Category: External TV (Page 130 of 419)

Entourage 6.8 – The Sorkin Notes

August 30, 2009 /

It was only a matter of time before Doug Ellin and Co. slipped up and delivered a bad episode, but considering it’s taken this far into the season for it to happen, it really isn’t worth getting upset about. Still, not a whole lot went down in tonight’s show, and even worse, the filler portions weren’t very entertaining. The only subplot that did accomplish anything was the one involving Andrew Klein’s midlife crisis, but although fans of Ari were no doubt happy to see Jeremy Piven back after his pseudo-absence on last week’s show, this story is really starting to get on my nerves. Gary Cole may have been a great addition to the back-end of Season Five, but this year, they’ve turned his character into a boring mess.

Now that Marlo has locked him out of the house and frozen his assets, Andrew has started crashing at the office, and Babs has taken notice. With his meeting with Aaron Sorkin set to take place later that day, Babs gives Ari an ultimatum: either Andrew signs Sorkin or he’s gone. Of course, when it’s time for Andrew to prove his worth to the agency by reeling in the big fish, he isn’t there because he’s busy trying to get his notes from his home. When Marlo refuses to let him, and then burns said notes for him to see, Andrew absolutely loses it and drives his car through the house. Not a smart move, as it forces Ari to take the meeting in his place. Sorkin, however, hates Ari’s guts, and refuses to even listen to anything he has to say. So when they discover that Andrew has been sent to county jail, they go to visit him, only for Andrew to miraculously sign Sorkin after telling his lame sob story. I can’t say I was happy about that, though, as it only means Andrew is bound to stick around. This was the perfect time to get rid of his character and allow for Ari to get back to business, but now he’s stuck babysitting Andrew for what looks like the immediate future. Le sigh.

Meanwhile, in Other Subplots That Just Won’t Die, Eric and Sloan get together for drinks to try the whole friendship thing again, only for Eric to suddenly bail on her when Ashley comes crawling back. This whole back and forth between Eric and Sloan was always going to play a big role this season, but what was the point of bringing them together for a few seconds only for them to end up exactly where they were before? If Eric was upset that Sloan can’t decide what she wants, then why did he decide to meet her in the first place? It’s a pretty maddening storyline that I hope gets settled soon, because while I’m sure Eric will end up with Sloan eventually, the writers just need to get them together and be done with it.

The other story of the night focused on Vince’s recent break-in after agreeing to meet with Ari’s security friend (played by Peter Stormare) for a demonstration of his services. There didn’t seem to be much to this plotline except for a chuckle-worthy scene where Drama stood in for Vince during a simulation, but the final scene of the episode did open a few doors for the rest of the season. At first, I was going to criticize the guys for even considering paying the outrageous cost for security (after all, the unwelcome visitor only snagged some underwear), but now that they’ve uncovered a possible identity with the driver’s license of a particularly creepy-looking guy named Curtis Tucker, it might be more serious than we were led to believe. That, or the security guy planted the evidence in order to scare Vince into paying their steep fee. I’ll admit that the former offers a more interesting premise, but don’t count my other theory out just yet.

Entourage, External TV, TV, TV Comedies

True Blood 2.11 – This love gushes from my heart, like a water from a spout

August 30, 2009 /

“Is this a bad time?”

You know, for as much as I’ve decried the lack of eroticism inherent in blood, Evan Rachel Wood is so damned sexy that you could almost…not quite, but almost…overlook the fact that her face was covered with the stuff when she made her first appearance this evening. Or maybe it was the other woman moaning in the background that helped make the scenario somehow more sexy than creepy. Whatever the case, it was clear from the get-go that Queen Sophie-Anne LeClerq, Vampire Queen of Louisiana, was not going to be a woman to be trifled with. She knows more than any other vampire we’ve seen, and although we didn’t necessarily see all that much of her power, all we really had to see was the way Bill acted around her to know that, man, she’s got to be off-the-charts powerful. Her comments throughout the episode ranged from funny (“I haven’t enjoyed sex with men since the Eisenhower administration”) to cynical (“Never underestimate the power of blind faith”) to a combination of the mystical and the mystifying (“Everything that exists imagined itself into existence”), but the most telling of her comments came from her complete dismissal of Maryann and her actions. In short, she can’t really be bothered by this creature…or much of anything outside of her own existence, really. Looks like the holier-than-thou manner of royalty remains consistent within both the human and the vampire worlds.

