 Michael Franti once described television as “the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation.” As such, we’re guessing he isn’t nearly as excited as we are that we’re finally beginning to see the fruits of Hollywood’s writers at last being able to put pen back to paper. CBS clearly got the jump on everyone else with the premiere of their new episodes, but as you can see, the other networks will soon be joining in the fun as well, offering up all the fresh new comedy and drama we’ve been craving for so very long. Okay, maybe it hasn’t been that long – as soon as the strike wrapped up, you probably noticed how some series magically “found” a few episodes they’d unabashedly been sitting on – but it’s damned sure been long enough. Check out our coverage here, then head back over to tell us what shows you’re most psyched to see return!
Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and Desperate Housewives and Lost and The Office and My Name Is Earl and External Entertainment and External TV and Heroes and TV Sci-Fi and Reaper Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Given that the TV season generally runs from September to May, it always feels a little strange doing a year-end wrap-up of the best in television, since you end up bringing in bits and pieces from two separate seasons. Still, between the second half of the 2006 – 2007 season and the first half of the 2007 – 2008 season, we’ve certainly been given plenty of material to work with. Six of our most prolific TV writers have provided their opinions of both the best and the worst that the small screen has had to offer, and while they do occasionally concur on a show, it’s a safe bet that no two people on the Bullz-Eye staff have identical season pass lists on TiVo. Head over to the homepage by clicking here, but don’t forget to swing back by to offer your own opinions! Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Reviews and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and Lost and The Office and External Entertainment and External TV and The Wire and Heroes and Jericho and Battlestar Galactica and TV Sci-Fi and Reality TV and Reaper and Journeyman and Friday Night Lights Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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NBC may not be King of the Nielsen Ratings just yet, but we know good television when we see it, and the Peacock has returned in full force with a dominating presence that includes the top three shows and five of the top six. HBO, on the other hand, is experiencing the opposite, with the departure of “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome.” Add to that the fact that our list features a whopping 10 new entries — five of which are freshmen — and you’ve got one heck of a Power Rankings shakeup. Much of this has to do with so many shows being on hiatus until next year, but whatever the cause, it’s nice to see some much-needed change to a usually familiar lineup. And, hey, don’t miss the list of our favorite shows which are currently on hiatus (and are therefore ineligible for the Top-20), our farewell to “The Sopranos,” and our stable of Honorable Mentions. Check out the list here, then come back and let us know how we did…or if we missed any of your favorites! Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Reviews and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and Rome and Lost and South Park and Prison Break and The Office and 24 and The Shield and The Sopranos and Rescue Me and Deadwood and External Entertainment and External TV and The Wire and Heroes and Jericho and Battlestar Galactica and TV Sci-Fi and Reaper and Journeyman and Friday Night Lights Comments: 2 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Wow, y’know, I didn’t realize this whole Scare of the Day feature would keep me quite as busy as it has; I’ve only just had the chance to play a little catch-up and watch the second episodes of a couple of this season’s new shows. Here are my thoughts on a couple of the series and how they’re doing… Reaper – Episode 2 started off with a little too much in the way of shenanigans from the poor man’s Jack Black (my buddy Jim Washington feels certain that that’s how poor Tyler Labine is gonna get labeled, and it’s hard to argue based on the way they portray his character, Sock, during the first quarter of the show this week), but, thankfully, things got back on track once Sam finally got around to starting the hunt for his latest soul. I was disappointed with the way Sam’s mom’s mood changed so dramatically from the pilot and got more upbeat, since it seemed like the darkness pervading her could make for more drama, but the soul recovery was just as enjoyable this time as last, and, of course, Ray Wise continues his reign of awesomeness. In short, I’m still digging it and continue to look forward to more. Dirty Sexy Money – I think it’s more of a guilty pleasure, but I’m digging this show just as much now as I did in the pilot. It’s got that nighttime soap feel even as it clearly wants to poke fun as the character types that are its primary focus. I particularly enjoyed the beginning sequence which clarified the profound differences between the lives of Nick