Category: External TV (Page 330 of 419)

Comic-Con: Day Three – “The Simpsons”

July 29, 2007 /

Though “The Simpsons Movie” is already out in theaters, that didn’t stop Matt Groening and Co. from stopping by to share some news about the upcoming season, shamelessly plugging franchise tie-ins, and even answering a few questions from the audience. Because I’m not a diehard fan like others on the BE staff, it’s a bit difficult to elaborate on all the details of the panel without a solid background of the show, but I will offer up some nuggets of info that were discussed throughout the course of the presentation.

Groening started the panel off in grand fashion by introducing a never-before-seen deleted scene from the aforementioned “Simpsons” movie. The clip in question features Homer as he treks back to Springfield by way of a sausage truck. After letting Homer off at his stop, the driver (voiced by Hank Azaria) heads back to check on his sausages (and singing “checking my sausages”) only to discover that they’re all gone.

Later in the presentation, we were also treated to the opening few minutes of this season’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode, and while I’d really like to talk about it here, I’d rather not spoil it for anyone who may be reading this. Well, I’ll say just one thing: it has to do with those annoying advertisements that pop up on the corner of your TV screen while you’re watching a show, and it’s very, very funny.

The highlight of the panel? When an attendee requested that Groening sing the Spider-pig song and the entire cast/crew joined him in the jingle.

Spoiler Alert: If you don’t want to hear any details about the new season of the show, stop reading now.

* In this year’s new season, a rival comic book shop will open in Springfield, and the owner will be voiced by Jack Black. Comic book legend Alan Moore will also cameo as himself.

* Another episode will feature Ralph Wiggum running for a major political position when the people of Springfield write him onto the ballot, unknowingly causing a domino effect that makes him the election front-runner.

* Spider-pig will return in the season premiere, but only briefly.

* “The Simpsons” theme park ride is still in its early stages, but voice acting has already been recorded (Yeardley Smith even accidentally leaked some news about Sideshow Bob appearing), and will be replacing the “Back to the Future” ride at Universal Studios.

* The script for “The Simpsons Movie” went through 166 drafts (and four years) before finally arriving at the final product. So if you’’e wondering why the movie was so darn good (and maybe it isn’t, but I haven’t had the chance to see it yet), that’s why.

Comic-Con, External Movies, External TV, Movies, TV

TCA Press Tour: While I’m technically not caught up yet…

July 27, 2007 /

…this is my last night in L.A. for the TCA Press Tour, and I just wanted to say that, despite the fact that I can’t adequately describe quite how much I miss my wife and daughter, this has been a tremendous experience thus far. The phrase “death march with cocktails” has been bandied about throughout my time here – and it’s not far off; I mean, Hell, I’m drunk right now! – but it’s impossible to complain about the unparalleled access I’m getting to the various stars while I’m out here. I mean, tonight alone has resulted in my having one-on-one conversations with Christina Applegate, Kyle McLachlan, Swoozie Kurtz, Christopher Titus, and others. How can you argue with that…?

Stay tuned for my coverage of ABC’s new shows, as well as my other set visits, but since I’m departing bright and early tomorrow morning, let me just say that this has been a blast for me, and I sincerely hope that my readers – however many there may be out there – have enjoyed the opportunity I’ve had out here as much as I have…and, fingers crossed, Bullz-Eye will continue to send me out here in the future!

External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, TCA Press Tour, TV

TCA Press Tour: SET VISIT – “The Closer” / “Heroes”

July 26, 2007 /

Maybe some of the other TCA members are just jaded old hands, but one of the most shocking things I heard during the course of the entire 2+ weeks of the press tour came on the day that we were invited to tour the sets of various TV shows. We’d just finished being given a tour of the “Heroes” set by the stars of the show – mine was mostly hosted by Greg Grunberg, but Ali Larter, James Kyson Lee (Ando), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), and series creator Tim Kring were all along for the ride – and were provided the opportunity to have access to the entire cast for several minutes worth of Q&A, and we were sitting on the bus, and, suddenly, I hear someone say, “Well, I don’t know why we had to waste time with that set tour; I’d much rather have had more opportunities for one-on-one interviews.”

Are you kidding me? I’m sorry, but, to be perfectly blunt about it, that shit was awesome! Even if I’d been given the opportunity to do so, I’d totally have passed on more one-on-one time in favor of the set tour! I mean, I stood in Isaac’s studio, right on top of the painting of the apocalypse that’s on the floor. I was in Mohinder’s pad and saw the actual string-laden map on the chalkboard. Are you telling me that’s worth trading away?

RIDICULOUS!

Ahem.

So, anyway, yeah, we went on a bunch of set visits. First up was TNT’s “The Closer,” and…well, look, I don’t know about any of ya’ll, but I’ve never been on the set of a TV show, and, personally, I was astounded at the level of detail. Yeah, I know, you see the stuff on the screen when you’re watching the show, but, somehow, I just didn’t think it would look so…I dunno…real.

I got a few minutes with J.K. Simmons and G.W. Bailey; the former talked about he’d been pitched the idea of playing J. Jonah Jameson by Sam Raimi while they were working on “The Gift” together, while the latter was in the midst of reminiscing about a guest shot he did on “Benson” when he kiddingly reprimanded another writer for tapping the bobblehead – one of himself, as it happens – on his desk. (That event, by the way, led him into a lengthy discussion about the evolution of his character’s ongoing quirk of despising anyone putting anything on his desk.) Kyra Sedwick was definitely in the house, but she was so swarmed by writers that I didn’t get to talk to her solo; I did, however, lean in and get a few quotes as she responded to other people’s questions. Accordingly, she was in her character’s office as she fielded their questions, and, as I walked out the office door, I walked right into Raymond Cruz, who plays Detective Sanchez. I introduced myself, and we chatted for a couple of minutes…and when I referred to Bullz-Eye as “the guys’ portal to the web,” he immediately decided that, with a title like that, he was going to have to check it out.

