage Dad isn't feeding him lines.

-FYI - Cirque Du Soleil's LOVE is truly amazing and one of the best theater experiences of my life, ranking with the first time I saw Rent and a spellbinding performance by a young woman named Melissa at Chez Pare in Montreal back in the late 90's.

-Johnny Cash is now a little less cool after that Ring of Fire Ford video...Scratch that, Johnny Cash could never be anything less than cool...

-Maroon 5 stop by, which reminds me to urge you to check them teaming up with Sara Evans on a new episode of the excellent music series Crossroads, this weekend on CMT.

-There is a God...Jason Castro goes home...The final three are as they should be, David, David and Syesha.

I'll Send You All My Love Everyday In A Letter, Sealed With A Kiss
While Scrubs and 30 Rock signed off last night, Sunday marks the start of season finale season in earnest. Each week I will list the finales taking place over the next seven days as a service to you, my loyal readers.

Sunday
Survivor, 8 pm, CBS
Brothers and Sisters, 9 pm, ABC

Monday
Samantha Who?, 9:30 pm, ABC
The Bachelor, 10 pm, ABC
The Hills, 10 pm, MTV
Medium, 10 pm, NBC

Tuesday
Beauty and the Geek, 8 pm, The CW
Law and Order: SVU, 10 pm, NBC
Women's Murder Club, 10 pm, ABC

Wednesday
America's Next Top Model, 8 pm, The CW
Till Death, 8 pm, Fox
Back to You, 8:30 pm, Fox

Thursday
My Name Is Earl, 8 pm, NBC
Smallville, 8 pm, NBC
CSI, 9 pm, CBS
The Office, 9 pm, NBC
ER, 10 pm, NBC
Without A Trace, 10 pm, CBS

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 Thursday continued the trend of down numbers for hour long shows, with both Ugly Betty (2nd week in a row) and Grey's Anatomy posting series low numbers, although Grey's and Lost easily won their time slots in the demographic battle…My Name Is Earl (up 17%) and Scrubs (up 16%) rebounded nicely from poor showings last week but The Office put up season low numbers for NBC, as did ER at 10…CSI won the total audience match up on Thursday with 17.8 million…Numb3rs was Friday night's most watched show with an audience of 10.2 million…Moonlight fans will be happy to hear that it won the 9:00 hour with 7.93 million…An earlier than usual Cold Case was a surprise winning on Sunday at 8, topping Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (11.57 million to 11.46 million), although EM:HE won in demos…Desperate Housewives rebounded from record lows to win the night with 16.3 million, although the extra lead-in didn't help Brothers And Sisters, which dropped 700K but still triumphed at 10 with 10.85 million…Dancing with the Stars 17.9 million was on par with last week…Bones dropped 16% but still finished second in the Monday at 8 battle…Two And A Half Men's 13.5 million included 650K who weren't around last week…House dropped 11%, down 12.76 million…CSI: Miami topped the 10 hour with 13.86 million, with Medium in second place with a strong 9.5 million…NCIS actually dropped a bit this week although it still put up 13.8 million…The big gainer of the week was the Dancing with the Stars results show, which jumped 1.5 million from last week to total 18.4 million…Hell's Kitchen tied the DWTS results show for demos but lost a million overall…Law and Order: SVU won Tuesday at 10 with 10.4 million, a 13% drop…CSI: NY jumped 10% to win the Wednesday at 10 time slot, finishing well ahead of Law and Order…