George and Tripp Darling (the characters played by Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland, respectively). It seems as though it could get a little old if it’s gonna be a weekly occurrence that Nick’s wife is gonna keep harping on about the fact that “this isn’t part of your job description” and “your dad wasted his life on these people, don’t you waste yours as well,” but what can I say? It’s fun watching the obvious parodies of the Hilton siblings, I’m curious to see where they take the storyline of Patrick and his transsexual “mistress,” and, thankfully, they’re clearly steering the mystery of who killed Nick’s dad away from the family. (I was already fearing that that had the potential to be a dead end for the series.) It’s over the top at times to be sure, but with Bryan Singer as a producer for the show, at least you can be confident that it’s over the top with a wink at the audience. Bionic Woman – I may have watched the whole episode, but I mentally tuned out at the moment Jaime’s sister called her and asked her where her Tenacious D t-shirt was. Remember what I said about how the sister felt less like a character and more like a demographic-satisfying creation? At this point, I couldn’t feel more confident about that declaration. Otherwise, even with the addition of Isaiah Washington to the mix, Episode 2 was pretty shrug-worthy. Damn, I’m glad I started with the backpedaling when I did; otherwise, my face would be pretty damned red right about now. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and Reviews and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and Heroes and TV Sci-Fi and Reaper Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Once you’ve written about the pilot twice, there’s really no need for you to talk about it yourself, wouldn’t you agree? But if you happened to catch the first episode of “Reaper,” I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts and see if you enjoyed it as much as I did…or if you didn’t. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and TV Comedies and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and TV Sci-Fi and Reaper and Pilots Comments: 2 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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So we got our hands on a copy of the revised pilot for “Reaper,” and the DVD box now features a tagline for the show: “Meet Satan’s biggest tools.” Ugh. God love The CW for picking up this great series, but, wow, that’s awful. I mean, seriously, it’s pretty awful. The only thing vaguely funny about it is that it reminds us that, at one point during the pilot, The Devil (Ray Wise), sees the soul Sam’s supposed to return to Hell and says, “Oh, gag! Look at that tool! Would you capture him already?” That moment is funny. The tagline itself is not. Okay, back to the revised pilot.
As you may or may not have read in our previous entries about the show, the role of Andi, Sam’s co-worker who he’s been crushing hard on for quite some time, has been taken away from Nikki Reed, star and co-writer of the film “Thirteen,” and given instead to Missy Perigrym, best known to fans of “Heroes” as Candice Wilmer, the shape-shifting associate of Noah “H.R.G.” Bennet. Since I am a fan of “Heroes,” that might be why, when Perigrym first appeared on the screen in “Reaper,” I found it almost impossible to buy her as the nice, sweet, and sympathetic girl that Sam’s been falling for. Fortunately, however, as the show progresses, it gradually becomes a bit easier to accept her in the role…and, besides, however I might feel about her being in the cast, it’s clear that The CW is banking on her recognizability, since they’ve pointedly placed her visage on the cover of this promo DVD, right along with co-stars Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine. (Why Wise isn’t front and center, however, is a little inexplicable.) Otherwise, however, this revised pilot for “Reaper” looks and feels just as fantastic as it did before, packed with action, comedy, drama, and plenty of special effects. And, to be fair, it’s likely that most viewers will readily accept Perigrym in the role of Andi without question; I’m probably just partial because I really liked the clean-cut feel that Reed gave the part. Mark your calendars: the series premiere of “Reaper” - directed by Kevin Smith, no less - airs Tuesday, September 25th, at 9:00 PM EST. You won’t want to miss it. Here’s a teaser…
Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Reviews and External Entertainment and External TV and Reaper and Fall TV Preview and Pilots Comments: 4 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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They’re watching you.
