Just what will happen this season on Lost?
With the season premiere of the sixth and final season of Lost only a few scant days away now, I thought it would be a good time to find out just what your theories are about (A) what happened to the castaways after Juliet detonated Jughead, (B) what will happen this season, and (C) what you predict the ending of the series will be.
I'd love to revisit these theories once Lost wraps up its run this May but, given that the first hour of Lost's season premiere is set to be shown to fans in Hawaii this weekend, we could engage in one final round of spoiler-free speculation for Lost before information begins pouring in.
So dig in: what do you think Team Darlton has in store for us this last season? What are your predictions about what will happen, who will die, who will end up together, and just what this all means? Discuss. (But, reminder: no spoilers!)
(Meanwhile, Part One of my interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse is up at The Daily Beast while Part Two--due to run this Tuesday--gets more into some elements of Season Six.)
Lost premieres Tuesday night with a one-hour retrospective special at 8 pm ET/PT and the two-hour sixth season premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.
One of the most eagerly anticipated (and constantly buzzed about) pilots of this current development season is NBC's legal dramedy, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, which stars former Doctor Who star David Tennant as the titular non-attorney.
Given Tennant's stature and his popularity coming off of Doctor Who, expectations are running high for Rex, which had been rumored to be under contention for a March launch on NBC... but is now said to be in the mix for a possible slot on the Peacock's fall schedule. (Or is, off the table, should you believe what an unnamed insider told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello earlier this week, though that has been unconfirmed.)
Regardless, I had the opportunity yesterday to sit down to read the pilot script for Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, written by David Lampson and Andrew Leeds, and was pleasantly surprised to encounter a quirky and compelling legal dramedy that juggled both a procedural element (the familiar case of the week) with an overarching, serialized plot.
(Note: As always, please do not reproduce this post in full on other sites. Quoting and excerpting are fine, but wholesale reproduction is definitely not okay.)
That ongoing storyline, which would run under the various cases Rex takes on on a weekly basis should Rex be ordered to series, involves not just the panic attacks suffered by Rex (Tennant) that have rendered him unable to act as an attorney, but also pulls in his panic-stricken shrink Dr. Barry Cannon (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother/mentor Ellen (Jane Curtin), his ex-fiancee Lindsey (Abigail Spencer), and his best friend Bruce (Jerry O'Connell). (There's also Rex's oft-put-upon assistant Sophia, played by Lindsey Kraft.)
But Rex isn't just another legal drama. Yes, there are courtroom shenanigans and cross-examinations, but what separates Rex from the pack is the series' underlying formula: Rex doesn't defend any of his clients himself but rather coaches them to defend themselves in court. The rationale behind the twist stems from his unexplained panic attacks, which leave Rex a wreck whenever he attempts to stand or say anything in a courtroom. For a showman such as Rex, one who loves to dazzle his audience, it's the ultimate form of stage fright.
I don't want to give away too much about the plot, other than that there's a nice love triangle developing between Rex, Lindsey, and Bruce, one that's enabled by Rex disappearing to Canada for six months, after his panic attack left him in the hospital. Reeling from Rex's abrupt departure (he takes off when Lindsey goes home to get a shower), Lindsey begins a tentative relationship with Rex's best friend Bruce. But Bruce isn't a stereotypical viper; he's a nice guy who's played second fiddle to showboat Rex for nearly their entire lives. (And, hell, he even goes so far as to ask Rex for permission to date Lindsey.)
My main complaint with the pilot script is that Jane Curtin's Ellen is given a little bit of short shrift here. Other than having a penchant for wearing bow ties and Prada suits and a subplot that has her dating Barry, Rex's now-former psychiatrist, her character is pretty wafer-thin. However, Curtin's astute comedic timing and superlative presence should help out her character's lack of definition. Still, given that it's one of the rare female characters over the age of 30 this development season, I was hoping for a bit more layering to Ellen; we're told that she skipped her sister's funeral to sit for the bar and that she and Rex like to take walks together but I want to see Ellen less as an extension of Rex and more as her own, fully formed individual.
Still, this is a minor quibble. There's a nice lightness to Rex that would separate it from other legal dramas and the lead character is fitting for David Tennant. Prone to hyperbole, dramatic gestures, and brainy discourse, Rex isn't a hotel-inhabiting lawyer embodying the Doctor but rather a compelling character whose both egocentric and sympathetic, a hyper-ambitious attorney knocked down a few pegs and humbled by his panic attacks. I can definitely see (and hear) Tennant in the dialogue and I think he's well suited for a role that calls for him to deliver fast-paced dialogue, steal the spotlight, and yet remain intriguingly vulnerable at the same time.
Rex Is Not Your Lawyer isn't groundbreaking television but it is fun and frothy, offering a novel take on a popular genre. In other words: should NBC decide to pick this up to series, I'd watch.
I've had a very complicated relationship with Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, the metaphysical action series that wraps up its troubled run tonight on FOX with "Epitaph Two: The Return."
While I felt that there were moments of genius among the forced procedural element, the convoluted storylines, and gaping plot holes, Dollhouse often just left me pounding my head against the wall in frustration at times.
I never felt like Eliza Dushku's Echo became a gripping enough central character to anchor the series, which was always much more interesting when the focus shifted to that of Dollhouse's supporting players like Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia Williams, or Fran Kranz. (The latter of which grew on me exponentially as the series wore on.) But rather than shift into a full-blown ensemble, the action continually circled back to Dushku's Echo and Tahmoh Penikett's Paul Ballard, easily the two least interesting of the bunch. (Lachman's Priya/Sierra and Gjokaj's Anthony/Victor remain easy favorites.)
Additionally, while I thought that the early second season storyline involving Amy Acker's Whiskey was profoundly moving, it was quickly undone by the eleventh hour reveals of the last few weeks, which turned Dollhouse's compelling post-apocalyptic storyline (begun in last season's unaired and fantastic thirteen episode, "Epitaph One") into a bit of a mess.
Dollhouse has always been creatively uneven: the serialized aspect of the series has always tended to take a backseat to the procedural in both seasons and when the overarching plot has come into play, the results have been less than stellar. Season One's Alpha plot, which had such promise, degraded into a hodgepodge of soap operatics, truncated subplots, and metaphorical mustache-twirling. (It also revealed a shocking lack of security at the Dollhouse, a plot hole that has been used about a dozen or so times over the last two seasons as dolls, prisoners, and clients seemingly can wander in or out of the premises at will.)
The coming apocalypse gave Season One's "Epitaph One" such promise and emotional resonance; the Active technology, used for nefarious purposes via the doll's engagement, took on a portent of doom as it was the advancement of this tech that seemingly brought about the end of civilization. But some truly odd plot twists that come off as glaring retcons--such as the reveal that Harry Lennix's Boyd was in fact one of the founders of Rossum Corporation and that he'd kept the LA Dollhouse employees alive because he "loved" them--remove any sense of strong throughline here. To use one of the complaints of Lost-phobes, it seems like they are making it up as they go along.
Dollhouse will end tonight and that ending will be the ending of this narrative. It's highly unlikely that there will be any spinoff feature films, comics, or tie-in novels. And I'm glad about that. Not every one of Whedon's series can click with a huge audience nor can it find the same sort of obsessive adoration and respect that even the short-lived Firefly engendered.
I've stuck with Dollhouse against my better judgment at times; sometimes I was rewarded (the gripping Priya arc and Summer Glau's appearances as Bennett) and other times I wasn't (the lactating episode). I can't fault Whedon for trying something different and creating a series that asked some deep and dark questions about the nature of identity and reality.
