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Friday, September 30, 2011

Terra Nova: The Grass is Always Greener ... Inside the Time Fracture Wormhole

Terra Nova
Episodes101 and 102
"Genesis Parts 1 & 2"

There is a lot to unpack in the 2-hour series premiere of Terra Nova, the long awaited (and ridiculously expensive) new sci-fi series from the mind of Steven Spielberg.  A full accounting of the premiere after the jump.  Let's go.

American Horror Story Opening Credits

The TV Watcher was already going to be watching American Horror Story on FX when it premieres next week and so you can imagine how very excited he was when he saw this Entertainment Weekly post wherein they released the opening credits to the show. Holy bejesus, this is going to be terrifying ... and now TV Watcher is even more excited (and a bit scared)!

Morning News: September 30, 2011

1.  We're finally free of new premieres for a few days (I am not mentioning Showtime's series premiere of Homeland on Sunday, because who subscribes to Showtime?), Hooray! So lets talk about ratings for a bit. While we wait for Thursday night's overnights to come out, lets look back to Wednesday. NBC continues its campaign to be "the most major network that no one watches". The Peacock was beat by Univision in the 18-49 demographic on Wednesday as no one tuned in to see Free Agents, and barely anyone in the coveted demo watched Up All Night, Harry's Law or Law & Order: SVU. Fox won the night in the 18-49 rating (which consisted solely of X Factor) and was neck and neck with CBS (led by Survivor, Criminal Minds and CSI) for total viewers (roughly 11.5 million a piece).  Suburgatory pulled a decent 3.3 rating in the 18-49 category and 9.8 million total viewers; not bad but not Modern Family numbers either (and, it'll go down next week)

2. Holy Shark Farts. Tina Fey was ranked as the highest paid actress on TV by Forbes Magazine (she tied with Eva Longoria at $13 million for the top spot). The 3 other main Desperate Housewives also made the top 10 list. Also included, Courteney Cox, Ellen Pompeo and Juliana Margulies.

3.  Casting News! Burn Notice has booked three "big" names for its second half season finale:  Dean Cain (Superman!), Eric Roberts (Julia's brother!) and Kristanna Loken (I think she was a female Terminator, maybe?!). Its going to be awesome!

4.  Series Pickup/Development News.  Due to decent ratings so far (which is sorely lacking at NBC this season), Parenthood's current season has been increased by 2 episodes to a total of 18. I know Standing Blogger has been a little disillusioned this season but perhaps more Bravermans is what she needs? Kandi Burruss, of the Real Housewives of Atlanta series on Bravo, has been given a spinoff "special" (I guess Bravo doesn't want to commit to a series yet?) wherein she will take young singers and try to make them stars. Yes, we need more songs like "Tardy for the Party" on the radio and in 'da club.  Fox has bought the rights to a new series focusing on the life of Wyatt Earp. TV Watcher is not much for Westerns but the show will feature Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as executive producers and TVW loves everything these guys touch (Fringe, Hawaii Five-O, the Star Trek movie reboot) so we're interested.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

NCIS: The One With Stinky John and Confused DiNozzo

NCIS
Episode 902
"Restless"

Marine Private First Class Thomas Hill walks in to his own surprise party, only to die right there on the carpet from some bleeding gut wound. What a bloody downer; you know that's totally going to kill the Karaoke-off later. 

Credits!

Morning News: September 29, 2011

Happy New Year to our Jewish  Friends. May 5772 be a great year for everyone!  Ok, the news!

1.  Season/Series Premieres.  Two dregs hit the airwaves tonight. First, CBS offers up the new comedy How to Be a Gentlemen starring Kids In the Hall alum, Dave Foley, and that other Dillon Brother (Kevin, not Matt. You know, the one from Entourage. Blech!). Expect the ratings to start high, it is following Big Bang Theory after all.  ABC begins the fifth season of Private Practice. Addison should just move back to Seattle, for reals.

2.  Casting news!  Just in time for November sweeps, NCIS will (finally) introduce the ex-wife that Gibbs has in common with frenemy Agent Fornell, the red-headed Diane (to be played by Melinda McGraw, previously seen sleeping with Don Draper in Mad Men).  Modern Family has signed up Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky -- isnt' there something to be proud of?) to play the girlfriend of returning guest star, Chazz Palminteri, established in Season as a friend of Jay's.  Debra Monk is set to return to Seattle Grace for one episode this November, reprising her role as George O'Malley's mother in the ABC hit, Grey's Anatomy. I remember breaking hearts during the "death of Geroge's father" storyline. 

3.  New Girl has been picked up for a full season; not a shocker. The season 1 episode total will be 24. Congrats to this great freshman comedy!

4.  Dane Cook is developing a sitcom for NBC. Why does NBC hate us?

5.  A federal appeals court has upheld Survivor Season 1 winner, Richard Hatch's nine-month prison sentence for violating the terms of his release (namely, settling his tax bill). I hope the court issued the opinion by snuffing out his tiki torch.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Person of Interest: That's Not a Peeping Tom, That's Jesus Stalking You

Person of Interest
Episode 101
"Pilot"

"When you find that one person that connects you to the world, you become someone different, someone better. When that person's taken from you, what do you become then?" Good question Jim Caviezel; lets find out, shall we?

Afternoon News: September 28, 2011

1.Series Premiere! We are definitely slow on new premieres this week but tonight, ABC debuts Suburgatory, a show that follows a girl from the city, transplanted into the 'Burbs by her (over?)protective father. Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) co-stars which might be reason enough to watch. The show's timeslot (between The Middle and the Modern Family juggernaut) will certainly help with initial viewers. ABC also has the season premiere of Happy Endings (if you're into that kind of thing).

2. Ratings News. Week 2 Decline Watch continues.Fox won the night in the 18-49 demographic with Glee shedding 10% from its premiere and New Girl 9%. CBS Tuesday nights continue to dominate in total viewers, led by the NCIS/NCIS: LA juggernauts.No one continues to watch CW's shows.