I continued to wander ’round the set, walking past Corey Reynolds (Sgt. Gabriel), Robert Gossett (Commander Taylor), Jon Tenney (Agent Fritz Howard), Anthony John Denison (Det. Andy Flynn), and Michael Paul Chan (Detective Mike Tao), all in conversations with various writers, but before I could really get into conversation with anyone else, we got the call-up to head out. On our way out the door, we were provided with…well, I’ll hold off on discussing the swag I scored, mostly because I’m planning to do a whole piece about the stuff I scored during the course of the tour. But, still, it was nice stuff.

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, Heroes, News, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

TCA Press Tour: No, we don’t know why they didn’t call it “Canterbury’s Tales,” either…

July 26, 2007 /

I’ve always liked Julianna Margulies. She was great on “E.R.,” of course, but she’s also done brief guest-starring turns on shows from “Scrubs” to “The Sopranos” where she managed to make an impact in only a very few episodes. And, of course, let us not forget her role as spunky stewardess…sorry, flight attendant…Claire Miller in “Snakes on a Plane.” But, at least on the surface, I’m not getting a whole lot off “Canterbury’s Law” that makes me think, “This will be Margulies’ triumphant return to television!”

I mean, it’s a lawyer show. There are already a lot of lawyer shows. Will this really stand out? I mean, Marguilies’ character – Elizabeth Canterbury – is described as “a rebellious female defense attorney who puts her career on the line to take on risky and unpopular cases,” and it was also mentioned during the panel that Canterbury has a tortured past. So, what, it’s “House” as a female lawyer rather than a male doctor…? Because you know I won’t be the only critic who makes that comparison…

The one thing that’s particularly eye-catching…beyond Juliana herself, of course…is the fact that Denis Leary is one of the show’s producers. Given his success with the critically-acclaimed “Rescue Me,” it’s fair to say that he has a certain amount of experience with blending humor and drama, so maybe I’m being too hard on the show. Producer Jim Serpico says on Leary’s involvement that “he’s not involved day-to-day on set or looking at the sets and locations, but he’s involved in the stories and big-picture casting decisions.” So that’s uplifting news, at least.

Beyond that, I call it wait-and-see…as in, “I’ll have to wait and see the pilot.”

I will, however, close by throwing out a few revelations dropped by Marguilies during the panel:

* She never, ever had any intention of going back to “E.R.,” not in any capacity. “I’m not one to retrace my steps,” she says.

* She would, however, love to work with George Clooney again. “We’ve been talking about that from the day we left ‘ER,’ she admits. “We both said one day, we’ll do a movie together. We needed enough time away so there has to be at least 10 years in between Doug and Carole for anyone to see us other than that. So I trust him. He’s going to find something. Hopefully, he’ll direct it, and we’ll, you know, do something funny together.”

* She was a little surprised that the producers of “The Sopranos” didn’t bring her character back for the last season. “After the last episode from last season, the one with me and Michael Imperioli, they said, ‘We want her back,'” she revealed. “So they put me on hold for awhile. So we thought it would be a sort of a bigger storyline, but I totally understand. I was actually really impressed how they used me. It was so brief, but it was an important moment, I think, for James Gandolfini’s character just to, you know, have part of that whole storyline come to an end. I wish…please, I wish I had been on every episode. That was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.”

You know how you can tell how tired we’re getting? No-one asked her what she thought of the last episode of the show.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Interviews, News, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Dramas

TCA Press Tour: Why Mike Farley isn’t a cast member on “Nashville,” I’ll never know…

July 26, 2007 /

Here’s how they introduced Fox’s new docu-soap, “Nashville”: “A high-stakes drama, it features an attractive cast of dreamers and dream makers in Nashville, Tennessee. The unique new series follows a vibrant group of young people as their hopes, lives, and loves unfold in a town that can make or break you.”

Wow.

I don’t care.

Okay, no, sorry, I guess I do. Or, at least, as a music fan, I guess I’m supposed to, anyway. The thing is…and I think the man referenced in the subject line of this posting would agree…that no matter how this series pans out, it’s not gonna be anywhere close to the reality of what it’s like to be a struggling musician. I mean, just about everyone on the panel for this show was pretty. And by that, I mean that you know someone at Fox determined at some point how unattractive was too unattractive, and that the music you’re gonna hear is gonna be about as mainstream as humanly possible. And because of these factors, I just don’t see what this show is going to offer me that I can’t experience vicariously by talking to, say, Mike Farley. Or, for that matter, about 3/4 of the bands who are my friends on MySpace.

Still, I’ll give credit to contestant (or whatever they’re calling them) Jamey Johnson, who, when the panel was asked if they’d seen the film “The Thing Called Love” and how accurate it was, replied, “That movie was pretty authentic. I think it had a great plot to it, but by and large, you just don’t move to Nashville and get everything handed to you. You’ve got to work for it, you know. I think that movie kind of depicted that, but it didn’t really show how long it takes. I know guys that have been in town for seven or eight years and they’re just now getting their first song cut.”

Yeah, but why do I suspect that this show won’t take nearly that long before every member of its cast ends up with a record deal?

Sorry, I don’t really have a lot to say about this show that’s particularly complimentary, I realize. I mean, I’ll check it out and see how the first episode plays, but I’m going in with the reasonable presumption that it will in no way live up to the actual reality of the life of struggling musicians in Nashville…and I’m betting I’ll be right.

Documentaries, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, Interviews, News, TCA Press Tour, TV

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