But, ultimately, Dollhouse was a television series that no one--not Whedon, not FOX, not the series' writing staff--seemed to be on the same page about; it was as though everyone's agendas were at odds with one another and that was felt and seen on the screen each week. I'm hoping that Whedon lands somewhere more suited to his talents (FX, anyone?) and that his creative instincts and vision gel better with those of a future network.
In the meantime, I am more than ready to say goodbye to Dollhouse. Here's to hoping that some of the series' stand-out talents land on their feet after tonight's final future-set showdown.
The series finale of Dollhouse airs tonight at 8 pm ET/PT on FOX.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: won't somebody please give John Noble an Emmy nomination?
Noble's work on Fringe as the addled Dr. Walter Bishop has been absolutely superlative these past two seasons. As the action mounts to next week's winter finale of Fringe, Noble has rendered Walter as a truly tragic figure, one whose seeming innocence and scientific curiosity belies a true pragmatist, a man willing to make the tough decisions that no one else wants to make.
Never was this more true than in last night's compelling episode of Fringe ("The Bishop Revival"), which found the team dealing with a chemical weapon capable of targeting specific gene groups or individuals and unearthing a connection between the deadly technology and the Bishop family itself.
Despite its format as a procedural series, Fringe has done a smashing job this season at keeping the character development moving along swiftly and wisely placing the emphasis on the relationships between the three core characters. Over the past few weeks, we've learned a great deal about Walter's relationship to and obsessive love for his son Peter. This week, he looked to draw Olivia even closer into his family, urging Peter to marry Olivia.
It was a small moment but spoke volumes about the love that Walter has for Olivia. Despite what may have been done to her as a child by Walter and his former partner William Bell, it's clear that Walter has a paternal love for Agent Dunham. He cares for her deeply and wants to see her happy and he wants Peter to be happy. Therefore, the only logical solution is to put the two of them together.
I'm glad that Peter shot down this line of romantic inquiry straightaway. There's been a nice tension between Peter and Olivia since the start of the series but I've been extremely pleased to see that the writers haven't pushed the two of them into a full-blown flirtation or paired them off into will-they-or-won't-they couplehood. I think that Peter and Olivia work best as friends or emotional siblings; it gives their relationship some nice heft while also making Fringe different in this respect: the team isn't just colleagues, but a rather dysfunctional family.
Last night's episode once more mined the former estrangement between Walter and Peter for dramatic purposes, revealing that Peter had sold Walter's prize possessions--a series of German novels owned by his own father Dr. Bishoff--while he was in St. Clare's as an act of revenge. What Peter didn't know was that these novels were in fact repositories of secret Nazi science and that his grandfather was a Allied spy working to sabotage the scientific aims of the Third Reich.
I'm glad that it wasn't Peter's foolhardy sale of those books that brought about the killer airborne weapon that the mysterious German was developing but rather an unexpected coincidence. That the German was in fact over 100 years old and had known Walter's father was a more interesting twist, one that was left tantalizingly unsolved at the end of the episode. (Though it had been mentioned earlier that the Nazis were investigating a fountain of youth.)
(Interesting aside: I loved that Bishoff's signature was the seahorse--supposedly, he was a good swimmer--but given that we've so far only learned about the male side of the Bishop family tree, a fitting motif, given that male seahorses carry the eggs of their offspring.)
Walter's own attack by this individual placed his life in jeopardy (though, interestingly, the weapon was synthesized to only attack Walter and not his whole gene line) and Walter was able to turn the tables on the German and attack him using his own tools of destruction, murdering the man in front of an assembly of hundreds at the charity event. I had a feeling that Walter would strike back but didn't think that he would so calmly murder this man nor that he would tell Broyles that he knew what he had done and would face the consequences.
In the end, as Walter said, family is the most important thing to him. The act of murder he commits not only saves the world from this maniac's twisted ideals but also reclaims his father's work and safeguards them from once more falling into the wrong hands. If there's one thing that motivates Walter Bishop it is the protection of those he loves as evidenced by the lengths he went--wrongly--to bring his son back from the dead by replacing him with his alternate reality counterpart. It's an action that could end up destroying their world, even if it was based in a father's grief.
What did you think of this week's episode? Should Noble finally get some recognition for his amazing turn as Walter Bishop? Discuss.
Next week on the winter finale of Fringe ("Jacksonville"), a violent tremor at a Manhattan office building leaves only one survivor who leads the team to believe he is not from this reality; Walter surmises that what shook the building was not geologic, but rather something discovered by him and William Bell many years ago; the team races to Jacksonville, the site of Walter and William's experiments, forcing Olivia to face her mysterious past and save hundreds of people from certain death.
Edie Falco's Jackie Peyton returns this March with a second season of the Showtime dark comedy Nurse Jackie.
The pay cabler released a two-and-a-half minute sizzle reel for the second season of Nurse Jackie, which kicks off on March 22nd.
Having seen the first two episodes of Season Two of Nurse Jackie back in December, I can say that the season gets off to a great start as the writers not only deal with the cliffhanger ending of of the freshman season but also introduce some compelling new story strands to follow. Suffice it to say, I'm already counting down the days until Nurse Jackie returns to television.
You can watch the Season Two trailer below.
Season Two of Nurse Jackie begins March 22nd at 10 pm ET/PT on Showtime. Continue reading full story...
Channel Surfing: Maria Bello Finds "Emergency Sex" for HBO, NBC Gets "The Cape" and "Outsourced," Leno on Oprah, and More
Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.