3. Andy Rooney has his last broadcast this weekend on 60 Minutes. Kudos to him for still being alive! This video is still my favorite thing Andy Rooney ever did.

4. Fantasy Worlds Collide. Pam (Kritin Bauer), everyone's favorite vampire from True Blood is set to guest star on Once Upon a Time as Maleficent, the evil sorceress from “Sleeping Beauty." Awesome!

5. Life Imitating Art. Apparently, Tom and Lynette's on-screen problems have been affecting the working relationship of Doug Savant and Felicity Huffman off screen. Seriously? People, its only a show.

6. Casting News. Glee has signed Grant Gustin to play a recurring gay wedge; a devious Warbler set to come between Blurt's Gay Unicorn romance. Hey, didn't Blaine leave the Warblers? In LOST alumni news, Sonya Walger (Penny from LOST) has been hired on to play a witty, couples therapist in USA's new show, Common Law.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

HIMYM: Ducky Tie

As I said last time, Victoria is not the Mother and that became clear last night. It was a cute episode, loved the "bang, bang bangity bang" song, have we heard that before? Robin seemed bored by the endless discussion about Lily's boobs and therefore kept going back to Ted for the rest of the Victoria story. But the end of the Victoria story was a little weird. Are we supposed to take from that that Robin is the mother (cause we know she isn't)? I can't see the show "breaking up" Ted and Barney again, so what gives? Sound off below!

Morning News: September 27, 2011

This week is sort of a moment of truth for the new shows. After counting its biggest audience ever, how will Two and Half Men fare now that "all has been revealed"? Will The New Girl continue to improve on Glee's audience? Is Terra Nova the next big TV event or the next Event? Let's get to it!

1. On Tonight. Since we're finally done with the premieres, here's what's new tonight: CBS has the NCIS pairing, plus TV Watcher's new fave, The Rememberererrrr. NBC has Biggest Loser and Parenthood. Over on Fox, its Glee, followed by The New Girl and Raising Hope. ABC has two hours of Dancing with the Stars and Body of Proof. CW pairs 90210 with Ringer. Man, that's a lot of shows going OMD tonight!

2. We forgot to add this to the news yesterday, but I learned on Sunday that Patrick Wilson is truly a Gifted Man. While I had no interest at all in the show, at the afternoon Yankee game, Wilson performed the National Anthem and totally rocked it. Too bad the Gifted Man isn't a music show...

3. EWWWWW! Did Nancy Grace have a wardrobe malfunction? I really don't want to watch that, so check out the video and let me know what you think. A NSFW (or keeping your stomach contents down) pic is included in the link.

4. Rob Schneider will be back on TV, makin' copies, no, not really. CBS picked up Schneider new comedy for a mid-season outing.

5. Ratings!  Catching up on the last few days of ratings action, here is where we ended up with Friday, Sunday and last night's shows.  A Gifted Man's 1.4 (with 9.3 million viewers) debuted well, especially against Kitchen Nightmare's 1.6 in the 18-49 range (but with just 3.8 million viewers).  Fringe racked up a 1.5 (with 3.5 million viewers) putting it squarely in the middle of the pack for its timeslot but up 25% from its season finale.  On Sunday night, Football ruled unquestionably.  Desperate Housewives's premiere was down a huge 28% from last Fall (in fact it was the show's lowest rated premiere ever). Pan Am scored a decent 3.1 rating in the 18-49 category and added viewers overall from the Desperate Housewives lead-in. All of CBS's shows were reflecting down in their premiere night ratings compared to last year, but a lot of that is being attributed to football overruns.  Final ratings are expected to see those numbers rise.  Last night, Terra Nova debuted with a 3.1 in the 18-49 category, down from what Fox had hoped I'm sure, but not surprising to The TV Watcher (its too sci-fi for broadcast TV viewers and too expensive for broadcast studios to keep paying for)CBS dominated the night with Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and Mike & Molly all posting strong numbers (despite each of them having significant fall off from their season premiere's last week).  The Playboy Club shed 19% from last week's premiere, posting a weak 1.3 rating.  That show has definitely jumped to the top of the "First to be Cancelled Pile."

Monday, September 26, 2011

Morning News: September 26, 2011

The news is kind of geek-heavy today ... sorry about that.

1.  Season/Series Premieres. As we enter week two, we have a lot less new shows returning and/or debuting.  The big hitter tonight is going to be on Fox with the dinosaurs-sized (sorry, couldn't help it) two-hour series premiere of Terra Nova.  CBS moves 2 Broke Girls into its regular timeslot right after How I Met Your Mother and Mike & Molly (Fresh off of Melissa McCarthy's Emmy win) debuts its second season after Two and Half Men concludes the second part of its two-part season premiere. CW kicks of the newest season of Gossip Girl (shouldn't it be Gossip Woman at this point?!?) and the series premiere of the, hopefully short-lived and horribly titled, Hart of Dixie.

2.  JJ Abrams and the creator of the CW hit Supernatural, Eric Kripke, have a pilot production deal with NBC to create a new show called Revolution. No other word is out yet on what the show will be about.

3.  The Night Is Dark and Full of Terrors indeed. I am ready for more Game of Thrones.

4.  In an update going back to the late summer, former Biggest Loser fatestant, Sam Poueu, has been upgraded to stable condition.  Here's hoping to the continued speedy recovery.

5.  Not sure how much Martha someone needs in their every day, but I am sure there is someone DVRing the full 5 hours every day.