Poor Hoyt. He gets pissy with Jessica for her decision to bite his mother because of her insolent comments, only to have her offer disconcerting revelations about how she’s been longing to head over to Merlotte’s to find herself some manly company, then put the cherry on top of the conversation by destroying everything he ever knew about his father and his noble death.

Poor Tara. She was so chomping at the bit to save Eggs that she basically tried to alienate every single person in the house. My wife theorized that her angry words were due to the approaching mob, but, no, it appears that she was just being incredibly shitty. During her awful heart-to-heart chat with her mama, she did her very best to make her mother feel like complete and total shit…and, yet, Mama responds by playing the sucker and deciding that this is her only possible way to get her daughter back. I don’t blame her for her desperation, but, c’mon, this is Tara’s cousin and best friend. Given everything that had gone down in the previous few hours, did she really think that her daughter knew best?

I can’t imagine that anyone would deny that, if this episode belonged to anyone other than Queen Sophie-Anne, it was the tag-team dumb-ass duo of Jason and Detective Andy. Who would’ve thought that Andy would turn out to be the sensible one of the pair? There were laughs from Sam’s attempts to explain his shapeshifting abilities to them (eventually leading to the discussion later in the episode where Jason tried to work out the most sordid angles of Sam’s powers), from Jason’s dramatic comment about having read about the impending Armageddon in a book (just when you thought he was going to say it was the Bible, he revealed that it was Max Brooks’s “World War Z”), from trumpeting his awesomeness and then promptly running headlong into a tree, and…oh, hell, there were too many laughs to count, but the one that still resonates the most was surely this line.

“‘Sometimes you need to destroy something to save it.’ That’s in the Bible. Or the Constitution.”

God love you, Jason Stackhouse.

The whole sequence within the sheriff’s station was hilarious, though I thought it was a bit cheap to have Andy be wearing kevlar underneath his shirt when he got shot. Still, how can you go wrong with William Sanderson dancing his heart out in his boxers? Their intense discussion in the truck was pretty hilarious in its own right, particularly Jason’s assurance that “I watch a lot of porn to learn stuff,” but the sudden decision to turn this mystical invasion into something patriotic was somehow perfect for these two redneck yokels. The only thing that would’ve made it better would’ve been to have Jason and Andy start singing “God Bless The USA.”

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External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, True Blood, TV, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Pamela Adlon gets back to “Californication,” bids adieu to “King of the Hill”

August 28, 2009 /

Unless you watch “Californication” — or were a fan of Showtime’s swiftly canceled “Lucky Louie” — you may not know Pamela Adlon’s face. If you’ve ever watched “King of the Hill,” however, you almost certainly know the sound of her voice, because she played the pudgy, slow-witted Bobby Hill during the Fox series’ long run, which comes to a close September 13.

Adlon is, of course, neither pudgy nor slow-witted — which made her great company for Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris during their recent chat. One major topic, naturally, was the long, bumpy road “King” traveled during its time on the airwaves:

For years, Fox moved us around. We weren’t even prime time. They would say, ‘Prime time starts at 8 PM,’ and we’d be on at 7:30. And they pushed us around so much that we were canceled four times before this. But we kept growing back up from the pavement, like a flower. It’s just a testament to the show itself and its writing that it’s survived this long.

With “Californication” kicking off its third season, Adlon’s work on that series was a source of conversation, too — although she couldn’t talk much about what’s going to transpire in the coming weeks. She did, however, get in depth about her character’s story arc in Season Two:

I had E-mailed Tom Kapinos before we started production for the second season, and I was, like, ‘Come on, give me a little taste! Let me know what’s going on!’ And he said, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Marcy had a bit of a drug problem back in the ‘80s. And she gets into that again.’ And I went, ‘Oh…!’ I wrote him back and said, ‘Yes! Marcy had a thirsty little nose!