Maria Bello, Simon Beaufoy, and Russell Crowe have teamed up to develop HBO drama project Emergency Sex, based on Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson's nonfiction book "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth," about "the larger-than-life exploits of expatriate nongovernment-organization workers who find their sanity tested in the face of atrocities, loneliness and primal desires." Bello (A History of Violence) will star in the project, which is being adapted by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), who will executive produce with Bellow, Russell Crowe, and John Carrabino. (Hollywood Reporter)
NBC has handed out pilot orders to two projects, both hailing from Universal Media Studios. One-hour drama The Cape, from writer Thomas Wheeler (Empire) and BermanBraun, revolves around an ex-cop in Los Angeles who is framed and sets out to become a masked vigilante in order to clear his name and reunite with his son. NBC also picked up single-camera comedy Outsourced, based on the indie film about about a demoted middle manager who is sent to India to manage a call center. Robert Borden (The Drew Carey Show) will write the pilot script and Ken Kwapis (The Office) is still attached to direct and executive produce alongside Tom Gorai and David Skinner. (Hollywood Reporter)
The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has a fantastic feature on Jay Leno's appearance yesterday on The Oprah Winfrey Show. "How can you do the right thing and just have it go so wrong? 'Maybe I'm not doing the right thing,' I would think," Leno told Winfrey. "Maybe I'm doing something wrong. This many people are angry and upset over a television show. ...My show got canceled. They weren't happy with the other guy's show. They said, 'We want you to go back,' and I said, 'OK.' And this seemed to make a lot of people really upset. And I go, 'Well, who wouldn't take that job though? Who wouldn't do that?'" (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)
Score yet another job for Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother). The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that Harris will travel to London later this year to tape a pilot for a US adaptation of British game show The Cube for CBS. Once executives view the pilot, CBS will decide whether to order the project to series. News comes after FOX abandoned its plans to adapt the unscripted format for US broadcast audiences in December. (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Leonard Roberts (Heroes) has been cast in the two-part episode of ABC's Castle that will feature Desperate Housewives' Dana Delany. Roberts will play Delany's federal agent partner on the two-parter, the first half of which is scheduled to air March 21st on a special night. In other Castle-related news, ABC ordered two additional episodes of the crime procedural, bumping its episodic total this season to 24 installments. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
FX has ordered a pilot presentation for comedy Sweat Shop, about a pair of step-siblings who run a gym in a Scottsdale, Arizona strip mall. Project, from creator/star Pell James, director Jonas Pate, and fellow executive producers Thomas Moffett and Braxton Pope, hails from FX Prods. and Lionsgate Television. (Variety)
Pilot casting alert!Tony Hale (Chuck) Matt Letscher (Eli Stone) will star opposite Danny Wallace in ABC hybrid comedy pilot Awkward Situations for Men, about an Englishman who moves to the US with his wife and discovers that his "everyday behavior clashes with American values and gets him into trouble." Hale will play Will, Danny's first American friend, while Letscher will play the boss at a Jamba Juice-type eatery. Elsewhere, John Michael Hill has landed a role on ABC drama pilot 187 Detroit, where he'll play a rookie homicide cop whose wife is expecting a child. British actor Matt Ryan (The Tudors) is said to be in talks about joining the cast of CBS' untitled Criminal Minds spinoff. (Hollywood Reporter)
In other casting news, many actors of cancelled or on-the-bubble series are said to be in particular demand this pilot season. The cast of Ugly Betty--including Eric Mabius, Becki Newton, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, and Ana Ortiz--have been inundated with pilot offers. Additionally, the casts of Lost, Nip/Tuck, Better Off Ted, Scrubs, Dollhouse, 24, and Three Rivers are said to be in demand. (Hollywood Reporter)
TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that an upcoming episode of ABC comedy Modern Family will focus on the real-life fears of the child actors that portray the extended Pritchett clan's kids. (TV Guide Magazine)
Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that NBC will offer a two-hour episode of The Biggest Loser on Tuesday which will go head-to-head with the sixth season premiere of ABC's Lost. "Move pits one of NBC's highest-rated shows against a Lost premiere that has been anticipated for months," writes Levine. "By having the second half of Biggest Loser from 10-11 p.m., net is extending an olive branch to the affiliates who have taken a beating since The Jay Leno Show has been on the air and were instrumental in having scripted programming return at 10 o'clock." (Variety)
TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams talks to Smallville's Justin Hartley about a potential relationship between his Oliver and Allison Mack's Chloe. "Yeah, I think that's in the works," said Hartley about a Oliver-Chloe romance. "I don't know how long it will last or how far they're going to go with it because we haven't shot that much yet, but that's what's going on right now." But don't count out Cassidy Freeman's Tess, either. "She threw a knife at me the other day, so yeah, we're going to be working together," said Hartley. "I think I pissed her off again, so that's always fun. I don't know if they're going to be involved anymore. I would say no, but then at the same time who knows what Oliver's going to do? He's a dirty bird." (TVGuide.com)
SPOILER!Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some details about what the series finale of ABC's Ugly Betty, slated to air in May, will contain. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
VH1 has ordered several series that represent an expansion of their brand. Net ordered eight episodes of reality makeover series Transform Me, in which four transgender women help a woman remake herself from her clothes to her outlook on life. Series, from Left/Right Inc., will launch on March 15th. VH1 ordered seven episodes of Famous Crime Scenes, which will delve into the well-publicized deaths of celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Selena beginning February 12th. The cabler also ordered a week-long strip of primetime specials entitled Undateable, which will explore what guys shouldn't do when dating, from the woman's perspective. It's set to air the week of April 19th. Finally, the cabler acquired MTV Canada reality series Peak Season: Vancouver, following the lives of Whistler ski resort bunnies and workers, which it will debut on February 14th. (Variety)
TBS has given a cast-contingent pilot order to one-hour comedy Glory Daze, about the the 1980s pledges at a Wisconsin college fraternity. Project, from executive producer Walt Becker (Wild Hogs), is written by Becker and Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree); Becker is also attached to direct, should the project officially go ahead to pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)
Stay tuned.
Dying with anticipation for the start of the sixth and final season of Lost? You're not alone.
While the ABC drama series doesn't kick off until Tuesday, you can head over to The Daily Beast now and read my latest piece, "Lost, For the Last Time," Part One of an interview with Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, in which the duo discuss Season Six of Lost, the series' influence on television programming, its legacy, and why viewers shouldn't expect to see every mystery get answered this season.
Part Two of my interview will run on Tuesday, the day that Lost returns for its sixth and final season.
Lost returns February 2nd with a one-hour special at 8 pm ET/PT followed by the two-hour season premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.
Channel Surfing: Theron and Fincher Team Up for HBO's "Mind Hunter," Jennifer Lopez Finds "Mother," ABC Axes "Ugly Betty," and More
Welcome to your (delayed) Thursday morning television briefing.
Charlize Theron (The Road) has teamed up with auteur David Fincher (Zodiac) to develop HBO drama series, Mind Hunter, based on John Douglas and Mark Olshaker's nonfiction book "Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit," about the profiling of serial killers and rapists. Scott Buck (Dexter) will write the pilot, which will be produced by Theron, Fincher, Erwin and Buck and is set up at Fox21. (Variety)
Jennifer Lopez is set to guest star on CBS' How I Met Your Mother in an episode slated to air in March. Lopez will play Anita Appleby, described as "a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to train men into relationship machines through the power of denial," who makes it her mission to train Barney. (Hollywood Reporter)
ABC has officially cancelled Ugly Betty after four seasons. The dramedy, which stars America Ferrera, will wrap up its run this May and producers will have time to arrange to a suitable conclusion for the series, which has seen its ratings drop drastically over the last few seasons. (Televisionary)
Syfy has found its showrunners for the US adaptation of British supernatural drama Being Human: married writers Anna Fricke (The Beautiful Life) and Jeremy Carver (Supernatural) have joined the staff of Being Human as executive producers/showrunners. Series, which has a thirteen-episode commitment from Syfy, is expected to air later this year. (Variety)
E! Online's Jennifer Godwin rounds up the suspects for Season Four of AMC's Mad Men. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)
Martin Henderson (Bride & Prejudice) has been cast in Shonda Rhimes' ABC pilot Off the Map, where he will play one of three doctors working an a remote medical clinic in the tropics. In other pilot news, Alex Graves (Fringe) will direct and executive produce ABC drama pilot The Whole Truth, from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. (Hollywood Reporter)
Elsewhere, FOX has ordered a pilot for an untitled workplace comedy from writer Brent Forrester (The Office), who will executive produce with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and David Nevins. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television, is set in an IRS district office. (Hollywood Reporter)
And ABC Family has ordered ten episodes apiece of two drama projects: weight loss camp drama Huge, from writers Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life) and daughter Savannah Dooley and Alloy Entertainment; and mystery drama Pretty Little Liars, about four former friends who reunite when one of their group goes missing, from Warner Horizon, Alloy Entertainment, and executive producers Marlene King, Leslie Morgenstein, and Bob Levy. (Variety)
TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) will guest star in an upcoming episode of FOX's Bones, where he will play a creepy custodian in a slasher-themed storyline set at Brennan's high school reunion. (TV Guide Magazine)
The CW has ordered two pilots: Nikita, an update of La Femme Nikita that focuses on a replacement after the original Nikita goes rogue, from writer/executive producer Craig Silverstein, executive producers McG and Peter Johnson, and Warner Bros. Television, and an untitled Wyoming-based family drama from writer/executive producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino that will revolve around a family who runs a horse farm in Wyoming. (Variety)
ABC will air a two-hour Bachelor special, The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding, on March 8th. (Hollywood Reporter)
TBS has ordered a pilot script for animated comedy based on feature film The Adventures of Joe Dirt. Project, which revolves around a "mullet-sporting, muscle-car-loving loser with a heart of gold," hails from Sony Pictures Television, Happy Madison, and writer David Spade, who will executive produce with Fred Wolf, Donick Cary, and Doug Robinson. (via press release)
ITV has announced its hire for its top CEO position: former Royal Mail czar Adam Crozier. "ITV is a strong brand with talented people, facing an imperative for change as the media landscape evolves," said ITV chairman Archie Norman in a statement. "Adam is a very strong leader with a great track record in delivering transformational change. He has worked successfully in talent-driven organizations, with government and regulators, and has a thorough understanding of the media, advertising and branding industries." (Variety)
Stay tuned.