6.  I hope Kim Delaney gets help ... if she needs it ... though this video is pretty convincing.

Pan Am: Come Fly the Friendly (and Espionage Ridden) Skies

Pan Am
Episode 101
"Pilot"
The opening scenes of Pan Am make it very clear that we are in the 1960s and that Jackie Onassis has influenced the style sense of every American woman (the title card that tells us its 1963 helps).  Say whatever you want about this show, its effing beautiful.  The set directors and cinematographers deserve Emmys based on the Pilot episode alone.  Moving on.  The premise of the show is pretty straightforward. We will be following the professional (and personal, duh?) lives of 4 stewardesses employed by the eponymous Pan American Airways Incorporated in the golden age of intercontinental jet travel; when flying was fun and luxurious and no one though putting bombs in their underwear for Christmas funsies.  The historical accuracy of the show is not necessarily something to get hung up on since its a good story they are telling in any case, but I will brush up on my Pan Am lore and its place in history as the show progresses. Their mission today will take them on the inaugural flight of Pan Am's latest Clipper Jet, the Clipper Majestic, from NYC to London.  There is also a newly promoted Captain, a fratboy-esque first officer and a mysteriously missing stewardess named Bridget.  Let's figure out we are ... after the jump.
This show isn't so big on last names so I will forgo them unless the show indicates we should care.
Collete (played by Karine Vanasse):  An experienced stewardess who inadvertently sleeps with married men during layovers in romantic European cities like Rome.  She is entirely professional even when confronted by one such married man's family and directly confronted by the wife said married man at the conclusion of the flight.  Stay French Colette!
Kate (played by Kelli Garner): An experienced stewardess; the kick ass older sister to new stewardess Laura (she helped Laura escape her wedding in an awesome red convertible, while causing property damage in the process); AND the newest spy/courier for the CIA and MI-6 intelligence services. While having to deal with being on the same flight team as her baby sister (who has been christened the face of pan Am much to older sis's chagrin), she also has to carry out her first espionage mission; switching out the passport of a German passenger so that he is detained at customs ... she successfully completes her mission though it takes the entire intercontinental flight to do so.  Turns out, it was a test. The German passenger was in fact her new MI-6 (the British CIA for those that don't ready spy novels) handler.  We'll be seeing more of him.
Laura (played by Margot Robbie):  The newest Pan Am stewardess, she's only been flying 3 weeks.  Upon graduating from stewardess school, her picture was snapped by a photog for LIFE magazine and she was pictured on the cover of the magazine's latest issue about the ushering in of the "Jet Age".  She is clearly self-conscious and embarrassed by the attention this garners her but she is a natural beauty and fits right in with what the Pan Am stewardess should be.  She's going to be the Peggy from Mad Men and the show seems set up to really follow her as a central character. She's also the younger sister to flight teammate Kate and a runaway bride he was being shoehorned into a stereotypical 50's era wedding scenario by her close-minded mother.
Maggie (played by Christina Ricci):  An experienced stewardess who clearly has a rebel streak but also is clearly valued for her skills. She is sitting at home in the Village with her hippie dippy boyfriend (though those labels are so 1950s man ...) when she gets the call that Pan Am needs her to cover mysteriously missing Bridget's Purser spot on the Clipper Majestic. She hightails it (in a great old-fashioned NYC cab) to the Pan Am building in Midtown where she is helicoptered to the runway and boards just in time.  Maggie, I'd like to point out, was in the Bay of Pigs extraction flashback so she's clearly been around the block.  By the way, a Purser is the head stewardess on a flight and is like the boss of the flight cabin.
Dean  (played by Mike Vogel):  The newly promoted Pan Am captain and not secret paramour of the mysteriously missing Bridget.  Dean is piloting his first flight on Clipper Majestic run.  His maybe best friend is the frat-boy like Ted (played by Michael Mosley), a guy who clearly digs the new woman that the Pan Am stewardess represents and would like to sleep with as many of them as possible.  Dean is no stranger to danger, having been the first officer on an evacuee flight of Cuban exiles during the Bay of Pigs affair.  When Dean finds out that Bridget has resigned from Pan Am, he thinks its because she's decide to accept his proposal of marriage ... he's wrong.
Bridget (played by Annabelle Wallis):  Bridget is the not so secret lover of pilot Dean. She was also due to be the Purser on the Clipper Majestic flight but has seemingly disappeared.  We find out that she has in fact quit Pan Am.  Through flashbacks and some exposition (that you could have figured out from the flashbacks if yo knew where to look), we establish that Bridget was the previous "spy/courier" for the US and British governments and that she was the one that recommended Kate as her replacement.  We see her at the end of the episode spying on Dean in a bar and then we see her jumping in a car and speeding off.  We haven't see the last of Bridget but I have to imagine her clandestine role increased exponentially.
Pan Am is going to be a hit for ABC and it should be. Its fresh, engaging and has a great story to tell.  The flashback device was a little clunky in the Pilot; I think mainly due to its use for over the head exposition. That being said, I can see it being a great aid in the storytelling device, just as the "whoosh" flashbacks were in LOST -- they really help in understanding a character's motivations.  So buckle in, adventure calls. See you all next week!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Person of Interest: Somebody's Watching Me, Can't Get No Privacy.

Person of Interest
Episode 101
"Pilot"

Person of Interest is a fairly straight forward show. Its about getting knowledge of "to be committed" crimes and trying to prevent them.  A serialized Minority Report?  It dips into a couple of different genre wells and executes them all fairly well. A show helmed by Jonathan Nolan and JJ Abrams and starring Michael "Ben Linus" and Jim "Jesus" Caviezel is a show with a lot going for it.  And I was very happy with its pilot.  Check out the overview below (dealing with the shows overall premise and pilot episode case of the week).  the full blow by blow will be up in a couple of days.

Parenthood: Hey, If You're Not Using That Baby...

Since my review was a little long last week, I'll try to sum things up by character/family, here we go:

This episode was pretty light on Zeek and Camille. As always, Zeek sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, bringing breakfast to Sarah and her "overnight guest" (more on that later) and then discussing Crosby's irresponsibility and why Zeek gave Adam's social security number to Crosby. Camille's reading was interrupted by Sarah seeking dating advice, but that's about it. More after the jump.

Morning News: September 23, 2011

As this week finally draws to a close (and it has been tough keeping up with all of the new and returning shows this week), here is your news for today and what to look for over the weekend.

