Posted Aug 15th 2008 10:39AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, OpEd, Grey's Anatomy, Short-Lived Shows, Criminal Minds, Cancellations, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free, Army Wives
I can't decide if this is good news or bad news.
Moonlight star
Alex O'Loughlin is staying at CBS.
Unless you've been in another galaxy for the past year, you know that the Aussie actor cultivated an enormous fan base with his role as vampire P.I. Mick St. John on CBS'
Moonlight. The uproar caused by the cancellation of the show in May can still be heard, well, in another galaxy.
At the
Television Critics Association press tour in July,
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler said the popularity of
Moonlight was
due in large part to O'Loughlin's fan base. So I can appreciate the fact that CBS wants to keep him around. But it's what they'll do with him that has me worried.
Continue reading Alex O'Loughlin inks deal with CBS...now if they could just create a show like Moonlight...
Posted Aug 5th 2008 3:41PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: The Daily Show, Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
Almost as soon as I arrived in Beverly Hills for the press tour on July 13, I had an assignment: find a power brick for my laptop, which I had left behind in New Jersey. One frantic and sweaty trip to Radio Shack later, I was ready for my next assignment: a brief interview with
The Daily Show's Senior Black Correspondent, Larry Wilmore.
Wilmore was on hand to promote
Make 'Em Laugh, a wide-ranging PBS documentary series on the history of modern comedy that's set to air in 2009 (it was announced that day that
Billy Crystal is hosting the series). Right after the interview, Wilmore was on a panel with two other documentary participants: original
SNL writer Anne Beatts (whom I also interviewed) and comedian Richard Lewis.
I only had a few minutes with Wilmore, so I quickly moved on from the special to ask him about how he got the
Daily Show gig after a career spent behind the scenes as a writer and producer (
The PJs, The Bernie Mac Show). I also asked him what it's like to work on a show that's so influential on the political and news scene. The interview is after the jump.
Continue reading Larry Wilmore: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Aug 4th 2008 6:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the
comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors.
Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.
But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old
SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's
Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.
Continue reading More from Keith Olbermann: Special comments, and reuniting with Dan Patrick
Posted Aug 2nd 2008 9:02AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
One of my favorite parts of the summer press tour was the last day, mainly because a busload of critics got to go to the Warner Bros. lot and tour sets from
ER, Chuck, and
Pushing Daisies (we also saw the
Dollhouse set on the Fox lot later that day).
On the Pie Hole set of
Daisies, for instance, all the stars and producers were available for interviews. Kristin Chenoweth held court right outside the pie-shaped diner's entrance, sporting a splint on her right hand from a recent bat bite (I kid you not... wonder what scene they were shooting at the time). But I was there to ask her about how she felt about being the model for Harriet Hayes on
Studio 60 two years ago. And she was very candid about the situation,especially in light of the fact that her former (and current?) boyfriend,
S60 creator Aaron Sorkin, never was.
First, though, a question about Jeff Probst; Chenoweth dropped the tidbit that the two of them dated when she announced his Emmy nomination the week before. Audio is after the jump.
Continue reading Kristin Chenoweth on Studio 60, Jeff Probst, and her Daisies song request - AUDIO
Posted Aug 1st 2008 10:02AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Interviews, Celebrities, TCA Press Tour
There was one and only one reason why I wanted to speak to
Tori Spelling at NBC's TCA party: No, it wasn't because of
90210, though I was curious about it. It was because of my girlfriend.
I'm serious. She's a big fan of the
Tori and Dean reality series on Oxygen, and she's told me on more than one occasion that she thinks that, if circumstances allowed, that she could be friends with the semi-estranged daughter of late TV magnate Aaron Spelling. When I told Tori (her husband,
Dean McDermott, was there but must have been grabbing some mac and cheese or something) that I only know the show because of my girlfriend, she understood. "We hear that a lot. It's OK."
Continue reading Why Tori Spelling thinks people want to be her friend
Posted Jul 30th 2008 1:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Animation, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
When I was talking to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas at CBS' TCA party, they told me about how another reporter mentioned that Chuck Lorre, creator of
Two and a Half Men and
The Big Bang Theory, is also known for writing and performing the theme song for the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. None of us could believe it, and we were intent on spreading this little rumor to whoever we could find. But, in my role as "tenacious entertainment reporter," I wanted to find out from the man himself. So when I spotted Lorre later on in the evening, I made a beeline for him and asked him. When he confirmed the rumor, I whipped out my voice recorder, dumbfounded at the news.
"I was a musician for 17 years before I got into television," said Lorre. "I was just a working musician, and I was trying to get a break as a songwriter. And back in the '80s I got a shot to write the music for this six episode trial run of this weird little animated thing, based on a garage comic. You know, a black-and-white little comic book. And we said 'Absolutely! We'd love to! We'll take any shot.' "
Continue reading Chuck Lorre's old career had a lot of Turtle Power
Posted Jul 25th 2008 7:33PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, TCA Press Tour, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
So I've been back from LA for a couple of days, watching Rich and Keith file frantic reports from Comic-Con. It just makes me shake my head in sympathy. Though CC is a different animal from the TCAs, in both structure and in sheer volume of people and activities, I still know exactly how they feel. It all starts to feel like a blur after awhile -- panels, reporter scrums, parties, meeting your favorite (and not-so-favorite) TV stars... When you get back to "normal life," it almost feels like it never happened.
Anyway, now that I have a day or two to reflect, I took
a cue from our friends at AOL and came up with a list of things I learned on this press tour. But this list will involve both the network-related things I learned with what I learned about celebrities, my fellow critics, and myself.