Looks like it's curtains for Betty Suarez.
ABC today announced that this will be the final season of Ugly Betty and that the series will wrap up its run this spring.
The series had been placed on life support on Friday nights this season before being given a last chance with a Wednesday night 10 pm ET/PT timeslot as part of the network's comedy block.
"We’ve mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty’s final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion," said ABC in a prepared statement. "We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell."
What do you think of the news? Was it time to bid Betty farewell? Is it good that the producers will have time to wrap up the series' storylines before a final episode?
Discuss.
Nearly three years later, one of the most enduring and popular posts here at Televisionary is an August 2007 post about the theme song for Damages, the VLA's "When I Am Through With You."
In an age where many series--both comedies and dramas--have either eliminated opening title sequences or reduced them to a few quick chords, Damages' breathless credits not only capture the brutal wit of the series but also create a vivid atmosphere of ruthlessness and vengeance.
Besides for some stunning visuals, this is achieved masterfully through the use of the VLA's song ("When I Am Through With You"), which continues to win fans over. (Fans who then come here to determine just who sings this incredibly evocative song.)
Good news then for fans of the VLA and Damages. An email from the band's Jason Rabe has alerted me to the fact that the theme song is now available for purchase on iTunes and can be found here.
If you're lucky, Patty Hewes will send you a $3000 Chanel bag as a thank you.
Season Three of Damages airs Monday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.
I'm still scratching my head over the format changes that happened between the second and third seasons of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK as The Restaurant).
I'm especially heartbroken that the series' producers opted to get rid of the intense and drama-laden Challenge in every other episode. Forcing the three lowest-performing couples to fight for the chance to remain in the competition, the Challenge element offered further opportunities to see these couples' strengths and weaknesses on display as well as see how they coped with added pressure and were able to adapt to constantly changing scenarios.
Losing this competition element means that Last Restaurant Standing has effectively been cut down in size (there are only a handful of episodes this season) and we're already now down to the final four couples. Which is shocking in and of itself as I don't feel like I know any of them particularly well. At this point in other seasons, I had a clear-cut understanding of the couples, their personalities, and their quirks. But here we're at the halfway mark already and more than half of the couples have already been eliminated. Yes, the stakes are high but I don't feel like I'm really along for the ride as much as I was in previous seasons.
Last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Seasonal Ingredient") made me feel this more than any of the previous installments this season. With five couples in the competition, I would have expected to be connecting with them more than I am and I was surprised and shocked to see how several of the teams performed, considering they've already made it halfway to the final round.
The emphasis this time round seems to be more on the individual restaurant concepts and the success or failure of the weekend service than on the myriad challenges, tasks, and tests that Raymond throws at them. This week, the couples were told that they had to prepare local and seasonal fare at sell it at a local farmers market. Easy peasy, really. Not only would it showcase their cooking and concept, but also allow the couples to market themselves directly to the public.
It's this last thing that nearly all of the couples seemed to either forget about or never realize in the first place. Only Stephen and Rebecca brought menus and made a point about pushing bookings at their restaurant, The Front Room, and they singled themselves out by preparing two locally sourced and seasonal items that could be heated and eaten at home. (They wisely also included directions for heating.) It was a simple trick that everyone else seemed to miss out on.
That said, I thought that Chris and Nathan did the best job with the market task, preparing five offerings for the market public and foraging in the forest for wild garlic and elderflower. I thought they did the best job setting up their stall and placing the focus on the locality and seasonality of their offerings, including an elderflower lemonade, wild garlic mayonnaise, and several beautiful-looking savory dishes.
Daisy and Nadine completely missed the point of the assignment, offering up food that was neither local nor captured the essence of their Westernized Nigerian cuisine concept. Yes, the fish was line-caught but it was from Penzance and it lacked any of the heat, spice, or flavor of their restaurant concept. Likewise, JJ and James once again proved their lack of culinary knowledge by offering skewers of beef shin, a tough cut of meat that requires hours of slow braising. Instead, they cooked the beef for a half-hour in the oven and then finished it on a grill to order, rendering the meat chewy and tough. (Poor Sarah struggled to get it down.)
Of course, they all at least showed up at the market. Barney and Badger, after reeling from a cup ordering fiasco, didn't even turn up to serve the soup that Barney cooked because Badger had second thoughts about remaining in the competition and wanted to withdraw. I felt really bad for Barney; this has been the culmination of a dream of his and an extraordinary opportunity to start something new and fresh with his career, outside of the army. For Badger to just decide that he can't do it--after winning Restaurant of the Week--felt like a slap in the face. Yes, he's outside his comfort zone but so are all of them, really. Grr.
Raymond had another surprise for his couples as they discovered upon returning to the restaurants: he had sent over a slew of rabbits and pigeons to be transformed into dinner specials. Once again, Chris amazed me with his innovation, adaptation, and creative vision, transforming the seasonal ingredients into stunning dishes that demonstrated his significant skill. (Sadly, he was let down once again by Nathan in front of house.) I was pleasantly surprised by Stephen and Rebecca's performance this week; he seemed to take on the judges' criticism of the heaviness of his food and offered somewhat lighter fare this week. (Though the terrine was MASSIVE and customers still complained of being too full to order to dessert.)
Elsewhere, Daisy and Nadine once again struggled and JJ again didn't cook anything in the kitchen. To add insult to injury, he only used about a third of the seasonal ingredients that Raymond had sent over, somehow deciding to only offer eight portions of rabbit, despite having about ten of them on hand... and the pigeon they served was terribly overcooked.
Barney and Badger forged ahead, despite Badger's misgivings about remaining in the competition, knocking out a service that was their best yet and which had Raymond praising Barney for the significant improvement week-to-week (and for the deliciousness of his sauces this time around). But it was still too much for Badger and he wanted to withdraw from the competition. Given the fact that they had failed to turn up at the farmers market, Raymond closed their restaurant. I'll admit that I was sad as I felt that Barney had a lot to offer and they were a very strong team. Just a case of a bad partnership where the team members wanted different things. Sad.
But it was Stephen and Rebecca, on the other hand, who had impressed Raymond and the judges. They walked away with Restaurant of the Week, much to the surprise of the other couples. (I had thought it would go to Chris and Nathan but I think the judges are extremely wary of Nathan's less than stellar front of house skills.)