1. Season/Series Premieres. CBS kicks off it's programming with the new Gifted Man at 8:00pm. This show has something to do with a guy seeing his dead wife, another show about talking to dead people? Been there, done that. The NY-based cop shows follow with the season openers of CSI:NY and Blue Bloods. Over on Fox, a new Kitchen Nightmares and Fringe (TV Watcher is jumping for joy) premiere at 8:00 and 9:00 respectively. That's it for your Friday night, but Sunday brings a whole new bounty:
CBS: Emmy Winner Amazing Race begins a new leg at 8, followed by The Good Wife (with Emmy Winner Julianna Marguilies) (noticing a trend?) in its new time slot and then the dreadful CSI:Miami.
NBC has football.
ABC: Extreme Makeover rebuilds someone's house and then Desperate Housewives begins its swansong. Let's hope this show really goes out with a bang. Good for Marc Cherry for knowing when to stop. At 10pm, Pan Am takes to the skies, for its inaugaral flight (sorry, cheesy and overdone!).
CW: Supernatural and Nikita (I don't have anything to say about these shows)

2. Ratings! CBS was the clear winner last night with Big Bang pulling in the best numbers of the night (9.6). X Factor was down slightly from its Wednesday night outing (8.3). The NBC comedies performed as usual, with The Office getting a slightly larger bump from those curious about a Michael Scott-less show and strangely, Whitney did well. Huh? I doubt that will continue next week. Charlie's Angels did better than I had expected, but was definitely not a break-out hit (not that we expected it to be one). TV Watcher really enjoyed Person of Interest and wished it had gotten better ratings, but 8.6 is not too shabby.


3. Sesame Street still influences my life.

4. HIMYM fans: The Slutty Pumpkin is Katie Holmes. This stunt casting could be polarizing, people either love her or hate her or hate her husband. Britney Spears seemed to work, so let's see how things go.

5. Kiefer Sutherland has new show on Fox premiering mid-Season. Jack Bauer returns to save the world, but this time with his 10 year old autistic son who can connect seemingly random events and actions throughout the world. Sounds a little odd and throw Tim Kring into the mix and I bet there will a map with lots of pins and strings...Heroes, anyone?

Thursday, September 22, 2011

NCIS: Never Trust Bailey Salinger ...

NCIS
Episode 901
"Nature of the Beast"


This episode was so chock-full of information and action, mystery and intrigue that this post will contain input from both TV Watcher and Standing Blogger. We may as well apologize for the length of the post up front. Check the recap, after the jump.

Morning News: September 22, 2011

1.  Season/Series Premieres! We're almost there people, stick with me. ABC kicks off the action with the series premiere of Charlie's Angels (yay Minka Kelly, sorry your show is going to fail) and ends the night with the two-hour season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. NBC ramps up its Must-See TV Thursday Night comedy block with season premieres of Community, Parks and Recreation and The Office.  It ends the night with the back to back series premieres of Whitney and Prime Suspect.  CBS offers a full hour of Big Bang Theory and the series premiere of Person of Interest. it ends the night with the season premiere of The Mentalist.

2.  Casting News. Charlie's Angels has an awesome new Charlie. Reports are surfacing that Victor Garber (who people remember from Alias but who I remember from Eli Stone!) is just about signed up to be the voice of the eponymous Charlie in the sure fire failure, Charlie's Angels (debuting tonight).  CCH Pounder (who people remember from The Shield but who I like on Warehouse 13) is set to play the warden of juvie center where Emily Thorne did time (while she was still known as Amanda Clarke).

3.  This has nothing to do with television but I like books and this is hysterical.

4.  Baby News. Congratulations to Emily Deschanel (from Bones) and David Hornsby (from How to Be a Gentleman) on the birth of their first son, Henry.

5.  Hands off my Shweddy Balls One Million Moms!

Revenge: Pilot

Revenge
Episode 101
"Pilot"

"This is not a story about forgiveness." No shit girlfriend. Emily Thorne (nee Amanda Clarke) is the super pissed off daughter of one, David Clarke; a wall street financier of some sort that was brought down in a frame-up some years ago when young Emily, er Amanda, was just a girl. The conspirators that brought him down and led to his going to prison are Conrad Grayson and his wife, Victoria Grayson (referred to by the up and coming Hamptonites as "Queen Victoria". Victoria was also, we learn, David Clarke's one true love.  Emily has grown up and returned to the Hamptons, clearly intent on punishing those responsible for her father's downfall.  Being horrible people in their own right, this really just requires some minor machinations on Emily's part, the Graysons seem to do the rest themselves (e.g., boning your wife's best friend in a hotel downtown and then having a heart attack like event which ultimately reveals your infidelity).    Along the way, we meet some additional characters, most notably, the oddball outcast Nolan Ross, who is the only one to recognize Amanda from her younger years (though he appears to be of a same age as her, its revealed in flashbacks that he must be a bit older), the Graysons' son, Daniel (more on him in a bit) and the son of the local barman, Jack Porter, who was about to set sail to be a do-gooder down in Haiti until he needed to sell his boat (named Amanda .. coincidence, I think not) in order to keep his dad's bar afloat. The show opens on Labor Day, where we learn Emily is now engaged to Daniel, who is then promptly shot on the beach ... by someone.  The rest of the episode is spent back at the beginning of the summer and follows through from Memorial Day weekend where Emily has just rented the house she stayed in as a child (which is just next door to the Graysons .. coincidence, I think not).

My gut reaction after the first few minutes was that this was going to be more CW summer fluff crap than quality drama but by the end of the episode, I was invested and I am looking forward to taking the ride through the summer in the Hamptons (both in the present and in Emily/Amanda's past).  Come join me here every week for a recap of the rider. Check back in a few days for the full recap of the episode.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Afternoon News: September 21, 2011

Sorry for the late post, lets get to it ...