To read more of Adlon’s thoughts on “Californication” and “King of the Hill,” as well as her prolific career in voiceover work, click on the image above or follow this link!

Actresses, External TV, Interviews, TV

5 questions with Brian Boitano about his new Food Network show

August 28, 2009 /

A former Olympic figure skater with a cooking show on The Food Network? For those of you who thought this was a joke when you first heard about it, we’re willing to bet you were pleasantly surprised at how entertaining “What Would Brian Boitano Make” is. The show premiered last Sunday and this Sunday’s episode (we saw a screener of it) features Boitano cooking four different bacon-centric dishes for a roller derby team. Not only is Boitano a natural in front of the camera, his recipes look amazing…..well, anything with bacon looks amazing, but trust me, you’re going to want to try them.

We had the chance to ask Boitano a few questions about his new show and newfound culinary career:

Premium Hollywood: You seem like a natural in front of the camera cooking. I’m curious if you approached Food Network or if they found you, and basically how that all transpired?

Brian Boitano: I have always loved cooking, entertaining and skating. I approached a producer with an idea for a combination cooking and skating show. He liked the idea of me just cooking and convinced me to give it a go. We produced a pilot and sold it to Food Network.

PH: Do you come up with the themes and create your own recipes, and/or how much of that is done by producers?

BB: I came up with most of the themes and recipe ideas, as they are taken from my life, but the producers and I collaborated on the twists that made the show evolve into what it is now.

PH: The roller girl/bacon theme was awesome…can you give away any other upcoming themes?

BB: I have already filmed four episodes, including cooking with my handy man that never works and cooking a paella-inspired meal for my Spanish friend. The first show was called “Brian and the Bachelor” because I created a menu and event around finding a girl for my friend Tony. I invited 15 girls over and surprised him!

PH: Do you think being a world class skater and performing in front of huge crowds helped you in your new role as TV personality, and why or why not?

BB: Certainly, but it is definitely a different process to cook and talk to the camera then to skate in front of the camera.

PH: Your bacon looked like it was cooked so perfectly, I wanted to jump through the screen and eat it. In your mind, what is the key to perfectly cooked bacon?

BB: Using a baking rack and putting it in the oven is the best way for me. It all comes out perfectly shaped and symmetrical.

Catch “What Would Brian Boitano Make” on The Food Network Sundays at 1pm/12 central.

External TV, The Next Food Network Star, TV

“Defying Gravity” worth a look

August 27, 2009 /

Originally pitched to networks as “‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in space,” I was a bit leery heading into the first episode of “Defying Gravity,” which follows eight astronauts as they embark on a six-year mission through our solar system. The series is set in 2052, but features plenty of flashbacks to 2047, when this group of astronauts first started training for this mission.

I gave up on Ms. Meredith Grey a while ago, but I guess I can see the comparison. This series features a relatively small cast of core characters who live and work together. There’s an extremely cute heroine, Zoe (Laura Harris, who played Daisy Adair on the Showtime series “Dead Like Me”), and the gruff but likable hero, Maddux (played by the ever-watchable Ron Livingston, of “Office Space,” “Band of Brothers” and “Swingers” fame). The two are — wait for it — star-crossed lovers who can’t seem to get together despite an obvious attraction. There’s a history between these two, but I’ll stop there as to avoid ruining it for anyone.

This isn’t Maddux’s first time in space. On a previous mission to Mars, he was ordered to leave two crew mates by his commander, who is now running this mission years later. There is all sorts of ill will about that failed mission, which leads to loads of subtext and mean looks.

“Defying Gravity” is an ensemble drama, but Livingston and Harris are its heart and soul. Whether or not it’s for you will largely depend on whether or not you like these two characters. For something that falls in the sci-fi genre, it’s not terribly exciting or thrilling, but there’s a subtlety to the show that is engaging. With time, it ferments. And there’s an underlying sci-fi storyline that will keep the fanboys happy, at least for while.

I’m not sure that the series will last, as ratings have been less than stellar. It shed about 20% of its audience after the pilot, but has held onto virtually everyone who made it to the third episode. It’s slow place would seem to indicate one of those ambitious, long-term plans that may never see the light of day. But if it gets a second season, it’s worth a look on DVD.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

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