Category: TV Comedies (Page 73 of 154)

“Reaper” returning to life more quickly than anticipated

The good news is that, according to Variety‘s James Hibberd, The CW has decided to bring back “Reaper” on March 3rd, which is a couple of weeks earlier than originally planned. The bad news is that it’s pretty clear that they’re doing so because they need a sacrificial lamb for the spot on the schedule against “American Idol,” and since they don’t want to keep wasting perfectly good episodes of “90210,” they’ve decided to use a series in which they clearly have limited faith.

Says Hibberd:

To make way for “Reaper,” the CW also advanced its first-season finale date for “Privileged.” The show will conclude Feb. 24, having aired fewer repeats than originally planned. The network has not yet decided whether the drama will return next season. “90210” has been wrestling with “Idol” in recent weeks. Yet it and “Privileged” enjoy the highest percentage of DVR gains among any show on any network.

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but while I think we can count on both “90210” and “Privileged” making it back in Fall 2009 (I can’t believe they won’t keep both shows at least into a sophomore season, given the importance of DVR stats in today’s TV), the odds of “Reaper” seeing a third year are already looking slim…and it hasn’t even premiered yet! The CW already hedged their bets with the show’s second year by only giving it a 13-episode commitment, and this maneuver stinks of someone at the network saying, “If it’s a hit, awesome, and if it’s not…well, we didn’t really expect it to be, anyway, so it’s no skin off our nose!”

ADDENDUM: Tyler Labine has been one of my Facebook friends ever since I interviewed him for Bullz-Eye, and when he changed his status this morning to indicate that he was “off to LA to get a new gig,” I immediately responded by asking, “Wow, is there really that little hope for a third season of ‘Reaper’?” He quickly replied, “No, no, just a big hiatus to fill up with gigs. Just a few movie ops. Season 3 is a definite maybe right now. I’ll keep everyone posted.” Oh, okay: if he’s hopeful, then I reckon can find it in my heart to be hopeful as well.

Bullz-Eye’s TV Girlfriends, Round One: Hot and Smart

Bullz-Eye TV Girlfriends: Hot and Smart

Our inspiration was innocuous enough: as fervent “24” watchers – and occasional haters – the entire Bullz-Eye staff fell head over heels for one of the terror thriller’s female leads. Smart but challenging, tough but vulnerable, every minute that she wasn’t on screen – provided Jack wasn’t killing or maiming someone, of course – was just wasted time. Eventually, we declared her to be the official girlfriend of Bullz-Eye, because she was the only girl we could all agree on. We’re talking, of course, about…

Chloe O’Brian.

Chloe O'BrianWhat, you were thinking Michelle Dessler? Nina Myers? Kim Bauer? First Lady Sherry Palmer? Mandy the bisexual assassin? Good guesses all, but none of them hold a candle to Chloe and her delightfully quirky “personality disorder,” as her supervisor Bill Buchanan succinctly put it. Once we had christened her, though, we wanted more girlfriends. Eventually we went all “Big Love” on the boob tube (oh man, do we deserve to be slapped for that one) and started appropriating women from dozens of shows to join our burgeoning harem.

And now, our harem is having its debutante ball, its season premiere, if you will. We have hand-selected 100 women from the last 40 years of television and put them into ten categories, based on personality type, career, intelligence (or lack thereof) and even marital status. We’ll unveil a new list each month, and you, gentle reader, will tell us which ones you would most like to have as your girlfriend. Once we’ve whittled the list down to one girlfriend from each category, we’ll pit them against each other and get the hell out of the way.

With that in mind, it is our great pleasure to introduce the first group: Hot and Smart.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey, “30 Rock”)
Liz Lemon With her quirky sense of humor, social ineptness and those sexy librarian glasses, Liz Lemon may be the only true-blue nerd on our list. That, of course, is anything but an insult. As the head writer for NBC’s “TGS with Tracy Jordan,” Liz doesn’t have a whole lot of free time to date, and even when she does go out, chances are she’ll figure out a way to sabotage the whole thing. But Liz’s foibles merely make her that much more endearing, even if the incessant “tick-tick-tick” of her internal clock understandably makes us a little nervous. Then again, there are worse things in life than settling down with an attractive, intelligent and successful woman who loves junk food, “Star Wars” and a good joke. Her boss, Jack Donaghy, still suspects that Liz may be a lesbian, but we’re not ashamed to admit that the mere possibility only heightens our interest in her. Plus, she kind of looks like the beautiful (if slightly crazy) Sarah Palin.

Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson, “The X-Files”)
Smart, tough, beautiful – Scully is an insecure man’s worst nightmare. She challenged and contradicted Mulder at every turn, and even though she was usually some version of wrong, it never deterred her. Always the skeptic, she somewhat grounded her partner by demanding some sort of logic and scientific proof. Wrangling Mulder was like herding cats, but Scully might have had a little feline in her as well – she avoided death on several occasions leading to the theory that she was, in fact, immortal. It’s more likely that she was just too stubborn to die. She stared down countless psychopaths, supernatural beings, aliens — you name it — and always came back for more. This quality — her fierce and undying loyalty — was her greatest trait. True, the woman could be a giant pain in the ass, but Fox always knew that she would have his back, and that’s why he eventually fell in love with her. And really, who can blame him?