Continue reading Things I learned from the press tour - TCA Report
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 10:28PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Sports, TCA Press Tour, Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Today was the very last day of the press tour here in Beverly Hills. It was "TCA Day," with members of the association (including me) going to the Warner Brothers lot to visit the sets of
ER, Pushing Daisies, and
Chuck, where we spoke to cast members and producers (Oh, we went to the set of
America's Best Dance Crew, but let's just forget I mentioned that one). Then we bused it over to the Fox lot, where Joss Whedon showed us around the set of
Dollhouse, and the entire cast of
King of the Hill gave a table read of their 250th episode. All this fun will be in upcoming posts later this summer.
Despite some of the griping you may have seen from me, it's been lots of fun. It's just a very tiring experience. Case in point: On Monday, NBC decided to close out the press conference portion of the tour by having us sit through ten panels, five of them after lunch. Here's a wrap-up post that goes over some of what went on yesterday that I haven't already covered.
Continue reading NBC wrap-up: Slater's split personality, and Selma Blair's a wise-ass - TCA Report
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 12:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, TCA Press Tour, Life, Reality-Free
Just to be complete, I wanted to go over a few more tidbits from the NBC executive session with entertainment co-chiefs Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff. We already know about
Leno copying Kimmel, and the late night news that came out of it, and we already know about
the non-spin-off and the actual spin-off for The Office. But what else did they talk about?
- Life will get two Monday night showings, starting on September 29 at 10 PM ET, which will allow them to premiere Christian Slater's My Own Worst Enemy on October 13, and run it straight through December. Silverman called having that show after Chuck and Heroes a kind of a "male Heroes sandwich."
Continue reading NBC executive session: Leno, Office spin-off, and infronts - TCA Report
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 2:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
Tell you one thing about Ian McShane: he doesn't take any guff from anyone. Say something that he thinks is a load of crap and he'll tell you in no uncertain terms.
So, you can imagine what happens when you combine McShane's orneriness with a group of cranky critics who've been put through a long day by the folks at NBC on the last day of the press tour (there will be a day of set visits on Tueday, but no ballroom press conferences). The last panel is for McShane's new mid-season show,
Kings, and the critics have been made extra cranky by the fact that, like all of NBC's new shows, they haven't seen the pilot for it yet. Mix in a somewhat hard-to-grasp premise. Stir liberally, and you get some momentary fireworks that woke up the collected critics at the very end of a long day.
Continue reading Don't tell Ian McShane you don't understand Kings - TCA Report
Posted Jul 21st 2008 4:41PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: The Office, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
One of the more interesting things to come out of the Silverman-Graboff executive session (which I promise will be up later today ... probably this evening) is that, though Amy Poehler has been signed to be in a show produced by
The Office's Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, that show will
not be an
Office spin-off. It'll have the same comic sensibility and style as
The Office, but the characters won't be part of the
Office universe. However, a
real Office spin-off is still in play, and there's potential for Rashida Jones to be a part of it.
Got that? Neither did the critics, who repeatedly asked mostly Silverman to clarify the situation during both the panel and the scrum that followed.
Continue reading Poehler will not be in an Office spin-off, but Rashida Jones may reprise Karen - TCA Report
Posted Jul 21st 2008 3:41PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, Industry, Talk Show, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
Taking a cue from ABC, NBC had Jay Leno pose as a reporter and ask NBC's two-headed entertainment chief, Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, about when Leno would be leaving and when Conan would be starting. Only, instead of just wearing a baseball cap like Kimmel did, Leno donned a bald cap and beard to make him seem extra stealthy.
Some of the "funny" lines are after the jump, but here's the gist of the news: Leno's last day on the
Tonight show will be on May 29, with Conan O'Brien taking over the following Monday, June 1. Conan will do his last
Late Night sometime during the first quarter, according to Graboff and Silverman, and Jimmy Fallon will take over the timeslot at an undetermined time during either March or April (that's after starting online,
as Lorne Michaels announced yesterday). No word on what will play in Conan's 12:30 slot in the interim period.
Continue reading Leno pulls a Kimmel at NBC exec panel; also late night timeframes revealed - TCA Report
Posted Jul 21st 2008 12:42PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Saturday Night Live, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
Just wanted to post a quick report about yesterday's late-afternoon
Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.
Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny. That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions. Anyway, two pieces of news came out of this panel:
- SNL will run live 30-minute Thursday election specials in primetime starting October 9 and running until the election. The specials will feature Weekend Update but may also have sketches. There will also be a primetime "Presidential Bash" episode the night before the election.
- Michaels mentioned that Jimmy Fallon will air his show online for "five or six months" before it airs in Conan O'Brien's old timeslot, in order to give it a headstart in finding its creative legs. "We learned with Conan how brutal it was to find a show when it was on the air," he said.
Continue reading SNL's election coverage, and Jimmy Fallon will start online - TCA Report
Posted Jul 21st 2008 12:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
I caught up to Keith Olbermann at NBC's all star party last night, and talked to him a little bit about the election, the origin of his "Special Comments," and getting back to doing highlights with Dan Patrick. More on that in a few days. But the first thing on my mind was if he read the
comments uttered by Fox News' Chris Wallace earlier in the tour, notably that MSNBC's election coverage was biased because commentators like Olbermann are used as anchors.
"Oh yeah, I thought they were disingenuous and ill-informed," he told me, "because during the primaries as I'm sitting there, and we have the other monitors on, and a couple of weeks at least I saw O'Reilly on in the middle of the primaries, one week Laura Ingrahm filling in for O'Reilly, and Hannity and Colmes at 9:00. It's the same thing, whether you officially say, 'Well, this is not our election coverage between 8 and 10, but between 6 and 7 was, and 10 to 12 was ... ' It's a game being played that's pretty silly."
Continue reading Olbermann snipes back at Chris Wallace and Fox News - TCA Report
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