All The Young Dudes Carry The News
Industry News, Notes, and Hot Rumors…Let's start with the best news of the week – AMC has renewed Breaking Bad for a 13 episode second season…Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica got it's two leads this week when Deadwood's Paula Malcomson and Jericho's Esai Morales were signed to the movie/backdoor pilot. Morales is a Two Tivos favorite and a perfect choice to play Bill Adama's Father…TVGuide.com is reporting that Fox will introduce a Private Investigator character early next season on House with the hopes of spinning him off to his own show…ABC has confirmed last week's lead story about Lindsay Lohan appearing in the season finale of Ugly Betty, with the role recurring in at least 5 episodes next fall…Speaking of Ugly Betty, rumors abound that the show will film on location in New York next year, both as a cost cutting move and a way to add energy and authenticity to the series…The latest actors added to the cast of The CW's 90210 reboot are Tristan Wild (The Wire) and Michael Steger (The Winner)…Catherine O'Hara is now rumored to be in talks to play one of the leads in Rob Thomas' Good Behavior, an ABC pilot about a woman who tries to get her family to leave a life of crime behind them when her husband goes to jail. Rene Russo had previously been mentioned for this part, and there is buzz that Kristen Bell will be one of the leads as well…Andie McDowell has been cast in ABC's The Prince of Motor City…Renee Zellweger will executive produce Living Proof, a movie for Lifetime starring Harry Connick, Jr. as Dr. Denny Slamon, who developed Herceptin 2, a drug used to treat breast cancer patients…Showtime renewed Tracey Ullman's State of the Union for a second season…There are rumors that Stephanie March may indeed return to Law And Order: SVU for a few episodes next season…It looks like MTV will air a 4th season of The Hills…Reruns of Family Matters hit Nick At Night this June…CMT has picked up a second season Gone Country, the top rated series in network history. Participants already scheduled to compete for a country music CD release include Sean Young, Jermaine Jackson, and former N'Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick. Big and Rich's John Rich will return as host…Ghost Whisperer reruns start on Sci-Fi in the fall of 2009…Two Tivos favorite Mike O'Malley has signed on as Christian Slater's best friend on the new NBC series My Own Worst Enemy. O'Malley is best known for comedy, starring in Yes Dear and recurring on My Name Is Earl…There is good news and bad news for Life On Mars this week; the adaptation of the BBC series is looking more and more like a lock for ABC's 2008-2009 line up, which is obviously the good news. The bad news? Not only is David E Kelly not likely to stay on board running the ship but the team of show runners from October Road (Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg) are in talks to become the show's executive producers. While Rosenberg has shown a real ear for dialog (anyone who wrote the screenplay for Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead gets a lifetime pass from me), October Road was truly awful, with nothing I saw making me feel comfortable entrusting LOM to them. For more upbeat news on the show, check out this week's Best of What's Around section below…Gilmore Girls' David Sutcliffe will return to Private Practice this fall for at least 11 episodes in the role of Officer Kevin Nelson, who will be a love interest for Addison…The always great Stephen Root will appear in three episodes of HBO's upcoming True Blood…The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be in high def when it opens it's sixth season this fall…Brea Grant (best known for her brief but memorable role as Landry's MST3K watching girlfriend on Friday Night Lights) and 80's TV icon Bruce Boxleitner have been added to the cast of Heroes upcoming third season. Producers are making sure fans know that these will be supporting roles and that the focus of the show will be on the core characters…Interesting tid bit about the new Knight Rider show – NBC has hired Gary Scott Thomas, who wrote the screen play for The Fast and the Furious, to be the showrunner and he stated in an interview this week that he was not a fan of the TV movie that aired this winter. He said his vision of the show would be a cooler, re-invented version that would not bare much resemblance to the highly rated re-launch that led the network to order a series…Comedy Central is bringing back The Gong Show this summer with Dave Attell as host. I don't know that The Gong Show will work anymore as the weirdness of the average person is a television novelty that has long since worn off. Also, what made Chuck Barris so brilliant as host was that he seemed to genuinely enjoy himself where as Attell, while being incredibly funny, is much more sarcastic...The grand prize for the winner of ABC's upcoming High School Musical: Get In The Picture? A spot in the music video that airs over the closing credits of High School Musical 3. Am I the only one who thinks they should have been able to come up with more than that?...Whoopi Goldberg will host The Tony Awards on CBS this June…

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…When I read that Jason O'Mara had been cast as the lead in David E Kelly's adaptation of the BBC series Life on Mars, I was disappointed because I love the original and wanted Dean Winters to get the part. After watching O'Mara's performance last week on Grey's Anatomy, I am even more excited for the show than ever before. Playing a man with brain tumor that was causing him to feel random – and incredibly inappropriate – emotions as well as killing him, he brought an incredible passion that grounded what could have been an almost farcical plotline. Instead of heading into the kind of comedy that Boston Legal might have played this for, his clear torment made his swings uncomfortable to watch, and I mean that as high praise.

Actually the whole episode was top notch, the best Grey's has done in at least a year, with a nice mix of storyline advancement and medical oddities. Loved the look on Sloane's face when the elevator door opened and there was Shepard with his past, present, and future girlfriends surrounding him. The producers used Addison as the eyes – and voice – of the audience quite well, especially with telling Meredith she needed to get Derek back and spotting Hahn's obvious affection for Callie. Let's hope the rest of the season finishes this strong.