1.  Season/Series Premieres! Premiere week madness continues with the always fun Wednesday night lineups.  First, ABC kicks off the season premieres of The Middle and Modern Family, each with hour long helpings! it ends the night with the series premiere of Revenge (which looks decidedly unfunny).  Fox is launching its next reality show juggernaut, X Factor, with a two-hour premiere.  Welcome back Simon and Paula! CBS premieres new seasons of Criminal Minds and CSI (Original Flavor). NBC has Up All Night and Free Agents settling into their normal lead-off timeslots, followed by season premieres of Harry's Law and Law & Order: SVU.

2.  Ratings!  Overnights for Tuesday are in and New Girl was the big draw of the new shows with 10 million viewers and a winning 4.7 share in the 18-49 time slot (though Dancing With the Stars - Results and NCIS: LA had move overall viewers (i.e., old people)). CBS owned the overall night with strong numbers from NCIS, NCIS: LA and a decent start for Unforgettable. Interestingly, Glee was down 32% from its second season premiere a year ago.  That shows has a hill to climb to get back into people's good graces.

3.  For The Standing Blogger at least, the reasons to watch Prime Suspect just increased by one, former Friday Night Lights executive producer, Peter Berg, just signed on to play Maria Bello's love interest.  SB will watch at least that episode ...

4.  Metta World Peace (nee Ron Artest) was the first dancetestant thrown off Dancing With the Stars. Yeah, pretty sure it was the stupid name.

5.  I LOVE Gordon Ramsay. He's smart, he curses like a British sailor, his shows are fun and he clearly knows what he's talking about. Now, he's taking that winning combination to another arena; Fox has greenlighted another new Ramsay joint to be called Hotel Hell. If you have seen Kitchen Nightmares, you know what this show will be about ... except, you know, it'll be about hotels instead of restaurants. 

6.  this came out a couple of days ago but I forgot to mention it. If you were missing Chord Overstreet on Glee last night, no fears, the ousted actor will be headed to The Middle in this season's second episode as Brick's new teacher.  I can't wait to see Brick say "Trouty Mouth" under his breath.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Keep or Delete: The Revamped Two and a Half Men

I was one of the 28 million people that tuned in last night for the Charlie Sheen/Harper-less debut of Two and a Half Men. I have been a fan of the show for years, it appeals perfectly to the raunchy adolescent boy that lives within me.  Charlie Sheen's boozy, misogynistic mimbo was a LARGE part of that attraction. Jon Cryer's ability to play off of and react to Charlie Sheen made up the rest. Angus is also a funny kid, but not enough reason to watch a show.  Like much of the television watching portion of America, I was curious to see how well the show would fare with Cryer now having to now play off of Ashton Kutcher.   I can respond with a resounding, "eh." 

HIMYM: Victoria, you are NOT the Mother!

I watched HIMYM last night and basically enjoyed both episodes, although I know a lot of other people didn't. My issue is with the whole Victoria thing. She cannot be the mother. Sorry folks. I've seen a lot of speculation on the blogs, but they are throwing another red herring at us. Among other things in the show's mythology we know that: (i) the mother was in the econ class that Ted mistook for his architecture class, (ii) she was Rachel Bilson's roommate, and (iii) Ted meets her at Barney's wedding. This has led to a lot of speculation that the mother is Barney's half-sister (the one that John Lithgow references at the dinner that Barney comes to...). If you take these three things we know, Victoria cannot be the mother. Oh well. Sound off below!

Morning News: September 20, 2011

1.  Season/Series Premieres.  Kickoff week continues with new shows debuting and favorite shows returning.  CBS offers up the ninth season premiere of NCIS; its little brother that could, NCIS: Los Angeles and finishes the night with the series premiere of Unforgettable (or the Remembererrrrrr as we call it here at OMD headquarters). NBC has the season 12 premiere of The Biggest Loser (no more Jillian? Then, no more TV Watcher!). Fox finally gets in the season premiere action with Glee and Raising Hope with the most anticipated comedy of the new season, The New Girl, nestled between them. Meanwhile ABC offers us the second season premiere of the Dana Delany vehicle, Body of Proof

2.  Ratings! TV by the Numbers has the early overnights in and the season premiere of Two and a Half Men, to no one's surprise, was the huge winner (28 million viewers with a 10.3 in the 18-49 category). In the  "somewhat of a surprise" category, The Playboy Club only pulled a 1.6 in the 18-49 category, shedding about 500K viewers from the already underwatched Sing Off premiere.  I fully expected The Playboy Club to be a flop but I thought a lot of people would tune in for the first episode.  In other news, CBS was the easy winner of the night (though the season premiere of Castle narrowly beat out the Hawaii Five-O premiere, which kicked ass BTW, in total viewers but with Hawaii Five-O taking a.1 lead in the 18-49 category). Dancing with the Stars pulled in about 18 million viewers for the premiere of the season of Chaz and no one continued to watch H8R or The Ringer.

3.  Fresh off her Emmy win, Melissa McCarthy is in talks to create a new show focusing around a woman going through a midlife crisis.  She's the new it girl so if she strikes while the Emmy is hot, she can't lose.

4.  Can't wait for tonight's premiere, catch this sit down TV Line did with NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg, here.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Morning News: September 19, 2011

A lot is going on today with premiere week kicking off in earnest and last night's Emmy's. So, Morning News is running a little longer than usual.

1. So the Emmy's were last night and they were satisfying ... for the most part. Standing Blogger will have the complete run down later today but the highlights (for me) were that (i) Julie Bowen and Ty Burell won for their respective supporting role in Modern Family; (ii) Kyle Chandler won for his final season of work on Friday Night Lights (TEXAS FOREVER!); (iii) Peter Dinklage won for his work on Game of Thrones as the loveable and hateable imp (imp is fun to say and write) Tyrion; (iv) Melissa McCarthy, in the most sincere feel good speech of the night, won for lead actress in a comedy for her work in Mike and Molly; (v)Julianna Margulies for lead actress on The Good Wife; (vi) Jim Parsons for Big Bang Theory; and (vii) Mad Men and Modern Family won for best drama and comedy, respectively.

