Posted Aug 26th 2008 12:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Robert Llewelyn, best known to
Red Dwarf fans as the android Kryten, has confessed on KTSC-TV in Seattle that the BBC
has commissioned a one-hour special of Red Dwarf to film in October. For those keeping track,
Red Dwarf hasn't been on television since 1999.
This may be a mistake. On one hand, eight seasons of the show was beating a dead horse. It stopped being good after season three. On the other hand, nine years is certainly enough time for creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor (or whomever they designate) to write an hour's worth of new quality material.
It's also possible that enough of a nostalgia vibe would exist to make the one-hour special successful. I call it the
Star Wars effect. It is where bad entertainment is accepted as good and sells like mad because a certain name is attached to it (see
Star Wars Episode IV: The Phantom Menace for a good example. Or better yet, don't).
Posted Aug 22nd 2008 10:03AM by Brett Love
Filed under: OpEd, Stargate, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
With that pesky business of putting the kibosh on season six of
Atlantis out of the way, Sci Fi is now ready to announce that they are giving the
Stargate Universe project a green light. The show will kick off with
a two hour movie early next year and transition to a regular series for the summer. Creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper will be the executive producers.
Universe will follow a new cast of characters on the adventure that comes after they explore a ship launched by the Ancients, Destiny. The reconnaissance mission takes a dramatic turn when they discover that the ship can never return to Earth. They are along for the ride as the ship carries on with it's pre-programmed navigational schedule. The adventure comes during periodic stops at stargates. The danger is that if anyone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them.
Continue reading Stargate Universe gets a green light
Posted Aug 22nd 2008 8:23AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Episode Reviews
(S02E11 ... or is that 12?) The live auditions were considered a sort of special, so does it count as episode one? This finale featured the return of all the crews from throughout the season and the results of which of the final two crews would be crowned. I'll just come right off the top and say that I was pretty disappointed to see Fanny Pak taken down before the finale. Of all the crews this season, they were the ones who got me the most excited.
The problem is I'm not sure which of the top two finalists I would have eliminated to make room for them. I just don't think either of them was stronger overall than Fanny Pak. Even the judges didn't seem pleased going into the finale with the remaining two crews. And unfortunately, throughout last week's performance episode, it was one disappointment after another until the final two dances. I appreciate the differences in these crews, but I don't think it was as exciting a finale as we could have had.
Continue reading America's Best Dance Crew: Finale
Posted Aug 22nd 2008 8:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, The Amazing Race, Pickups and Renewals
It's really a no-brainer. What's a better second home for CBS's perennial Emmy-winning reality show
The Amazing Race than the Travel Channel? What doesn't make sense to me is that the
Travel Channel picked up seasons 12-14 of The Amazing Race. Season 13 premieres September 28 on CBS, with Travel debuting last year's Season 12 a few weeks earlier on September 3. But why didn't the Travel Channel just pick up the whole catalogue?
One of the things that makes
The Amazing Race such a fantastic show is it gives us the opportunity to travel the world and see such wonderful and exotic places. Coupling those excursions with the Travel Channel's own wonderful documentaries about those same places would make for a great night of entertainment and information. Because of the travel aspect of it, it's one of the few reality competition shows that can be rerun without losing 90% of its appeal. It could be a preemptive move to establish a home on a cable network in case CBS ever pulls the plug; the show is only picked up one season at a time and always seems to be on the bubble.
Posted Aug 21st 2008 3:41PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Programming, Pickups and Renewals
If you've ever been to New York City, chances are you've found yourself in the neon Disneyland of Times Square. If you've ever been to Times Square, then you've almost definitely run into
The Naked Cowboy. The Naked Cowboy is neither naked, nor a cowboy. Rather, he is a dude who hangs out in the middle of Times Square in a pair of tighty-whities and charges tourists for pictures as he bangs away on an acoustic guitar. He's been doing this for years in all kinds of weather, so for his trouble,
he's getting his own reality show.