And you’d better be watching them. But just in case you didn’t see my write-up on The CW’s new drama, “Reaper,” in Bullz-Eye’s Fall TV Preview, let me throw it out here for the PH readership as well… Reaper (Tuesday, September 25 @ 9:00 PM, The CW) Network’s Description: For the first 20 years of his life, Sam wondered why his parents went so easy on him. Whether it was school, sports or career choices, Sam’s mom and dad always let him get by with the least possible effort. As a result, Sam skipped college, took a dead-end job at the local Work Bench home improvement store and now wastes endless hours playing video games. Everything in his slacker world changed the day Sam turned 21 and discovered the ungodly reason his parents let him slide: they sold his soul to the devil before he was even born. Though his guilt-ridden parents try to explain the circumstances that led them to the forfeit his soul, Sam can’t wrap his mind around what is happening to him. He’s always been the under-achieving son, while his younger brother Kyle was pushed to get straight A’s, excel at every sport and join every club. Kyle resents the easy ride Sam has enjoyed, and Sam can’t help but feel jealousy over Kyle’s achievements. What neither brother realizes is that their lives have been shaped by forces they can’t yet begin to understand. When Satan himself drops by to personally explain that Sam must now serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down evil souls that have escaped and returning them to Hell, Sam refuses to accept his bizarre fate. After getting just a glimpse of Satan’s temper, however, Sam realizes that breaking a deal with the devil has consequences that are very, very bad. Still, Sam is fascinated by the devil’s charm and his flattering insistence that Sam is full of untapped potential. Armed with a constantly changing series of vessels — starting with a Dirt Devil mini-vacuum — to collect the escapees, Sam finds that his new line of work is dangerous and frightening, even with the goofball help of his friends and co-workers Bert “Sock” Wysocki and Ben, along with Sock’s former-girlfriend-turned-paralegal, Josie. Sock has been Sam’s closest friend and slacker role model for many years and was the first person Sam turned to with the news about his gig with the devil. A perennial adolescent who attended high school on the six-year plan, Sock is perfectly happy with his life and his job at The Work Bench, where he is a thorn in the side of the assistant manager, Ted. Sock thinks Sam’s news is totally cool, and is happy to help with Sam’s assignments from Hell. Ben, on the other hand, immediately grasps the seriousness of Sam’s situation. A college student and the son of a reverend, Ben is also on board to help, but he knows that dealing with the devil is no game. Sam knows he’ll have to go to great lengths to hide his new identity from the person who matters most in his world: his smart and pretty co-worker Andi. Trapped by his lack of self-confidence, Sam has loved Andi from afar, despite Sock’s constant urging that he ask her out. Andi had gone away to college, but came home to her mother and her job at The Work Bench after her father died. Now she’s stuck in a safe job and a safe friendship with Sam. Though his life has suddenly turned weird and scary, Sam is surprised to find that he somehow feels good about his newfound “mission” — removing evil-doers from the world and sending them back where they belong. Back when nothing was expected of him, Sam never had to push himself to achieve. Now, with his friends and his trusty vessel-of-the-week at his side, Sam is ready to face his destiny as the Reaper. The Buzz: Based on two weeks at the TCA press tour, it seems as though virtually every critic who’s watched this show has fallen in love with it from the get-go. It plays like a guy’s version of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and Ray Wise’s demonic grin as The Devil is as good as the personification of evil gets. The fact that Kevin Smith directed the pilot adds seriously to its indie cred, too. Bottom Line: Best show of the 2007 season on any network. Even factoring in that it’s an hour long rather than 30 minutes, it’s still probably about ten times funnier than any of the season’s new sitcoms. This ringing endorsement has been brought to you by the same person who envisioned a bright and prosperous future for “The Knights of Prosperity” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” of course, but it’s no less heartfelt for that track record. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and External Entertainment and External TV and Reaper and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Here’s officially all you need to know about “Reaper” to be sold on it: on his 21st birthday, Sam (Bret Harrison) discovers that, before he was born, his parents sold his soul to The Devil…and when The Devil turns up to let Sam in on what that whole soul-selling thing means to him, we discover that he’s played by - wait for it - Ray Wise. Ray Wise, as you may or may not know, played Leland Palmer - Laura Palmer’s father - on “Twin Peaks,” and, believe you me, there ain’t nobody who can do a devilish smile like that man. Executive producer Deborah Spera says, “We looked high and low for the right Devil, I have to say. And we had spent a lot of time looking at many actors and their portrayal of the devil. And (executive producer) Tom Spezialy came in and said, ‘You know what I was thinking about? What about Ray Wise?’ And we were like, ‘Oh, my God, perfect.’ Ray walked in and smiled at us, and that was it.” At this point, Tyler Labine (”Invasion”), one of the stars of “Reaper,” said, “Just grin, Ray, right now.” So he did.