What did you think of this week's episode? Depressed by Badger's decision? Should Raymond have found a way to keep them--or at least Barney--around? Who is the strongest team remaining? Discuss.
Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Cake"), the final four teams get a chance to show off their baking skills when they take bookings from VIP guests with special requests and each group wants to end their evening with a celebratory cake. But first, the couples must cater a tea dance and serve afternoon tea to over a hundred guests.
Channel Surfing: Julianne Moore in Demand, Whedon Talks "Dr. Horrible," Flockhart to Cut Back on "Brothers," "House" Spinoff Possible, and More
Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.
Could Julianne Moore become the lead of the US adaptation of crime series Prime Suspect? If NBC gets their way, she very well could be. Moore is being pursued by NBC for the remake of the Helen Mirren-starring British series as well as ABC to star in another remake: this time Scoundrels, based on Kiwi series Outrageous Fortune. Moore has some competition for the Prime Suspect gig as Maria Bello has also been approached about starring in the remake as well as starring in Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama pilot Chase, which has offers out to Bello, Tea Leoni, and Christina Applegate. Other in-demand stars this pilot season: Matt Dillon, Jason Isaacs, Michael Chiklis, and Josh Lucas. (Hollywood Reporter)
E! Online's Megan Masters has an interview with Joss Whedon, in which the Dr. Horrible creator talks about the possibility of a sequel, directing FOX's Glee, Neil Patrick Harris, and more. "We very much want to do it," Whedon told Masters about Dr. Horrible 2. "We meet, we hammer out stuff, we have songs, we have ideas, we're really working it, but it's a slow-moving train. We're very passionate about it, and Neil's been great... He's always checking in before he takes a gig." As for whether Harris will turn up on Whedon's episode of Glee, nothing has been settled yet, according to Whedon. ("That's something that's trying to be worked out, but I haven't heard whether or not that's going to take place," he admitted. "I hope so, that'd be great, [but] I don't know anything about it. I'm just a director on hire for that.") (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Brothers & Sisters star Calista Flockhart will scale back her workload next season on the ABC drama series but will remain a series regular. News comes on the heels of an announcement that co-star Rob Lowe will depart the series at the end of the season. "A Brothers & Sisters insider confirms that Flockhart’s lighter workload was a contributing factor in Lowe’s decision to flee," writes Ausiello. "The West Wing alum already felt his role on the show had become diminished. The prospect of his TV spouse appearing in fewer episodes would’ve only increased his sense of marginalization." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
While the Michael Weston-centered House spinoff is definitely NOT happening, FOX president Kevin Reilly has indicated to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello that executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs have a "standing offer" to develop another House spin-off. "They have really high standards," Reilly told Ausiello. "These are not guys who commercially are going to chase something just to announce they have a spinoff and then figure out the show later on. They’re probably the most thorough producers... I’ve ever worked with." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
CBS has given a pilot order to hybrid comedy Livin' on a Prayer, from executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas (How I Met Your Mother) and writers Kourtney Kang and Joe Kelly. Project, from 20th Century Fox Television, will follow a Pittsburgh couple who are debating whether to take their relationship to the next level. (Variety)
Elsewhere at CBS, the network ordered three additional pilots: Chaos, about "rogue CIA operatives who combat bureaucratic gridlock, rampant incompetence and political infighting," from executive producer Brett Ratner, Tom Spezialy (Desperate Housewives), and 20th Century Fox Television; an untitled police procedural, from executive producers Ed Redlich (Without a Trace) and John Bellucci, CBS Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television, about a female NYPD detective who has total recall; and legal drama Defenders, from writers Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy and CBS Television Studios, about "two charismatic and fiery Las Vegas defense attorneys who go to the mat for their clients." (Hollywood Reporter)
ABC ordered a pilot for an untitled crime drama from writer Richard Hatem (Miracles) and director Gary Fleder, who will executive produce with Bert Salke and Chris Brancato. Project, from ABC Studios, revolves around a female detective who joins forces with a tarnished former cop to solve crimes "and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground." (Hollywood Reporter)
Over at NBC, the Peacock has given a greenlight to an untitled Conan O'Brien-executive produced drama pilot (formerly known as Justice) about a ex-Supreme Court justice who starts his own legal practice. Project, from writer/executive producer John Eisendrath, hails from Universal Media Studios, where O'Brien's shingle Conaco has a year and a half left on its overall deal. (Variety)
Stan Lee will guest star as himself on the March 1st episode of CBS' The Big Bang Theory. According to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck, Lee will "pop up in [the boys'] favorite comic book shop hangout." (TV Guide Magazine)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has an interview with NCIS: LA executive producer Shane Brennan about the departure of one of the series' lead actors, which will spark an overarching storyline that will play out through the season. "To my mind, particularly in the first season of a show, there is no main cast," Brennan told Ausiello. "The audience is meeting a whole bunch of characters and you get the opportunity to play around with them. I’m a great believer in playing with the audience’s expectations. It’s about making it as different and fresh as often as you can. And I certainly took that approach with this first season… I want them to know that nothing is sacred. And the cast is aware that this is the game I play. No one’s safe." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Not such good news for FX, sadly, as the Season Three launch of serialized drama Damages lured only 1.4 million viewers, down a staggering 17 percent from its second season premiere. However, once DVR numbers are factored in, the series is expected to receive a boost in the ratings and FX has been quick to point out in the past that many viewers often DVR and save multiple episodes to then watch in a marathon-style viewing pattern. Those viewers who watch more than seven days after the broadcast are not included in any ratings reports. (Variety)
Looks like the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore will be returning for a second season, after all. While MTV refused to comment on the contract negotiations, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that MTV has doubled its episodic offer to the stars of the reality series, offering $10,000 an episode. A deal is thought likely to materialize by the end of the week, a relief for the cabler which wishes to get a new season of Jersey Shore on the air this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)
Martha Stewart is moving her eponymous daytime talk show from first-run syndication to cable, echoing the steps that Oprah Winfrey herself is making over the next year. The Martha Stewart Show will move this fall to Hallmark Channel as part of a programming strategy overhaul that will see telepics shift to Hallmark Movie Channel and Hallmark become a destination for lifestyle shows, series acquisitions, and holiday-themed programming. The Martha Stewart Show will air at 10 am Monday through Friday and then be followed by a 90-minute block of other Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia programming. (Variety)
FOX has promoted Shana Waterman and James Oh to VPs of current programming and promoted David Sleven to director. (via press release)
Stay tuned.
Is it just me or is Chuck getting even better each week?
This week's fantastic installment of Chuck ("Chuck Versus First Class"), written by co-creator Chris Fedak, found our typically hapless spy on his very first solo mission, which just so happened to involve swordplay at 35,000 feet, a very large Ring operative (guest star Steve Austin) with a penchant for gut punches, and a gorgeous traveling companion, Hannah (Kristin Kreuk).
It also found Brandon Routh's Shaw stepping up to become the leader of our little band of Los Angeles operatives and making some decisions that fly in the face of Casey and Sarah's logic, while also rendering himself even more of a tragic figure than we had previously thought. Meanwhile, Casey helped Morgan deal with "insurgents" at the Buy More.
In other words: an absolutely fantastic installment that advanced the overarching plot, offered the series' trademark blend of comedy and action, and introduced and deepened some new members of the cast.
So what did I think of the episode? Let's discuss.