2. Season/Series Premieres. We are loaded to bear this week as the real networks (sorry CW, but I just don't like you like that) role out their newest offerings. CBS kicks of their season with 2 new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, followed by the much anticipated ninth season premiere of Two and a Half Men (did you hear, Charlie Sheen's not the show anymore; I wonder what happened?!?), then the series premiere of 2 Broke Girls and ending the night with the sophomore season premiere of Hawaii Five-O. NBC serves up the debut of the now regular season program, The Sing-Off and ends the night with the series premiere of the sure to be milk toast Playboy Club (I'll be watching but I don't have high hopes). ABC will be spending the night trying to explain why we shouldn't be scared of Chaz Bono when it debuts its 13th installment of Dancing with the "Stars" (that should always be in quotations). I, personally, am waiting for Nancy Grace to sensationalize the whole show and spending an hour after the results explaining the dark, deep seeded reasons for why certain danctestants were thrown off. Castle premieres its fourth season after the dancing is over. Fox only has the finale of Hell's Kitchen, nothing new premiering.

3. Lion King (3-D) "roared" (sorry, I couldn't resist) to first place this weekend at the box office with $29.3 million. Its good to be the king ...

4. I'm pulling for Glee this season, this seems promising.

5. In case you had been holding your breath waiting for a disposition, Matthew Fox will not be charged beating up the bus lady. She probably worked for the Dharma Initiative and deserved it.

6. Aaron Sorkin broke his nose this week when he got too close to a mirror and head butted himself. For someone with his history, he should know to keep a rolled dollar bill- or straw-length distance from the mirror's surface.

I Cheered and I Laughed (sort of) - The 63rd Emmys

Last night's Emmy awards. I missed the beginning, but I watched most of the rest of telecast (mostly On My DVR, so I skipped the boring bits, which were numerous). I know alot of people find Modern Family very funny, and I've seen a few episodes, but I don't watch it, so while I'm happy for them, I'm not going to say much about the show. For a complete summary of the nominees and winners, check out TWOP's list here http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2011/09/emmy-awards-2011-the-winners.php

So, here's my take on last night's awards.
First, the presenters were awful. The writers tried to be funny, but the jokes were so forced and wooden that it was almost painful to listen to. I thought Gwenyth Paltrow was the funniest when she presented the award for best comedy. She came out and said "the prompters are down, so I'm going to wing it, here are the nominees for Outstanding Comedy series". Excellent. While gorgeous to look at, Rob Lowe and Sophia Vergara sounded lame. Jane Lynch had a few funny lines, but most of what she said sounded forced too. Oh well.

The singing intros to the overall categories - the "Emmytones" - was bizarre and totally pointless and I felt bad for Colbie Smulders, Joel McHale, Wilmer Valderrama, Zachery Levi and other people for having to sing those stupid songs. Anyway, onto the awards.

First of all, congrats to Friday Night Lights for two extremely well-deserved awards. The award for best writing couldn't have gone to anyone else. What a show! And a win for Kyle Chandler - we all cheered in my house when he won. Poor guy was totally not expecting it and didn't prepare a speech. He was so thrown that he didn't thank either of his wives. Oops.

While I am sad that Connie Britton didn't win for Best Actress, I am a big Good Wife fan, so a Julianna Marguilies win was good for me too. Same goes for Best Drama. I love Mad Men and by just being nominated in the category, FNL was proclaimed to be one of the best dramas on TV, and deservedly so.

Melissa McCarthy won for the most heart-felt acceptance speech. The bit with the nominees standing together, ala Miss America, was cute. But Melissa was so happy to have won and was so gracious that I really felt like the academy got it right.

Charlie Sheen continued his mea culpa tour with a very boring "tribute" to his old show. I'm guess they only let him do this because the Emmys aired on Fox, and not CBS.

TV Watcher was happy with Peter Dinklage's [He's the bestest Imp in all the land - TV Watcher] best supporting actor win and I was happy with Jim Parson's best actor in a comedy win. Kudos to him for his shout-out to cast-mate Johnny Galecki.

I'm a big Jon Stewart fan and I'm always happy to see him win (for the 9th year in a row), but I was even more impressed by his raving about Colbert. It'll be a long time before someone else wins this category, so it was nice that Stephen got some love too (he is very funny!).

I was thoroughly bored by the mini-series categories and wished that I had been able to fast-forward through them (but couldn't since I caught up), but since they led up to one of Jane Lynch's funnier comments of the night after Kate Winslet won, at least something good came out of them.

With some surprises, but mostly on target wins, the Emmys were spot-on this year from an awards perspective, which was great, but I could have done without the awkward presenters. Obviously letting them wing it is dangerous, but I would have preferred if they hadn't tried to make them funny. And now that the Emmys are over, it's time to turn our attention to the new season, enjoy the ride!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Keep or Delete: Up All Night/Free Agents

I think NBC's new series Up All Night is smart, well written, amusing and features a strong core cast with great chemistry. I will likely not watch another episode.  I know that seems contradictory but its not, not when you think a little about the subject matter at hand and my particular circumstances. I am a father of a young boy; I am Will Arnett three years later.  I understand not being able to find the right cheese in the supermarket and creepy old ladies that appear everywhere and ogle your child.  My body is more "Body by Dunking Donuts" than "by Nordic Track" but in almost every other way -- I am Will Arnett.  And, my wife is Christina Applegate (metaphorically, not literally).  So, I don't want to watch an accurate depiction of the more horrible parts of early parenthood, not when I went through the real thing such a short time ago. I think other people are going to agree with me.  The show is DEAD-ON accurate in how it handles the first few months of caregiving for new life ... what person in their right mind would want to relive that so soon thereafter. And, if you don't have kids, I think you're going to find the show boring, or at the least unrelateable. So, who is the audience here?  Standing Blogger and I decided its people with older children who remember vaguely what it was like to have an infant but that enough time has passed to find others suffering through it, funny. Like sadistic grandparents or co-workers with kids about to go off to college.  A niche audience to be sure but I hope it succeeds ... because in 15 years, I'll be ready to watch reruns of the show and laugh.

