Category: External TV (Page 231 of 419)

Old Show, New Season: “Damages”

January 5, 2009 /

If we were to organize those readers of Premium Hollywood who’ve watched the entire first season of “Damages” into two groups – the ones who watched it when it originally aired and the ones who watched it when it came out on DVD – and took a quick poll about why the latter group watched it on DVD, I’d guess a sizable number of people would say one of two things:

1. I missed the premiere, and when I tried to pick up the series a few episodes in, I felt like I’d already missed too much.
2. I missed an episode during the season, and I knew I’d never be able to figure out what happened, so I just decided to wait for the DVD.

Yeah, it’s true: “Damages” is that kind of show…and I should know, having been one of the people who missed the premiere. But when I got the Season 1 DVD set, I blew threw it as quickly as my schedule allowed. It was an enthralling thriller which managed to be that rare breed of legal drama which almost never set foot in a courtroom, with gripping performances from Glenn Close, Ted Danson, Rose Byrne, and Željko Ivanek and many a moment that left you breathless. In the end, Ellen Parsons (Byrne) went through hell and back, leading her to declare war on Patty Hewes (Close) by teaming with the FBI to bring her down from the inside, all the while maintaining a front and pretending to be her number-one employee.

Season 2 begins in approximately the same chronological manner as Season 1, starting in the present with a jarring opening scene, then jumping back in time to begin the process of explaining how things got to that point in the first place. How odd it feels, though, for the initial flashback scene to show Patty Hewes making an appearance on “Live with Regis and Kelly.” Not that we haven’t gotten the impression that Patty’s a major public figure in the world of law, but it feels rather jarring to see her in the comparatively day-glo lights of the “Live” stage. Still, you can also imagine it setting Patty up for a big fall when she waves Ellen onto the stage and declares to the studio audience and the millions of viewers watching at home that she’d be lost without her.

But will Patty fall this season? Well, if she doesn’t, it certainly won’t be for lack of Ellen trying to make it happen. “You just want to arrest Patti Hughes,” she says to her two FBI contacts. “I want to destroy her.”

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Dramas

Old Show, New Season: “10 Items or Less”

January 4, 2009 /

If you saw my review of the “10 Items or Less: The Complete First and Second Seasons” DVD set, then you already know that, although I like the show, I just feel like it ought to be funnier than it is. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has proven over and over again that ad-libbed television can be hilarious, but in its first two seasons, “10 Items or Less” repeatedly demonstrated where its strengths lay – in its characters and its premises – but kept getting mired in punchlines that were only funny because they were weird, thereby seriously cutting into its replay value.

Unfortunately, Season 3 is already starting out with one strike against it, due to the departure of Jennifer Elise Cox from the cast. She was a great comedic foil for John Lehr as Leslie’s longtime crush, Amy Anderson, but I guess the producers must not have been able to figure out what to do with her character once she left Super Value Mart and came to work at the Greens & Grains. Instead, we’re introduced to Amy’s replacement at Super Value Mart: Mercedes P. Jones, played by Kim Coles (“Living Single”). She’s proven in the past that she’s a gifted comedienne, but aside from a brief bit about why her character has picked up the nickname “The Velvet Hammer,” her contributions to the 3rd season premiere are predominantly limited to reacting to other people’s lines and offering up generic sassy dialogue. Let’s hope she’s given more of an opportunity to shine creatively in future episodes.

The good news, though, is that the premiere is pretty damned funny even without utilizing Coles, and the reason why can be summed up in two words: turkey bowling.

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies

Greetings to the New Show: “13: Fear is Real”

January 4, 2009 /

I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the programming department of The CW when the folks over there first heard that the Sci-Fi Channel had beaten them to the punch in the field of horror-themed game show, but I can only imagine the sigh of relief they released after taking a gander at “Estate of Panic.” I received a screener of the premiere episode, and I duly handed it over to my wife, whose fascination with scary movies is, if not quite an obsession, certainly a bit of a hobby; after watching it, she duly reported back that she had lost a great deal of respect for Steve Valentine for agreeing to host such a cheesy show, likening it more to “Fear Factor” than anything legitimately scary.

Even after this disappointment, however, I was still optimistic about The CW’s “13: Fear is Real,” if only because of the series’ executive producers: Sam Raimi, Robert G. Tapert, and Jay Bienstock. Horror fans will no doubt recognize the first two names, with Raimi having earned his genre stripes with the “Evil Dead” films and then teamed with Tapert to produce such flicks as “30 Days of Night,” “The Messengers,” “Boogeyman,” and “The Grudge.” Bienstock, meanwhile, is best known in reality-TV circles as the guy responsible for bringing “The Apprentice” to the airwaves. In theory, it’s hard to imagine that you could bring this trio together and not come up with a legitimately scary reality show.