And you went to law school, loser.
The Cowboy's show, brought to us by the producers of the upcoming
Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, is described as basically an
American Idol for street performers. However, prospective contestants needn't start on the song and dance lessons: this is purely style over substance.
Continue reading Naked Cowboy snags a reality show
Posted Aug 20th 2008 11:05AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Casting
Personally, I don't think it's fair that some of these Hollywood folks get to just keep on making television shows. Especially the ones who don't age like the rest of us. I mean, what if I was waiting for Valerie Bertinelli to get too old for television? Or John Stamos, or Michael J. Fox? These people never look any older. I think they've found the Tuck's secret spring and have been sipping it for decades. In the end, there can be only one and my money's on Dick Clark. I think he
is one of the Tucks.
Bertinelli has just been signed to star in a TBS sitcom as a mother of two. Good lord,
One Day at a Time was more than thirty years ago! By my estimations that would make her ... let's see, she was a teenager then ... yes I know you can find her birthday easy enough online ... cross-reference how much hotter she was than Mackenzie Phillips ... then carry Schneider's creepy factor of 9.5 and you get ... one hundred and thirty two years old! Amazing! She doesn't look a day over forty-eight. I've gotta find that spring.
Posted Aug 19th 2008 11:01AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Programming, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Another daytime talk show? Apparently, but this one could have some promise. Why? It's got
Bonnie Hunt.
The Bonnie Hunt Show will be unscripted and low-key with a lot of audience interaction. The producers who back Ellen's and Tyra Banks's talk shows are behind Hunt, so shouldn't we be too?
My fondest memories of Hunt as an actress are not of TV (although her sitcom,
Life with Bonnie, was pretty funny, just not my bag), but rather her roles in
Jumanji and
Jerry McGuire. I feel that those characters allowed Hunt to showcase her dry wit balanced with her gentle nature the best. But I do agree with the producers: Hunt's got personality.
Back to the unscripted: If Hunt's show remains unscripted and unpredictable, my guess is that they'll have a hit. Do you have any predictions as to whether or not Ms. Hunt can weather the daytime talk show competition?
[via
Pop Candy]
Posted Aug 18th 2008 11:06AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Nostalgia still reigns supreme on television (along with a lack of original material). The 60's/70's icons
The Banana Splits are
now getting their own show on Cartoon Network.
I'm old enough to remember when
The Banana Splits were on television (from reruns. I'm not THAT old) and I'm curious about how whomever now controls their fate will translate the show for newer audiences. The original show was very much a staple of the hippie culture from back then. It would be disappointing if the show went from hippie to hipster. The original show most notably launched the careers of Sid and Marty Krofft who went on to make such iconic 70's children's fare as
H.R. Pufnstuff and
The Bugaloos among others.
The most memorable part of
The Banana Splits was their theme song "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)". However they modernize that song, whether it becomes a rap or a
High School Musical-style pop song, I can only say right now that it will be inferior to the original.
Posted Aug 14th 2008 2:58PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Programming, Game Show, Pickups and Renewals
Chuck Woolery is coming back to television. While he will be hosting a game show, this time around it has nothing to do with love or its connections.
Woolery is set to host The Meow Mix Game Show on GSN.
Meow Mix is said to be a cat-centric competition in which cats and their owners compete for up to $1 million for themselves and $100,000 for their favorite feline charity.
The show itself is supposed to "put a twist" on classic game shows like
Jeopardy and ...
The Newlywed Game. I'm sorry, but
The Newlywed Game? What in the hell are we dealing with here? The person who dreamed this up must have been chasing the dragon when they thought it was a good idea to compare their
cat show to a program in which seemingly every question involved the phrase, "making whoopie."
Continue reading Finally! Crazy cat ladies get their own game show
Posted Aug 14th 2008 12:15PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Casting, Reality-Free
Comedy Central is giving some alumni of
Stella and
The State another crack at a show. Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter
will be the co-stars of the half-hour pilot Michael and Michael Have issues.