It's that last trait that's perhaps the most interesting. His assessment of Chuck and his handlers found that Casey and Sarah protected Chuck more than they did empower him and that if Mr. Bartowski has any chance at becoming a real spy he needs to do more than flash on things and stay in the car. His decision to send Chuck into the field--and not totally briefed about the mission, at that--could have backfired horribly but it was also a true test of Chuck's Intersect-derived abilities and also his ingenuity and reactivity. Would he sink or swim? Can he adapt to new challenges and shifting scenarios?
There were some nice dynamics to Shaw's relationship with Chuck and also with Sarah as well. The underlying theme this season would appear to be the consequences of spy relationships and a nice subplot that had Shaw interrogating Sarah about why she went off the grid during Chuck's time in Prague and was photographed in Lisbon. If anyone understands Sarah's predicament, it's Shaw. We learn, by the episode's end, that his wife Evelyn was killed by a Ring agent five years earlier and gave her life to safeguard some valuable intelligence about the Ring. His sense of loss is palpable but it also gives his life and his mission meaning. Sarah, meanwhile, revealed that she went to Lisbon to dispose of Bryce's ashes, per his wish that they be scattered there. These two are linked by their shared losses, by their knowledge of just what it means to fall in love as a spy and with a spy.
But while Shaw would advise against Sarah becoming emotionally involved with Chuck, Shaw also cares deeply about his asset and, while he's not aboard the plane with Chuck on his solo mission, proves that he's thought this through ahead of time and is able to seize control of the plane's controls in order to assist Chuck.
As for Chuck, I have to say that he did very well indeed on his first solo mission, considering he was a guy who Shaw described as a cross between James Bond and Jerry Lewis. While not everything went according to plan (to wit: the poison pen, hiding in the coffin), Chuck accorded himself quite well this time around. Loved that he didn't get to use the nunchucks but he did get to engage in the world's best fencing match aboard a moving vehicle. Ever. (And, given his distaste for violence, he smartly severed the cords holding the luggage in place and instead knocked his opponent unconscious.)
I also have to say that I'm really enjoying the inclusion of Kristin Kreuk's Hannah thus far. She represents something diametrically opposed to Chuck's life but different than the superspy fantasy of Sarah or Casey: she's a woman who has seen the world, lived in Paris, had an exciting job, and has lost it all. She's looking to regain her footing again. It was no surprise that she ended up at the Buy More at the end of the episode but I'm quite all right with that: it makes sense narratively and I think she'll add another layer of tension within the world of the Buy More. Chuck has gotten a little too complacent there; with Morgan taking over as Assistant Manager, there's less danger in Chuck's workplace life than there should be. Hannah, by the fact that she doesn't really know Chuck, represents a new liability for him as well as a potential romantic interest. I'm excited to see where it's going.
Loved the "insurgents" storyline with Casey becoming Morgan's lieutenant and helping him end mute Lester's reign of terror (or at least stopped the constant pranking). Was extremely surprised by how far (and how seriously) Casey took his assignment, even going so far as to kidnap and brainwash Lester in order to make him fall in line. (BTW, nice footie pyjamas, Lester.)
All in all, another top-notch episode of Chuck that has continues to pay off the promise and potential of Season Three, mixing up its formula and bringing in new and compelling characters while still keeping the focus squarely on the central relationships.
What did you think of this week's episode? Another stellar installment? The best yet? Discuss.
Next week on Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler"), Chuck attempts to juggle his two lives as he trains new Nerd Herder Hannah and gets his very own asset who is caught up with The Ring; Awesome must lie to Ellie when she starts to ask questions about Chuck; Morgan, Jeff, and Lester do some recon work to learn more about Hannah.
Everything is disposable.
That applies, apparently, to mobile phones, $3,000 Chanel handbags, and indeed corpses; everything eventually ends up in the trash to be picked over by modern society's answer to the Victorian rag and bone man: the destitute scavengers of Manhattan, picking through the trash and collecting the refuse into the reusable, the resellable, and the useful.
The lawyers of FX's Damages are no strangers to digging through the trash but last night's third season premiere ("Your Secrets Are Safe"), written by Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman, and Todd A. Kessler and directed by Todd A. Kessler, took this to a whole new level, rendering Season Three's financial scandal storyline into a class-oriented drama that fused together Charles Dickens and David Lynch. (Think of it as "Bleak House" or "Little Dorrit" by way of Mulholland Drive.)
You had the chance to read my advance review of the first two episodes of Season Three of Damages but, now that the first episode has aired, we can begin to discuss specifics of the latest case. (Note: while I've seen the first two installments, I'm keeping my comments restricted to just the season premiere.)
I thought that "Your Secrets Are Safe" was a masterstroke of a season premiere, shuffling the deck and giving us new situations for our core trio of characters, while introducing a new case, a new overarching mystery, and several intriguing story threads to ponder while we wait for the next installment. Roughly a year has passed since the end of Season Two and the characters have all seemingly moved on from the events of the last few years. Ellen's office at Hewes & Associates remains empty though Patty has clearly been unable to fully let go of her protege; Ellen has changed sides and taken a position with the narcotics team at the D.A.'s office; Tom is about to finally get his heart's desire: his name on the wall, beside Patty's.
But this is Damages and things can only remain static for so long. This season's case is clearly meant to evoke the recent Bernie Madoff financial scandal; in this case, it's Wall Street financier Louis Tobin (Len Cariou) who has swindled thousands of investors out of billions of dollars thanks to a Ponzi scheme. Patty Hewes has been appointed by the court to aid in the restitution process and track down any hidden funds following the house arrest of Louis Tobin and the freezing of the family's assets. Ellen isn't working the prosecution side of the case but it's only a matter of time before she's pulled back into the orbit of this case.
Just as in the first two seasons, the producers have created two separate but interlocking storylines that will eventually meet up as the season progresses. In this case, they're set six months apart and, unlike the second season's "I lied too" storyline, this manages to ensnare all three members of the core cast and will have lasting repercussions on the series. A chance car accident involving Patty (as she listens to someone denigrate her on the radio) seems less like a chance as the moments tick by. Just what the incident means and how and why it was orchestrated will provide the season with a strong throughline and a sense of dread.
The Tobins. Here's what we know so far about the Tobin case... On Thanksgiving, Louis Tobin confessed to his family, including his recovering alcoholic son Joe (Campbell Scott) and his wife Marilyn (Lily Tomlin), that his entire business was a house of cards, an elaborate Ponzi scheme that was about to come crashing down around them. After making this confession, he made a phone call to... someone; when Joe attempts to deny Marilyn access to her grandson, she relents and gives him the phone number, which he turns over to Patty. The number belongs to a mobile phone which a certain pivotal homeless man has rescued from the trash. (Hmmm...) Louis is sentenced to house arrest but he's allowed to venture out only to see his attorney, Leonard Winstone (Martin Short). Marilyn is deposed by Patty but claims to have known nothing about her husband's criminal activities and claims that, if Louis hid money anywhere, she doesn't know anything about it. But then Louis tells Joe that there is money "out there." And Joe is in a pretty tough position already; he's attempting to cooperate with Patty and clear his name but she pushes him to assault a plaintiff in the case. Naughty, naughty...
Patty. Interesting that the season should begin with Patty so vivacious and, well, happy. It's a state that the ruthless Patty Hewes is so rarely in, after all, but we glimpse her at her freest: laughing at a restaurant before she's approached by the "sort of architect" Julian Decker (Keith Carradine), who seems to be romantically pursuing her. But Patty's only just concluded her divorce from Phil and she's not ever been one to fall for a cheesy pick-up line or desperate flirtation. But it is clear that Patty's lonely and likely has been since Ellen left.