The premise of “13: Fear Is Real” as laid out in the press release is thus: “Thirteen people compete to ‘stay alive’ as they face their deepest fears in an all-out elimination competition and scare-fest. Pitted against each other in situations straight from the horror movies, the 13 will face shocking surprises, psychological scares and lots of ‘beware of the dark’ moments, all designed by a ‘mastermind’ of terror.”

So, wait, is this when we cue the clip of Count Floyd saying, “Ooooh, scary“?

Continue reading »

External Entertainment, External TV, Horror Movies, Reality TV, Reviews, TV

I have seen the first two episodes of Season 5 of “Lost,” and…

January 1, 2009 /

…I can’t say a whole lot about them. Sorry, but you know how it is with the press lockdown on these things: nobody at the network likes spoilers. I will, however, offer up five random tidbits from each episode to perhaps further your excitement ’til they air back to back on January 21st:

Episode 5.1:

* Willie Nelson’s “Shotgun Willie” is used as the background music to the opening sequence…and the fact that it’s on vinyl is, if not technically important in and of itself, something that indirectly ties into a point of comparison later in the episode.

* Time is very much the essence of the episode, a factor which lends itself to offering up several familiar faces that we haven’t seen in quite some time, but if you’re someone who gets a headache from the rules and regulations of time travel, prepare for a migraine the size of Montana. On the other side of the coin, however, this means that it’s finally Daniel Faraday’s time to shine!

* We get our first proper encounter with someone whose face has been well known to us for several seasons now.

* Sawyer spends virtually the entire episode with his shirt off. This has nothing to do with anything in the plot; I just figured it might give the ladies out there a little something extra to look forward to.

* And just as a helpful piece of kitchen advice, always put your knives point down in your dishwasher. I’m just sayin’. You never know when it could pay off for you.

Episode 5.2:

* One of the Oceanic Six has a mainland encounter with a long-dead islander…sort of.

* There is a moment which is almost certainly a winking tribute to “Weekend at Bernie’s.”

* The father of one of the characters makes a return appearance…and that character’s mother, too, for that matter.

* Fire = bad. Fire attached to projectiles = very, very bad.

* When you hear the line “good to see ya” uttered late in the episode, you will grin and possibly cheer.

Stay tuned, because I’ll be screening episode 5.3 when I’m out at the TCA Press Tour from Jan. 7 – 16, and I’m sure I’ll be able offer a few more tidbits from that installment as well.

External Entertainment, External TV, Lost, News, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

My Most Memorable Interviews of 2008

December 30, 2008 /

I recently went back and counted up how many interviews I’ve done for Bullz-Eye since I first came aboard the site, and I was astounded to find that – counting both one-on-one conversations as well as teleconferences – the number tops 200. Wow. Anyone who thinks that I don’t work hard for my money, I say to you that the figures speak for themselves. Looking back at the list of folks with whom I’ve chatted during the course of the past year, I find myself thinking the same thing I think every day of every year: it might’ve sucked to do all of that unpaid freelance writing for all those years, but it was totally fucking worth it. And with that bold statement, allow me to present a list of the interviews from 2008 that still remain fresh in my mind…for a variety of reasons.

* Best-received interview of the year:

Tom Smothers. I’m used to hearing from my friends when I do an interview that they enjoy, but I heard from several complete strangers that really loved the conversation Tom and I had about everything from the censorship of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” to the night John Lennon and Harry Nilsson were thrown out of the Brothers’ show at the Troubadour.

“Harry comes in with John Lennon. Well, he told John Lennon, ‘Tom likes hecklers. It helps him. It gets him through his show.’ And every time there was a silence, they were hollering out things like, ‘God fucks pigs!’ I mean, it was really filthy! Blows were thrown, and it just got wild. The next day, I got flowers and all kinds of apologies from Lennon and from Harry Nilsson.”

* Most politically-incorrect interview of the year:

Tony Clifton, the former alter ego of Andy Kaufman that’s now being performed by Bob Zmuda. To say that Clifton works a little blue is the understatement of the century, but it’s more than just dirty jokes; his whole act is one where he unabashedly says things that he knows will piss people off…and if you don’t know it’s an act, then it’s really gonna piss you off.

“Some people say that, with the repertoire I’ve got and with the rapport between the band and me, a few people have quoted it as being like Buddy Rich. I call ‘em like I see ‘em, just like Buddy. But Buddy was coked up most of the time, and I don’t do that. I prefer the Jack Daniel’s. I’m fucked up most of the time during the show. I have fun with the band. I call ‘em niggers. And I got a few Japs in there, I call ‘em Nips. I got everything mixed up in that band, like I say. I call ‘em the way I see ‘em. Listen, lemme tell ya this: you know why I get away with it? ‘Cause I got black people in my family. Yeah. And I’ve got the rope to prove it. Look, the blackies are good. They’re good for the sports and for the music. See, the Jews are good at making the money…or at taking the money from you.”

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Interviews, Movies, TV, Year in Review

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