The premise is a show-within-a-show, with segments from the stars addressing issues that the Michaels have with "themselves, each other and the world at large."
I missed
The State, but I did catch episodes of
Stella (also starring David Wain), which was another attempt by the same comedians to create a show that blurred the line between reality and fantasy (such as having character with their actual names. You know, the old Jerry Seinfeld trick).
I liked
Stella, but didn't think it would last more than a season (and it didn't) because the humor is very abstract and cerebral (sort of the anti-
According To Jim). My gut instinct is the same for this show even though I want it to succeed. Is it better to have a good show that lasts one season or a mediocre-at-best show that lasts eight? I vote for the former.
Posted Aug 12th 2008 8:23AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
With Maggie Friedman (
Dawson's Creek) behind it, I have to imagine that
The Witches of Eastwick ABC pilot project just announced may feature a younger cast than the 1987 film on which it is being based. The announcement specifically states that it is a variation on the film as opposed to the controversial John Updike novel. The book has been blasted for being misogynistic, while the movie offered more in female empowerment.
This will be third time someone has made a go of adapting the film for television. I can't help but think think of this as a more serious
Charmed. Will the male antagonist, played by Jack Nicholson in the film, remain throughout the series, or will he just be an early problem dealt with by the three witchy leads? Considering Friedman's resume also includes the horridly under-appreciated
Jack and Bobby and the brilliant
Once and Again, there are a lot of ways she could go with this.
Continue reading ABC sets up shop in Eastwick
Posted Aug 5th 2008 1:01PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Nip/Tuck, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Between finishing up Nip/Tuck, working on his new pilots Glee and 4 oz. (that one may be dead now?) for FOX and FX respectively, and preparing two new feature length films, it's pretty clear that Ryan Murphy's new pact with 20th Century Fox is going to net him a boatload of cash. The one thing he won't need to spend any of it on? A mattress. No man with this many jobs has time to close his eyes.
Now comes word that he still isn't satisfied with his workload. Variety is reporting that Murphy has another show in the works with NBC called Hyper-chondriac. Based on a book by Brian Frazer, the series will focus on a pharmaceutical rep who thinks he's sick all the time with who knows what. The half-hour sitcom will be exec produced and directed by Murphy.
Plastic surgery, transsexuals, hypochondriacs ... and high school glee clubs. Quite the eclectic list for a slate of ongoing and upcoming projects. Maybe this guy shouldn't sleep. His dreams must be ridiculous.
That being said, he created Nip/Tuck, so I'm willing to watch anything he puts his name on.
Posted Aug 5th 2008 12:27PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Is AMC determined to shed its image as the second-best old movie channel -- number one id TCM -- to become a serious rival in series TV? It seems that the great success of
Mad Men and the nearly as great success of
Breaking Bad has emboldened AMC and they are itching for more.
AMC has ordered a political thriller pilot from executive producer Jason Horwitch.
The plot involves two potential fascinating elements: a secret society that has political power around the world and uses it to manipulate countries, and also an analyst working in a think tank who discovers that the people with whom he works are not who they seem to be. That last part sounds like a very Hitchcockian idea, especially if he's wrongly accused of something that happens on the job and has to go on the run or go undercover to suss out the bad guys. We'll see...
"This is a world you have not seen on television before -- it's not your typical spy thriller." That's what AMC is saying about the show, and if they can catch an
All The President's Men or
Parallax View paranoia vibe, they might be right.
Continue reading AMC picks up another new drama
Next Page >
All right, let me say this up front and without equivocation: if CBS picks up Flashpoint and cancels Swingtown, I'm going to be ticked off. I'm not down on Flashpoint. 
Not to be confused with Cashmere Mafia or Legally Blonde or Sweet Charity, Lifetime has a new reality series in the works with the catchy title of Blonde Charity Mafia. It's a docu-reality series, so they say.