To see the rest of Bullz-Eye’s Hot & Smart TV Girlfriends and vote for your favorite, click here. We will announce the winner – and the nominees for our next group, Pretty, Vacant – on Friday, February 27.

Will Nimoy appear on “Big Bang”? Highly improbable, Captain.

Given that “The Big Bang Theory” has expanded the game of Rock Paper Scissors (the full name is now Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock) and had Penny give Sheldon a stroke for Christmas by providing him with a napkin autographed by everyone’s favorite Vulcan, can a guest appearance by Leonard Nimoy be far behind?

Unfortunately, according to creator Chuck Lorre, such an appearance doesn’t seem too likely.

“I would love that,” said Lorre, “but I think Mr. Nimoy is now in retirement. He did actually sign the napkin, though. ‘To Sheldon, Leonard Nimoy.’ He was very nice about that. He got a kick out of the idea that that was the gift that she gave him that brought Sheldon to his knees. He was really tickled by that, and our deal with him was, ‘For your efforts, maybe we can make some money for the charity of your choice.’”

The charity in question was The Beit T’Shuvah, a residential treatment center in Los Angeles for Jewish alcoholics and addicts, and the napkin went up for auction on Sunday evening during the center’s Steps to Recovery Gala at the Beverly Hilton, where it earned a final bid of $1,100.

But the big question is, is Nimoy a fan of the show?

“I don’t know,” admitted Lorre. “But I do know that he got a kick out of the storyline.”

I still say to keep your fingers crossed…and, c’mon, Chuck, it can’t hurt to ask. The new “Trek” movie will be coming out around the same general time frame as the season finale for “The Big Bang Theory,” and given that Nimoy clearly has a good sense of humor about his place in the pop culture pantheon (see his appearances on “The Simpsons” for proof), it seems like the stars are aligned perfectly for such a cameo.

What Else Ya Got? “RocknRolla”

After considerably scaling back the U.S. release of “RocknRolla” to a mere 826 screens (most wide releases get 2500+) because it was deemed to be “too British,” Warner Bros. has reasserted its indifference with the film with a single-disc Blu-ray that isn’t necessarily terrible, but could have been much better.

“Audio Commentary”
Guy Ritchie and Mark Strong aren’t exactly two of the most outspoken guys in the business, but I respect them for their individual contributions to cinema. Their discussion on the film might not be as riveting as some had hoped, but it’s still a solid commentary with nary a quiet moment. Strong is very enamored with Ritchie’s latest film, while the writer/director plays the humble card most of the way through.

RocknRolla

“Will You Put the Cigarette Out?”
A single deleted scene featuring One Two (Gerard Butler) running on a treadmill while some old guy smokes in his face and Mumbles (Idris Elba) runs his mouth. Not exactly exhilarating stuff, but we’ll take what we can get.

“Blokes, Birds and Backhands”
Some reviewers have called out this making-of featurette for leaning more towards the EPK side, but though it’s mostly promotional fluff about the characters and the story, the interviews with are still enjoyable. Plus, a few tidbits are dropped along the way, the most interesting of which is that the “sex scene” between Butler and Thandie Newton was completely improvised on the day. Originally intended to be a passionate kissing scene between the two actors, Newton begged Ritchie to change it when Butler arrived on set with a nasty cold. Oddly enough, the scene actually works better than it would have as a boring kissing scene, so kudos to bacteria.

“Guy’s Town”
A location featurette about all of the different London hotspots used during filming (including a yet-to-be-opened Wembley Stadium), this 8-minute extra also skews a little towards the promotional side, but it’s still a nice addition to the set.

All in all, this will probably be a bit of a disappointment for fans of Ritchie’s films. With only a couple of extras to choose from and a digital copy to load on to your mobile entertainment player of choice, “RocknRolla” is just begging for a much-improved double dip in the future. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are about as good as Guy Ritchie becoming the next Prime Minister, so don’t hold your breath.

“Flight of the Conchords” picks up where it left off

Judging by the first two episodes of the second season of “Flight of the Conchords,” there will be no sophomore slump from the New Zealand folk duo struggling to make it big in New York City. In the second-season premiere, “A Good Opportunity,” Bret and Jemaine fire their manager, Murray, because he’s too busy dealing with another (more successful) band. They immediately get a gig writing a jingle for a commercial and hilarity ensues. Literally.

The second episode — “New Cup” — might have been the best yet. It focuses on all the repercussions of Bret’s decision to purchase a $2.79 mug so that the duo could both have a cup of tea at the same time.

Thus far, it appears that there is a bigger focus on the writing and less of a focus on the music in the second season. The humor was always there, but the writing seems sharper and more directed. While in the first season the musical interludes were quite memorable, they’ve been sort of an afterthought this season. Murray seems to be getting more screen time, and given the hilarious dynamic between he and the duo, it’s definitely not a bad thing. Hell, I chuckle whenever he says the word “Bret.”

If you haven’t checked out “Flight of the Conchords,” the first season is available on DVD. To me, it just may be creeping up on “The Office” as the best comedy on TV.

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