After the applause died down, executive producer Michelle Fazekas added, “He read for us, and, literally, we were, like, ‘We’re there.’” So are we. For his part, Wise kinda sorta did research his entire life for this part. When asked what preparation he did to play The Devil, he replied, “Oh, I guess 37 years of acting and about 400 movies that I’ve seen in the last 10 or 12 or 15 years, watching John Huston in ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster,’ people like Peter Stormare in ‘Constantine.’ I’ve seen devils like Peter Cook in ‘Bedazzled,’ pretty much remembering every devil that’s ever been done on the screen, big and small, then forgetting all about that and doing my devil, which is a combination of probably me and every other character I’ve ever played from Caligula Caesar, the mad emperor of Rome, to Leland Palmer, to a variety of villainous and terrible people. But I play a lot of good people, too, and so I can inject some of that into the devil, too. “In fact, I ran into David Strathairn this morning on an airplane flight here. David and I did ‘Good Night & Good Luck’ together. And he said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m playing The Devil in ‘Reaper,’ a new TV show.’ And he said, ‘You are playing The Devil?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘You mean The Devil is a good guy?’ He knows me only from ‘Good Night & Good Luck,’ really, you know, and he doesn’t know a lot of the other things I’ve done in the past, so, to him, The Devil would be a good guy…but he could also be perceived as a very bad guy. Personally, as The Devil, I don’t think he sees in terms of good or bad and black and white.” However you see The Devil, there’s one think that’s for certain: “Reaper” is a great, funny show. It plays like a guys’ version of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on a lot of levels. You’ve got a reluctant hero with a destiny he can’t escape from (instead of slaying vampires, he’s capturing the souls that have escaped from Hell), he’s got a best bud who helps him out, he’s got his own version of the Scooby Gang, and if he doesn’t exactly have the equivalent of a Giles in The Devil, at least he’s got a elder (to say the least) to bounce things off of. Plus, the pilot’s directed by Kevin Smith! What more do you need? Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Comedies and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and Reaper and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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…and, yet, somehow, they still managed to slip one of the best shows of the upcoming season into their lineup: “Reaper.” But more on that in a bit…along with details about a surprisingly promising comedy called “Aliens in America.” (I haven’t seen the whole episode yet, but the preview was hilarious.) First up were the pair of announcements from The CW’s executive VP of communications, Paul McGuire, who looks a little bit like Darrell Hammond and, to the relief of the gathered critics, had pretty decent comedic delivery as well. (There’s really nothing more excruciating than watching a network exec get an attack of the flop sweats as they attempt to be funny when it goes against every fiber of their being. Well, maybe watching the pilot for “Cavemen.” But not much else.) * Supergirl will be flying onto “Smallville” this season, played by Laura Vandervoort. She’s hot, she can fly…what more do you want? * There’ll be two new cast members on “Supernatural” this season: Lauren Cohan and Katie Cassidy. Katie’s dad, it turns out, is David Cassidy. I was so, so tempted to find her at the party later that night and ask her what her dad’s deal was about only wanting to talk to press who give rave reviews to his albums - back story: I only kinda-sorta liked his recent Target-exclusive album of remixes, and my indifference led to the cancellation of an already-scheduled interview - but I restrained myself…mostly because my wife was with me. After McGuire’s comedic monologue, he introduced Dawn Ostroff, President of Entertainment with The CW, who dropped the following tidbits: * On September 18th, the new season of “Beauty and the Geek” premieres with a new twist: this time, there’ll be a male beauty and a female geek. * The CW has extended their deal with Tyra Banks through the 2009-2010 season, which means that as long as it keeps performing, you’ll keep seeing her within the context of “America’s Top Model.” * Waiting in the wings: an ensemble comedy called “Eight Days a Week,” starring Christina Milian, Mario Lopez and Justin Hartley and produced by “Will & Grace”’s Sean Hayes. * “One Tree Hill” will be back with 22 new episodes…much to the annoyance of several of the critics, you could tell, since they - like me - would rather have seen the return of “Veronica Mars,” instead. * This season’s new cringe-worthy reality show concept: “Farmer Wants a Wife.” Big city girls move to the country, and “Green Acres”-styled comedy hijinks almost certainly ensue. * This season’s new cringe-worthy reality show in practice (or, at least, based on the clips I saw): “Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants.” Mother-daughter beauty pageants. It’ll probably be huge. But it made me want to run far, far away. * Casting changes to new shows: Missy Peregrym, formerly the shape-shifting bad girl from “Heroes,” is now going to be on “Reaper,” while Scott Patterson - a.k.a. Luke from “Gilmore Girls” - will now be the dad on the sitcom “Aliens in America.” * Chris Rock will finally appear in front of the camera on “Everybody Hates Chris” rather than simply serving as the show’s offscreen narrator. He’ll play a guidance counselor in the season premiere. (Further appearances aren’t currently scheduled, unfortunately.) * No further movement on that long-rumored “Spike” movie. Says Ostroff, “We typically do not do movies of the week or miniseries. I never say never. You never know. Something could come up that just, you know, feels so right for us. But we have not had any conversations with Joss about the ‘Spike’ movie, although we would love to be in business with Joss in any way.” * Asia, the winner of last year’s Pussycat Dolls series, has decided to go solo, thereby completely defeating the entire purpose of going through the season to become a member of the group. * On the subject of “Gilmore