Free Agents is a hot mess. It wants to be a raunchy workplace comedy with a river of heart and sentiment.  Except, its on broadcast TV and once in its regular time slot, it'll be on before the kids are asleep so how edgy will it be?  Can it be?  If Up All Night is too realistic, Free Agents is its bizzarro world opposite. I work in a fairly relaxed environment and I can tell you, we have never had a full company meeting where Agenda Item #1 was all of the sexual positions I employed the night before.  That's not to say that on a pay-for-cable channel, they couldn't have gone further and made it outrageously funny .. but , that's not the circumstance.  It has to be either edgy or not, brash or not. You can't wink and nod at the audience expecting them to use their imagination to fill in the blanks of debauchery that might have been, if only it weren't for the damn corporate censors and/or sponsors.  Move it SkineMax and unleash the show for what it wants to be. Or else, cancel it.

Morning News: September 16, 2011

1. "Winning!" Charlie Sheen trying to get a job/get his new show picked up. He's making the rounds and trying to explain away his ridiculous(ly aweome) behavior. On Leno last night (which I never watch, but thought this interview might be amusing), he made fun of Jay (which was great), but also said that he couldn't possibily explain where the whole Adonis DNA/Tiger blood thing came from. Well, he's not going back to Men, so we'll see what comes next for Crazy Sheen.

2. The Emmys are on this weekend. Check back here for our take on Jane Lynch as host and whether the awardees were deserving (read: unless Connie Britton, Kyle Chandler and/or FNL takes home a trophy, they weren't!).

3. As the TV Watcher just told me, two of my favorite summer USA shows were renewed. Can't wait to see Drs. Lawson and Santino back in action!

4. As the real first week of the fall TV season nears, here are some excellent spoilers for HIMYM and Glee from our friends at EW and TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/News/HIMYM-Season7-Barney-Robin-1037370.aspx
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/09/15/glee-spoilers-ryan-murphy-unveils-premiere-episode/

Thursday, September 15, 2011

They're Baaaaack! (The Bravermans, that is)

So, as I sat down (well, actually I stood in my kitchen) to watch the premiere of the 3rd season of Parenthood, which I have really come to love over the last two years, I was struck by how many things irked me as I watched, but before I start venting, here's the recap.

Morning News: September 15, 2011

1.  Early Ratings!  its going to be a crowded scene on most nights and times this year and so I hope to follow along with the ratings news, at least when its interesting or compelling news.  Last night's series premiere of Up All Night basically retained all of AGT's finale audience but Free Agents shed about 1/3 of UAN's audience; probably doesn't bode well for the comedy.  I was delighted to see that no one watched H8R or ANTM.  Also, from a couple of days ago; even though Ringer gave CW some of its best ratings in years, it wasn't stellar and will get killed in its time slot by CBS domination.

2.  Season/Series Premieres Tonight.  The CW continues its premiere week with the new season of Vampire Diaries and the series premiere of The Secret Circle.  I know VD has developed a devoted following (I am not among them) but I am curious to see Secret Circle keeps the lead-in audience.

3.  Reality Show Winners! Big Brother and America's Got Talent crowned their respective winners last night. Rachel Reilly took home $500K for subjecting herself to the humiliation of being interviewed by Julie Chen on BB13 and  Eugene Murphy, Jr. won $1 million on AGT .. for sounding like Frank Sinatra (presumably Sr., not Jr.). Congrats to the winners .. I guess Summer is really over now, huh?

4.  If you were one of the few people that watched the DC edition of Real Housewives, you'll be relieved to know that Michaele Salahi isn't dead, she just ran off with the guitarist from Journey.  You don't appreciate the funny sentences you'll write until you start a blog.

5.  I can't turn down a LOST shout out, I just can't.  Alex Rousseau (I guess her real name is Tania Raymonde but I'll call her Alex) is doing an episode on Hawaii Five-O this season.  It will be great to see her back among the jungles of Hawaii!

6.  "Heeeeey".  The Fonz (nee, Henry Winkler) has been made an honorary member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (I'm an American so to me this  sounds like the name of Bill & Ted fan club) for his work as wacky guest stars and recurring characters on television, like in Arrested Development.  Seriously, its for his work with dyslexic children.  With news earlier this week of Ralph Malph getting cast as Emma Pilsbury's father on Glee this upcoming season, its been a pretty good week for Happy Days fans.

7.  Legen - wait for it - dary!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Afternoon News: Wednesday, September 14, 2011

1. Season/Series Premieres Tonight: Survivor's 23rd season begins and I can honestly say I know nothing about it (check out Random Acts of TV Watching for further notes). Elsewhere on the dial, new shows H8R (8pm, the CW), Up All Night (10pm, NBC) and Free Agents (10:30pm, NBC) premiere. Here at OMD, we will not be recapping any of them, but if you watch, let us know if we should be!

2. Ryan Murphy is further expanding the cast of Glee. Really?!!? We've already heard that several sets of parents, including Mike Chang's, Emma Pillsbury and possible Brittany S. Pierce's, will be introduced. But there have also been two casting notices, one for a new teen heartthrob and one for a football recruiter. Not to mention the Glee Project winners and the two runners-up with mini arcs. Slow down there, Ryan.

3. Losties/Trekkies, rejoice! J.J. Abrams is set to direct Star Trek 2.

4. Look out Alicia Florrick, Louis Canning (played brilliantly by Michael J. Fox) will be returning for multiple episodes this season. If you are like the TV Watcher and had never seen The Good Wife until the recap last Sunday, start watching, this is one of the best shows out there.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Morning News: September 13, 2011

1.  Season/Series Premieres Tonight: Parenthood kicks off its third season.  Check back for Standing Blogger's recap review later this week!  SMG returns to TV tonight playing twins in the new CW mystery drama, Ringer.  Last and maybe least, Season 4 of 90210 kicks off tonight before Ringer. You've been warned!