It's my belief that the only person who ever saw Patty's true self was her protege Ellen... and Patty's inability to truly let go speak volumes about just what's missing in her life. Ellen's office has sat untouched for nearly a year and, despite Patty's insistence that it be cleaned out, she can't help herself but look at and touch Ellen's things. It's a chance to remember, to hold onto the pain and loss. But it's not Ellen's newspaper clippings and photographs that Patty sends on to the District Attorney's office; rather it's a luxurious Chanel bag. A peace offering? A bribe? Or just a gift? It's pretty rare for there to be no strings attached when it comes to Patty Hewes.
Ellen. Ellen seems to have moved on from thoughts of vengeance, either against Patty and against Arthur Frobisher. She's settling into her new job in the D.A.'s office and is doing a cracking job. Working a drug case, she pushes a dealer to flip and become a cooperating witness against a major supplier but she can't quite get him to flip. So when some thugs show up at his place and total his Harley with some baseball bats and he finally flips, her boss is suspicious: did Ellen have anything to do with it?
While I wondered whether Ellen had learned a little too well at Patty's feet, it quickly becomes clear that she had nothing to do with his change of heart. But she did happen to mention her situation to Tom... So did Patty apply a little leverage to the witness? She claims no but Ellen thinks otherwise. Maybe the Chanel bag was just a precursor to her true gift, bestowing praise upon her former associate by having her save the day with this case.
I thought that having Ellen and Patty come face to face again in the ladies' restroom was a stroke of genius, a move that gives the episode a sense of full circle from the pilot. (After all, the first time they met was in a restroom at Ellen's sister's wedding.) Regardless of whether Patty was or wasn't involved in getting Ellen's witness to flip, Ellen makes it clear that Patty doesn't have to play games if she wants to talk to her; she need only pick up the phone. Could relations be thawing? Certainly seems that way.
Tom. Tom, meanwhile, is still slaving away at Hewes & Associates after eleven years of working for Patty. But the fateful day arrives in which he's finally rewarded for his hard work and penchant for morally grey situations: Patty tells him, rather unemotionally, that she wants to put his name on the wall. That it's in the same breath as her command to hire a new associate is just par for the course with Patty. But he's finally gotten what he's always wanted... and, following his piece of good news, he gets in touch with Ellen for a chat that's cut short. Things are going well for Tom, though. And that's never a good thing in the universe of Damages.
Six Months Later. Which brings us to the future storyline, as Patty is involved in an automobile collision in Manhattan. What makes the incident all the more alarming--and indeed odd--is that when Patty staggers out of the car to see if the other driver is injured, there's no one in the driver's seat, though the air bag was deployed... and the passenger door is open. After a trip to the hospital, she meets with Detective Victor Huntley (Tom Noonan), one of my favorite supporting characters on the series. The car's VIN number is run down and found to be registered to none other than Tom Shayes, Patty's newly minted partner. But the apartment that the car was registered to is a squalid hole in the wall. There's no sign of Tom but there are dozens of empty water bottles, a mattress in the corner, hundreds of print outs, and some blood on the wall. A quick check out of the window reveals a familiar-looking homeless man, the same one who answered the number that Louis Tobin called...
And that's not all. Said homeless man has, among many other pieces of detritus, Ellen's Chanel bag--the one Patty gave her six months earlier--and it too has blood on it. Plus, the homeless man can't tell Huntley or his partner where he got the bag, saying only that it was maybe a gift. Worse, right next to his half-constructed shelter, the police have found something else in the dumpster: a body. Tom Shayles' body, in fact.
Just what does it all add to up to? Why did someone try to kill Patty using a car registered to Tom Shayles and a potentially fake address? Why deposit Tom's body behind that apartment in a dumpster? Whose blood is on the wall and on Ellen's bag? And how does this all tie into the Louis Tobin case?
What did you think of the season premiere? Has it hooked your attention? Any theories about what's to come this season on Damages? What did you think of the gorgeous opening montage/recap? Discuss.
Next week on Damages ("The Dog Is Happier Without Her"), Patty Hewes digs deeper into the secrets of the Tobin family; Ellen Parsons provides valuable assistance to Tom Shayes.
I've been raving about British comedy The Inbetweeners, created by Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, for almost a year. (You can read my review of the first three episodes here and my review of the first two seasons here.)
I spent last night at a little gathering in West Hollywood hosted by Iain Morris and his lovely fiancee (congratulations, you two!) for The Inbetweeners' US launch on BBC America last night. Despite having seen the first two episodes about three times already, my wife and I--and the entire party--were rolling on the floor with hysterics as Iain gleefully shouted out the bleeped-out words that had been censored from the American broadcast. (And, believe me, there were many.)
Now that the first two episodes have finally aired Stateside as of last night, I'm curious to know what you thought of the series. Did you find it painfully funny? Did you laugh and cringe in equal measure? Did you feel relieved that you're no longer in your teens? What did you think of the cast and their chemistry? Did you scream at the telly when Simon (Joe Bird) threw up on Carly D'Amato's little brother? (Did you wonder why BBC America haphazardly censored some expressions and not others and wish, as I did, that they just let it air as is?)
And, most importantly, will you tune in again for the next episode?
Talk back here.
This Wednesday on an all-new episode of The Inbetweeners ("Thorpe Park"), the boys take Simon's new car for a spin during an ill-fated trip to Thorpe Park.
