Category: News (Page 272 of 401)

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.

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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

TCA Press Tour: “The Return of Jezebel James”…and the return of Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino!

July 26, 2007 /

Top 3 reasons that make “The Return of Jezebel James” sound like it’s worth watching before you’ve even seen a single moment of the show:

1. It stars indie film goddess Parkey Posey.
2. It co-stars former “Six Feet Under” star Lauren Ambrose.
3. It’s the brainchild of “Gilmore Girls” co-creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino.

The premise of the series involves Parker’s character, an editor of childrens’ books at Harper-Collins, deciding that she wants to have a baby…but when she finds out that she can’t carry the child herself, she decides to kill two birds with one stone by renewing her relationship with her younger sister and asking her to carry the baby for her, offering her free room and board at her apartment while she’s pregnant. The writer sitting next to me said that the premise struck her as vaguely creepy, like the younger sister was basically trading the use of her womb for access to free cable, but, hey, my wife and I did in vitro, so I know what it’s like to desperately want a kid of your own…and I know full well that if it’d reached a point where we needed someone to step up and carry our child for us, my sister would’ve been ready to roll.

Okay, possibly too much information. But my point is that, ultimately, this is a show about family…which, of course, is an area in which the Palladinos have considerable experience.

“I like family dynamics,” says Amy, “because I can’t figure out mine. I really just enjoy it. ‘Gilmore,’ to me, was — yes, it was a mother and daughter, but I also looked at it like Emily was sort of the third Gilmore. It was a multi-generational, sort of three women and their trials together, but the relationship was very different. You know, that was a relationship about two people who were instantly vested — they were so bonded, they finished each other’s sentences. They absolutely knew who they were. This relationship to me is so interesting a departure because it’s two women who just don’t know each other at all. They’ve never formed any sort of bond. It’s weird because they’re adults, but they’re just now starting to figure out who they are, how they react, what they like, what they don’t like, how they’re going to make each other crazy, how they’re not going to make each other crazy. And it’s just a wonderful dynamic.

“I think that there’s not always the best parts on television for women,” she continued, “and I feel like maybe if you can throw a couple of great woman parts out there, why not? There’s a lot of “the bullet entered here” going on out there, but these are real, you know? It’s just really multi-dimensional characters, and that I like. I would like it in men. I would like it in chipmunks, two nice squirrels talking to each other, I’d be fine with that, too. Just as long as the dynamic is interesting and there’s places to go.”

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

TCA Press Tour: Sarah Connor returns!

July 26, 2007 /

It’s a little surprising that there hasn’t been a “Terminator” TV series before now, given how popular the franchise has been over the years, but here’s my theory as to why it finally happened: once Ahnuld took over as Governor of California, the producers decided, “Oh, well, if he’s not gonna be available to do more movies, we might as well hit the small screen.” So, we have “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” . . .

Hey, I’m psyched.

Yeah, I know, I say that a lot…but, seriously, the special effects in the pilot look sweet. Plus, what red-blooded American male can’t get into a cast which stars Lena Headey (“300”) as Sarah Connor and Summer Glau (“Serenity”) as the latest, sexiest model of Terminator? And in case you fall into a different male demographic – there, how’s that for a politically correct turn of phrase? – it’s worth noting that the shoes of John Connor are being filled by former “Heroes” star Thomas Dekker.

The Sarah Conor Chronicles - TCA Tour 2007

But if you’re a real sci-fi geek, you probably only have one question: where exactly does this series fall into the chronology of the three “Terminator” films?

Producer Josh Friedman attempts to sort out the confusion. “When we first started this,” he explains, “people said, “This takes place between ‘T2’ and ‘T3,” and I think that was incorrect. As far as I’m concerned, this is ‘T3.’ I mean, this is a continuation of what I would call the Sarah Connor trilogy. So I think anything that happens after ‘T2’ is fair game for us. And I think the ending of ‘T2,’ the exploding killing Cyberdine, killing Miles Dyson, sort of changes the timeline for anything in the future.” Friedman went on to clarify that the ultimate fate of Sarah Connor as referenced in “T3” – she succumbed to leukemia, of all things – is no longer to be considered to be a given; fellow producer James Middleton added, “We’re taking a phrase that is very important in ‘T2’: ‘No fate, but what we make.’ And this is a new fate for Sarah Connor, so we are creating an entirely new timeline.”

Of course, it will probably not surprise you to learn that, of our number, at least one person was simply unwilling to accept this answer at face value. “At the end of ‘Terminator 2,'” began a reporter, “it looked as though they had saved the future. And in ‘Terminator 3,’ basically they were stuck with the future that ‘Terminator 1’ came from. Does your show believe that that loop is inevitable, or are they still trying to change the future to the point where it never gets to the rise of the machines?”

Rather than simply saying, “I’m sorry, but answering your question would wreak havoc on the space-time continuum,” Middleton actually responded thoughtfully: “Our characters operate and fight a battle every episode based on faith that they can prevent Judgment Day. Now they’re going to do everything that they can to do that. But the odds against them are formidable. They have a formidable enemy. So how they operate every day is to fight the fight the best they can in each episode.”

(Perhaps more amazingly, the reporter accepted this answer!)

With all these references to the films, you’re probably wondering the same thing we were: what are the odds of us actually managing to see that aforementioned Governor of California on the show?

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

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