2.  NCIS Casting News! Cheryl Ladd, best known for her work on the original Charlie's Angels, is set to have a guest spot on NCIS this season as Ducky's girlfriend. Totally believable that a smokin' ex-model goes for Ducky. Must be his big ... brain.

3.  Kate Gosselin's reign of terror and televised abuse of her children (and nannies) has ended with last night's finale of [Formerly Jon &] Kate Plus 8.  I only mention it as a sign that we may have avoided the Apocalypse.  Though take fair warning readers, Kate has vowed to return to TV, with kids in tow.  And, we wait.

Monday, September 12, 2011

And So It Begins...

Premiere Week is here!! While I have been enjoying a few USA offerings this summer, I am very excited that the fall season is finally upon us. Most "real" networks (not the CW) begin premiering their new and returning shows next week, but NBC is starting Parenthood tomorrow night at 10pm. If you don't watch this show, check it out. Aside from an amazing cast (Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Mae Whitman, Craig T. Nelson and Michael B. Jordan, just to name a few), this is an excellent ensemble family drama and if you were a B&S watcher, this may fill the void left by Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and others. Anyway, to catch you up on where we left off, here's a quick run-down on the Braverman family:

Morning News: September 12, 2011

1.  The "boring" Emmy's were over the weekend.  Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Timberlake won awards for guest starring on Glee and SNL hosting, respectively.  Deadliest Catch won for outstanding non-competition reality show (they totally played the dead sea Captain card).  I guess the Reelz Channel is airing a broadcast of the awards ceremony on September 17.  Count me in as holding my breath until then.

2.  Also taped over the weekend, the Charlie Sheen Roast.  I'm ashamed to admit that I'll be watching this On My DVR next Monday ... but I totally will.  If for no other reason, I think it'll be worth it to hear Kate Walsh utter these lines: "People don’t know this, but you are actually a great father.  In fact when Charlie’s last child was born, he not only cut the cord, he chopped it up and snorted it.” and “Admittedly, Charlie gets a little bit confused sometimes.  He is the only guy who pulls a knife on a woman who is already willing to (have sex with) him.”

3.  XFinity has an update on the bizarre circumstances surrounding former Biggest Loser fatestant Sam Poueu's fall from a building earlier this month.

4.  CBS has moved Rules of Engagement to Saturday nights?  Who'd they piss off at CBS corporate?

5.  This represents the soft opening week of the Fall season; OMD will give you daily reminders on any new or returning shows debuting each day over the next few weeks! Check back for updates.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The New Girl

I stumbled upon the pilot episode of The New Girl on On Demand this weekend. I was a little surprised to find it there, but I thought, why not. So will I be watching and blogging this new show? It remains to be seen. We all know what it's about and watching the pilot is probably unnecessary. Jess (Zooey Deschanel) goes home to surprise her boyfriend, only to find out that he's with someone else. So, Jess finds a new apartment on Craigslist (btw, this apartment is awesome and strange at the same time -it has commercial looking stalls in the bathroom, not sure what that's about, but also, no one really has an apartment like that in Manhattan) and the three guys who live there interview her and ultimately decide to let her stay. So far, the guys are a little one-dimensional. Schmidt is a douche. No really, he is. And to prove it, he has to put money in the douche-bag jar every time he does something douche-y. Do you really have to hit us over the head? We get it. He's a douche with a heart of gold, as we'll see by the end of the episode. Then there's "Coach" - I don't think I caught his actual name - who yells to motivate and then there's the other guy, whose name I don't remember, but according to Fox is Nick, had a horrible break-up six months ago, which he still isn't over but claims he is and tends to put his hood over his head, which is going to become a gimmick. Oh and he's a bartender.

Moving on. After a week of watching Jess lie on the couch and watch Dirty Dancing, they get her to come out with them to find a rebound guy. Typical stuff happens, her attempts to pick up a guy are a little ridculous ("hey there sailor" said in an odd hands on hips pose) and mortifying (after seeming to score a date, she walks away from the guys with her skirt tucked in her waistband).

At the same time, Douche - sorry, I mean Schmidt - but henceforth to be known as DB for short (unless the writers decide to tone it down a bit) is trying to get an invite to some party which involves women dressed as cowboys or Native Americans or something. Apparently, DB works with all women who insult his clothing (huh?), so he needs to get in to this party to feel like a man again. The only person who can get him an invite is Nick's ex. DB's other non-roommate friends are also douches and he acts like an ultra DB around them, but that's for another post anyway. In the end, Nick's ex gets him in - Nick texted her. Okay...

Back to Jess, she is supposed to meet her "rebound guy" for a date, but he stands her up and as she is about to get thrown out of the restaurant, in come her three roommates/knights in "shining armor" to rescue her. They sing I've Had the Time of My Life and apparently DB knows all the words (that's the "heart of gold" bit). In the last scene, they are all together on the couch and DB is back to acting douche-y again.

So, it's a cute show. Very gimmicky, but cute. Hopefully, it will get more interesting, but I think I'll stick with it for another episode or two and see what happens. If it stays like this, I may drop it. Keep checking back to see what happens!

Enjoy the upcoming TV season!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

What We'll Be Blogging ...

The Standing Blogger and the TV Watcher have had a restful Summer and are ready to come out swinging for the new Fall season.  Check out after the jump for the list of shows we're planning on covering for you this season.


Your 30-Second Guide to the Fall Season's Newest Shows

Its September, Summer will soon be ending, the leaves will soon be turning, and the Standing Blogger and the TV Watcher will soon be getting comfortable in front of our televisions (or from our standing positons in the kitchen as the case may be).  There is some promise in the year's new helping and a lot of duds to be sure.  To help you sort through it all, On My DVR presents its first annual 30-Second Guide to the Fall TV Season. Enjoy!