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…Last week I talked about how this season's Scrubs had been sub-par but the penultimate NBC episode was vintage, with everything coming together in a way that didn't feel forced. Loved Legal Custodians, too…Last Restaurant Standing continues to be highly entertaining, thanks in no small part to the music they use; it's a little touch but it really adds class to a genre that is hardly known for such things…Baltar's monologue followed by his handshake with the Chief was more than worth the price of admission on last week's Battlestar Galactica. I am always amazed when I can watch a TV show and readily admit I have no idea where they are going. Sure, I know the destination is earth, but the map is like something Billy from Family Circus would draw up, and yes, I mean that in a good way…Angry drunk Jack was back at the end of last week's Lost, and that's the one I like the best…Another fantastic episode of Aliens In America, which has surpassed Everybody Hates Chris on my list of top family shows on TV. This is second outing in a row directed by Fred Savage…Gary Cole has done a nice job on Desperate Housewives in his role as Dana Delaney's "reformed" ex-husband. I like storylines when I can't see what comes next, and while I still and thinking that the daughter really isn't the daughter (which is why she can't remember so many things from her childhood), it's keeping my guessing. On the other end of the spectrum is the incredibly stupid Gabby and Carlos take in a drug dealer storyline. The only thing that could save this is if they cast Scott Valentine as one of Justine Bateman's customers…Each week I promise to stop praising Medium so much and then each week they go and do something so good I can't help myself; I love that the writer's didn't have Joe cheat on Alison, or even think about cheating, and that they resolved their argument in once scene so they can focus on the fact that Kelly Preston's character is clearly nuts and on the verge of doing something scary…I am doing something I have never done before, which is to start watching a show that is no longer on the air. Wait, that's not exactly true since I watched a ton of old shows as a kid, but in this instance I have started tivoing The Practice reruns that FX shows on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I had watched reruns of the last season to see the introduction of the characters that would go on to populate Boston Legal and since they started at the beginning last weekend I figured I'd give it a shot…If Step It Up And Dance sees a second season perhaps the casting people can pick contestants who really want to be there; one person quit because of injury and two others have threatened to before being talked out of it. Jason Alexander was the rare reality show guest judge who offered strong, on-target notes to the participants…My Name Is Earl did it's usual fine job of blending guest stars/recurring characters this week, with Michael Rappaport, Alyssa Milano, and Mike O'Malley providing quality comedic turns…

TV Pick Of The Week
Based on the quality of last week's Brothers and Sisters, I have very high expectations for Sunday's season two finale. Justin's proposal to Scotty was the best TV has seen since Monica proposed to Chandler (he took over halfway through) - although that title may change hands quickly with what is expected to happen in The Office's finale on Thursday – and I am man enough to admit I got a little teary eyed. Also deserving to be singled out for praise is Dave Annabelle; playing a scene where you admit to the person you think is your sister that while you were awaiting her paternity test results you started hoping she wasn't related because you had feelings for her can't be easy as an actor and yet he managed to pull it off and make you really feel for Justin's dilemma. In another actor's hands it would have been just plain creepy but here it felt very real, with all the awkwardness you would expect. The great Ron Rifkin finally got some good Ghostbuster material to work with and knocked his coming out scene out of the park. And I haven't even mentioned how real the mother-daughter tension seemed when Rebecca and Holly had their knock down, drag out verbal battle.

I am not sure if we actually get a wedding this week but I know there is a bachelor party, some big plot twists, and at least one heart warming scene with Sally Field. Don't miss the season finale of Brothers And Sisters this Sunday at 10 pm on ABC.

Two Tivos To Paradise, Weekly Update
30 Days, 30 Rock, Aliens In America, American Idol, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Antique Roadshow, The Apprentice, Battlestar Galactica, Best Week Ever, Big Love, Bones, Boston Legal, Breaking Bad, Brothers And Sisters, Burn Notice, Chuck, The Closer, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 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, Last Comic Standing, Last Restaurant Standing, Law And Order, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, Lost, Mad Men, Make Me A Supermodel, Medium, Miss Guided, Moonlight, My Name Is Earl, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Next Food Network Star, Nip/Tuck, The Office, The Paper, One Tree Hill. Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Psych, Real Time With Bill Maher, The Real Hustle, Reaper, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rules Of Engagement, Run's House, Samantha Who?, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Shark, Shear Genius, The Soup, Step It Up and Dance, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Top Chef, Top Design, Torchwood, Ugly Betty

People Love You When They Know You're Leaving Soon
Here ends another edition of Two Tivos To Paradise. Only six weeks away from the 100th edition of TTTP – can you feel the excitement?!?!. Please remember to take some time on Sunday to honor your Mothers, who are a big reason you turned into the piece of work you are today!

Have a great week, see you next Friday!

Feedback is encouraged at [e-mail] as well via the comments section below.

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.