Category: Pilots (Page 9 of 14)

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: NBC newsflash

January 15, 2009 /

Angela Bromstad, President of Primetime Entertainment, and Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming, just popped up on stage to offer the following tidbits of information, some of which were announced awhile ago but which we haven’t yet covered on Premium Hollywood:

* “Southland,” the new drama from John Wells (which was formerly known as “Police”), will premiere on April 9th, Thursday at 10 PM.

From Emmy Award winners John Wells, Ann Biderman and Chris Chulack comes a raw and authentic look at the police unit in Los Angeles. From the beaches of Malibu to the streets of East Los Angeles, “Southland” is a fast-moving drama that will take viewers inside the lives of cops, criminals, victims and their families. Michael Cudlitz plays John Cooper a seasoned Los Angeles cop assigned to train young rookie Ben Sherman. Cooper’s honest, no-nonsense approach to the job leaves Sherman questioning whether or not he has what it takes to become a police officer. Cudlitz and McKenzie are joined by other cast members including Regina King who plays Detective Lydia Adams. Adams lives with and is the primary caregiver of her mother. Her partner, Detective Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) is an unhappily married father of three. Michael McGrady plays Detective Daniel “Sal” Salinger. Sal oversees fellow gang detectives Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro) and Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy). Arija Bareikis plays as patrol officer Chickie Brown, a single mom who dreams of being the first woman accepted into SWAT.

* They have ordered 3 more episodes of “ER,” bringing the season total to 23. The series finale will now air on April 2nd, with a one-hour retrospective preceding the two-hour finale. Why the additional episodes? “Why not?” asked Bromstad. She then clarified, however, that it allows John Wells time to get “Southland” ready.

* They have officially signed on for additional seasons of “The Office” and “The Rock”

* NBC has signed Don Cheadle and his company, Crescendo Productions, to a two-year, first-look television development deal.

* Due to its success up against “American Idol,” they will indeed be picking up another season of “Biggest Loser” for next season.

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Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, News, Pilots, Reality TV, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, The Biggest Loser, The Office, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas

Greetings to the New Series: “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”

November 14, 2008 /

You can never have enough “Batman” cartoons…or, at least, that’s what Cartoon Network is hoping.

It was only March of this year when the most recent animated incarnation of The Dark Knight – “The Batman” – ended its five-season run, but with the billion-dollar success of the most recent feature-film adventure of Gotham City’s most famous crimefighter, it’s no surprise that Bats would turn up again. What is surprising, however, is the decision to bring him back via a concept that completely dismisses the darkness and “forever a loner” feeling of “The Dark Knight” in favor of a bright and colorful weekly team-up series.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. As someone who grew up reading comics in the 1970s, I loved Batman’s team-up title, “The Brave and the Bold.” And Superman’s “DC Comics Presents.” And, hell, as long as I’m geeking out, I regularly bought “Marvel Team-Up,” “Marvel Two-in-One,” and even “Super-Villain Team-Up.” It was always a blast to see who was going to turn up in these comics, and the more obscure the hero, the better. Batman and the Metal Men…? Check. Superman and Air Wave…? Sweet. The Thing and Brother Voodoo. Awesome. Spider-Man and the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players of “Saturday Night Live”? Oh, hell, yes.

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Actors, External Entertainment, External TV, Pilots, Reviews, TV, TV Sci-Fi

Greetings to the New Show: “Knight Rider”

September 24, 2008 /

Well, I might as well start off this entry with the bit I wrote about the return of “Knight Rider” to series television in my Fall TV Preview:

After the incredibly disappointing TV movie earlier this year, which played like a two-hour-long car commercial with a really bad script, there is absolutely no rational reason for my including this within my top 10, but, dammit, sometimes nostalgia wins out over common sense. It is almost certainly telling that the powers that be couldn’t manage to get us a copy of the first episode prior to a network conference call to promote the series, and I will be the first to bail out if the premiere is as bad as the movie was, but – God help me – I can still remember how much enjoyment I got out of the original series, and I cannot for the life of me shake that off.

Well, NBC finally managed to produce an advance screener of the first episode, and…well, it’s not as bad as the movie, but it’s still a far cry from “great,” that’s for damned sure.

It’s one thing to turn on the television set and turn off your mind, but based on its premiere episode, it looks like “Knight Rider” is shaping up to be about as scientifically plausible as…uh…wow, I’m trying to think of a sufficiently ridiculous example, and I just can’t come up with one that I’m comfortable with. Suffice it to say that your average automotive engineer would probably find this the most hysterical hour of television to emerge in the past few decades.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, Pilots, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Greetings to the New Show: “Gary Unmarried”

September 23, 2008 /

If you saw Bullz-Eye’s Fall TV Preview, you already know that the primary reason that I selected “Gary Unmarried” as one of the top 10 shows I’m most interested in watching unfold this season is that I think Jay Mohr is funny…but, c’mon, it’s about time the guy had a hit sitcom, don’t you think?

The guy did his time at “Saturday Night Live,” even writing a book about the experiences he suffered through as a featured player on the show (Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live). He survived the experience of playing a redneck’s brother on “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,” earned a memorably sleazy supporting role in “Jerry Maguire” which almost certainly was what led him to the starring role in the short-lived but fondly-remembered Fox sitcom, “Action.” Great show, but you can’t really call a 13-episode run a hit. And since then, Mohr’s career has mostly been an ongoing series of voiceover work, small film roles, one-off guest spots on various TV series, and…well, okay, yeah, he was a regular on “Ghost Whisperer” for the better part of two years, but serving as third fiddle to Jennifer Love Hewitt’s breasts is hardly playing to the guy’s strengths as a comedian.

Please.

Don’t make Jay Mohr beg.

Just make “Gary Unmarried” a hit.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, Pilots, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies

Greetings to the New Show: “The Mentalist”

September 23, 2008 /

I believe I put this out there in another post, but I think it bears repeating: “The Mentalist” is the new series that my mother-in-law is the most excited about. I can appreciate where she’s coming from. I’m pretty excited about it, too. Mind you, my reasons are different than hers – I love the concept, she thinks the show’s star, Simon Baker, is hot (and has apparently felt this way since he starred in “The Guardian”) – but, still, it means that I can count on her getting excited when I get an advance screener of any future episodes of the series.

In “The Mentalist,” Baker plays the title character. His name is Patrick Jane, and he’s an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation…not that that’s a direct quote from the CBS press release or anything. Jane is a guy who knows how profound his abilities are, and it shows in his every word and deed when he’s on a case.

We get an example of his trademark confidence (or possibly hubris) in the first minutes of the first episode as we watch him walk into the home of a murder victim, brew a pot of tea, and make himself a sandwich. It isn’t until the kettle whistles that the victim’s mother even knows he’s there, but he quickly offers her a cuppa and, after demonstrating his powers of observation, says with a sly smile, “I used to make a good living pretending to be a psychic. I tell you this because I want you to understand that there’s no point in hiding things from me.” After a brief conversation with the missus, he then greets the child’s father by identifying himself as being with the police, adding with no further preface, “Did you murder your daughter?”

I won’t tell you how the rest of the scene plays out, but it’s a testament to Baker’s charisma that his last line – “Honestly, it’s not as bad as it looks” – earns a laugh.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, Pilots, Reviews, Rome, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

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