Girls” wrapping up last season rather than lingering on for one for year: “We were looking at (the show) as the season was going on,” said Ostroff, “and I think that we all felt that the show had lost about 25 percent of its audience. Lauren Graham, who is, you know, the consummate professional and was truly fantastic to * On the quick dumping of the much-tauted “Hidden Palms”: “We had ordered it as eight episodes,” explains Ostroff, “and we really saw it as probably a miniseries, a serialized miniseries of eight episodes. And if it were to catch on, we would have had the ability to do more episodes, but that’s really one of the ways that we talked about marketing it and having it on the air.” * On dumping “Veronica Mars” after only three seasons, despite the loud clamoring of the show’s fans: “I can honestly sit here and I say I can not look back and have any regrets. I feel that we gave ‘Veronica Mars’ every chance,” declares Ostroff. “And as many of you here know, there was no stronger champion of that show than me. You know, we gave it a better time slot to follow up every single year that it was on the air. And eventually, we just had to say how much longer do we go on without the show really catching on? So the taking the show off the air for a while was not the demise of the show. We really tried every single year to figure out how we can bring more viewers in. We just weren’t able to crack it.” To just close on a personal note, sorry, but I absolutely don’t buy that. “Veronica Mars” was a smart, funny, exciting series, and I refuse to believe that the network couldn’t have tried another timeslot or two to see if any of them worked any better. I mean, the diehards would’ve followed it anywhere they put it, so what would it have hurt? Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour and Reaper and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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But not yet. Sorry, just trying to start raising the excitement level a little bit. But here’s what’s going to be going on:
I’ll be attending the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, which takes place at the Beverly Hilton from July 10th - 26th. Actually, I won’t be able to arrive ’til the 12th, so, unfortunately, I’ll miss the panels on the 10th and 11th, which are spotlighting the upcoming season for PBS, and, because of my flight time, I’ll also miss the first panels of the day on the 12th itself, so I won’t be able to tackle the new shows on Lifetime and FX…and, yeah, I know you don’t care that much about the Lifetime panels, but I’m sure you’re as bummed as I am about missing out on the FX stuff. Fortunately, I should still be able to get a transcript of the panels; I just won’t be able to score any one-on-one time with any of the actors. Below, I’m going to list the shows I’m going to be trying to get the inside scoop on. If you’re particularly interested in my finding out about a specific series, please leave a comment to tell me which show (or shows), and I’ll do my best to get as much info as possible, as well as to speak with individual actors and actresses if the opportunity presents itself. I’ll be blogging the tour on a daily basis, so be sure to check back every day starting on the 12th! And, now, the shows…and be forewarned: there are a LOT of them! Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and Documentaries and External Entertainment and External TV and Jericho and TCA Press Tour and Reaper Comments: 14 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 Remember “The Loop”? It was a funny little sitcom that premiered on Fox in March 2006, starring Bret Harrison as Sam Sullivan, a young airline executive struggling to find the middle ground between work and play. It wasn’t what you’d call groundbreaking or anything - in fact, plot-wise, each 30-minute episode tended to play out like your average wacky teenage comedy - but the performances by Harrison and his co-stars, Mimi Rogers and the invaluable Philip Baker Hall, caused it to rise way above the average. Less utilized but still funny was Joy Osmanski as Harrison’s assistant, who, when assigned to perform menial tasks (like, say, rifling through a dumpster), never failed to mention how much education she had…and where it had gotten her.
There was a lot to like about “The Loop.” It had a very “Scrubs”-like vibe at times, particularly in the office sequences. In fact, because of this, the producers decided that the show needed to be retooled to focus more on Sam’s work and less on his home life. To be fair, that was mostly wise; watching Sam interact with his superiors - one a gruff taskmaster (Hall), the other a man-eater (Rogers) - was where the fun of the show was. So out the door went Sam’s two sexy female roommates, Lizzy and Piper…but, unfortunately, with the disappearance of Piper, so went the possibility of Sam ever having his longtime unrequited crush on her ever come to anything. And that sucks. Sucking worse, however, was keeping the character of Sully, Sam’s slacker brother; he serves more as a plot device than anything else, invariably doing something stupid that gets Sam in trouble. Better they should have kept the romantic angle with Piper. But at least the process of increasing the amount of time Sam spends at work means that they’ve expanded the role of Darcy somewhat. Dare we suggest a liaison between her and Sam…? If so, it’s liable to be little more than a one-night stand. Now that the show’s finally back on the air, you can hardly hear the dialogue for the sound of Fox yelling, “Dead show walking!” Not that I’m not glad that it’s back, but, geez, you almost have to wonder if doing a second season of the series resulted in some sort of tax write-off for the network. I mean, look at these facts: 1) After a relatively successful first season, Fox declined to put “The Loop” on the Fall 2006 schedule, instead announcing that they’d be doing a 13-episode second season in the spring. So, yeah, “The Loop” is back on the air…but, at the rate Fox is blowing through the new episodes (two every Sunday night), it’ll be gone pretty soon. So enjoy it while it lasts…and if you think about it, drop Fox an E-mail and ask them why they treated it so damned poorly. Filed under: TV and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV and Reaper Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