Channel Surfing: Forest Whitaker Circling "Criminal Minds," Macaulay Culkin Could Find "Big Love," "Damages" Twist, "Mad Men," "Fringe," and More
Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Forest Whitaker (The Shield) is nearing a deal to come aboard CBS' in-development spin-off of Criminal Minds as the series lead. The spinoff would air as a backdoor pilot as an episode of Criminal Minds this spring. "Whitaker would play Cooper, the new team’s fiercely loyal and intensely private leader," writes Ausiello. "A former star profiler in the BAU, Coop’s been off the grid for the last eight years — leaving only a trail of rumors in his wake." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Macaulay Culkin could be destined for a role on HBO's Big Love next season, should the drama be renewed by the pay cabler. Culkin, who is friends with Golden Globe winner Chloe Sevigny, visited the set recently and spent time with co-creator Will Scheffer. "He watches the show and we can see him fitting into either the compound or the Mormon world," Scheffer told Keck. Scheffer also said that the Culkin could be a part of the series' drive to "expand [the] show's youth franchise" and would "make a great young evangelist." (TV Guide)
Wondering just why the producers of FX's Damages decided to employ that particular plot twist in last night's shocking third season premiere? Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a short interview with creators Todd A. Kessler and Glenn Kessler about the twist (which I won't put here.) But in brief: it ties into what Todd A. Kessler says is "the theme of the entire series being 'What price success?'" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
It seems as though Mad Men's Bryan Batt--who played the closeted Salvatore Romano--won't be heading over to the new agency for Season Four of Mad Men, set to air this summer on AMC. While production is slated to begin on the new season in March, Batt has yet to hear anything from the producers, despite his notification period being up on December 31st. “"e don’t murder people on our show, but for there to be any stakes, there have to be consequences," said executive producer Matthew Weiner. "[Losing Bryan] was a tough moment for the show, but that’s where we are. I know how people felt about Bryan. I obviously love working with him, and he has been an indelible character since the pilot. But I felt it was an expression of the times that he couldn’t work there anymore. It’s the ultimate case of sexual harassment." (TV Guide)
SPOILER! Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some clues about what's coming up on FOX's Fringe as the countdown to the season (and possibly series) finale gets underway. That finale will contain a showdown between John Noble's Walter Bishop and Leonard Nimoy's William Bell. "William and Walter will finally face off in the finale," consulting producer Akiva Goldsman, who is directing the two-part season finale, told Ausiello. "We’re going to be looking very closely into Peter’s [Joshua Jackson] identity, Walter’s choices in the past, and Walter’s choices in the future. And by the end of the season, we’re all going over to the other side." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
CBS has renewed comedy How I Met Your Mother for a sixth season. Move comes on the heels of series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas signing a three-year overall deal with studio 20th Century Fox Television, which will keep them overseeing HIMYM for another three seasons. (Hollywood Reporter)
Elsewhere at the Eye, CBS has renewed reality franchises Survivor and The Amazing Race, with Survivor on track for another two cycles (the series' 21st and 22nd) and Amazing Race to return for a 17th cycle. (Variety)
CBS has handed out pilot orders to two comedy pilots. Multi-camera comedy Hitched, from executive producers Josh Schwartz and Matt Miller (Chuck) and Warner Bros. Television, revolves around a newly married couple in their twenties who are still getting to know one another, while the untitled multi-camera comedy from writer Tad Quill and CBS Television Studios centers on a widower who attempts to get back into the dating world while raising a pre-teen son. Elsewhere, ABC gave a pilot order to superhero drama No Ordinary Family, from writer/executive producers Jon Feldman and Greg Berlanti (Dirty Sexy Money) and ABC Studios, about a family that suddenly discovers they have superpowers. Also at ABC: multi-camera comedy Freshman, about three newly minted members of Congress, from writer/executive producer Greg Malins, executive producer Arianna Huffington, and 20th Century Fox Television; and an untitled multi-camera comedy pilot, from Joe Port, Joe Wiseman and ABC Studios, about siblings trying to come to terms with their parents' divorce. FOX ordered a pilot for legal drama Pleading Guilty, based on Scott Turow's novel, from writer Jason Tracey, director Jon Avnet, and executive producers Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope. (Variety, Hollywood Reporter)
Pilot director alert! Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) will direct FOX drama Midland, about a polygamist in the oil industry. Over at ABC, Jeff Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow) has will direct drama pilot 187 Detroit, about the top homicide division in Detroit. (Hollywood Reporter)
TV Guide's Will Keck talks to Harold Perrineau about his return later this season to ABC's Lost. "I was always open to returning because there was stuff I thought was unresolved," said Perrineau. "I’m hoping we can put Michael to rest in a way we haven’t done so far." (TV Guide)
The CW is developing a spinoff of its supernatural drama Supernatural but the project, entitled Ghostfacers, won't air on linear television but rather online. Project, which revolves around a group of ghost hunters who film their adventures, will run as ten three-minute episodes, at least initially. Ghostfacers--written by A.J. Buckley and Travis Wester and starring Buckley, Wester, Brittany Ishibashi, and Austin Basis--will premiere on TheWB.com and will also run on the CW's website. (Variety)
Syfy has announced that 1.6 million viewers tuned in to Friday's broadcast of the two-hour Caprica pilot while the premiere has already been viewed by "2 million viewers on various distribution platforms including Hulu, Syfy.com, DVD sales, free on demand offerings, Apple and Amazon downloads and film-festival screenings prior to its Syfy debut." (Broadcasting & Cable)
Over at Starz, 553,000 viewers tuned into the launch of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the best series debut numbers in the pay cabler's history, while another 460,000 watched on Encore. (Variety)
ABC Family is said to be close to ordering a pilot for drama Sasha Paley's young-adult novel "Huge," about two girls at a weight-loss camp who fall for the same guy. Project, from Alloy Entertainment and executive producers Leslie Morgenstein and Bob Levy, will be written by My So-Called Life creator Winnie Holzman and her daughter, Savannah Dooley. (Hollywood Reporter)
History has given a series order to Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, in which the comedian will explore "the country, immersing himself in different lifestyles, jobs and hobbies that "celebrate the American experience.'" (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)
FOX's musical game show Don't Forget the Lyrics is returning, but this time to syndication. Twentieth Television has cleared the series, to be hosted by Mark McGrath, on first-run syndication on FOX owned and operated affiliates in the top 10 markets and the series will also be stripped weekdays on VH1. (Variety)
Stay tuned.
At its core, HBO's family drama Big Love has been about the often complex and always complicated interpersonal relationships that we encounter in our lives: the bonds between family, spouses, lovers, the pangs of unrequited love, the enmity between rivals. In other words: the series is a microcosm through which we can explore our own relationships, a rubric for understanding the Gordian knot of love and hate between ourselves and others and, often, the conflicting natures within our very being.
This week's episode of Big Love ("Strange Bedfellows"), written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Adam Davidson, found the Henricksons separated in more ways than one. While Bill headed to Washington D.C. with Nicki and Cara Lynn, Barb and Sarah's efforts to spend some time together resulted in a car accident involving a young woman on the reservation and Margene gave into temptation, a subconscious action that will likely have lasting repercussions for several of the characters.
It was this fateful moment between Margene and Ben as well as parallel storylines involving Alby and his secret lover Dale (the newly appointed state trustee on the UEB board), Barb and Sarah, and Nicki and Cara Lynn that gave the episode its emotional resonance. Is it sinful to be imperfect or is it the greater sin to give into your imperfect nature? In other words: can we help who we are or are we doomed to give into our impulses?
Bill. I'm glad to see that Bill attempted to reconcile his relationship with Nicki but his plans for rekindling their relationship were derailed by Nicki, who brought Cara-Lynn along for the weekend. I had almost written off Bill and Nicki's marriage as irreparably damaged but Bill seems to be making an effort to get things back on track, even if he doesn't quite realize just how unhappy Nicki is. Her betrayals last season, both with Ray Henry and with her efforts not to get pregnant, speak to larger issues within their marriage that can't be solved with a weekend getaway to D.C. or some sexy bottomless lingerie.
For a man with three wives, Bill still isn't the the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to women. In addition to misreading Nicki's signals, he botches an important liaison when he meets Marilyn (the fantastic Sissy Spacek, here a strawberry blonde spitfire), a key Washington lobbyist who holds the keys to accessing an endorsement from a prominent Utah Congressman. Mistaking her for an assistant, Bill berates Marilyn for making him wait in the lobby and then blows an opportunity to get a ticket to a fundraiser where Congressman Paley (Perry King) would be. Marilyn isn't one to be charmed by Bill's aw-shucks attitude nor his slightly chauvinistic view of women in the workplace... and she manages to block his access to the Congressman at several turns. But it's not Bill who manages to undo his actions.
Nicki. We've long known that Nicki has a manipulative streak that can't be controlled but in this episode she actually applies those traits to something positive: namely, winning over Marilyn and convincing her that she needs to help Bill. While Nicki believes that she's won the lobbyist over by talking up Bill's strengths, it's really the mention of the Indian gaming casino that sparks Marilyn's attention. Still, Bill wouldn't have gotten to the Congressman if it hadn't been for Nicki's interference...
But while she saves the day here with a Hail Mary, Nicki isn't exactly known for her judgment, such as her decision to bring a concealed weapon with her to Washington "for protection." (She truly is her father's daughter.) As soon as Nicki pulled out that firearm, which she checked separately on the plane, I knew that it would come back to haunt her. I just never expected that it would be Cara Lynn who would (metaphorically) pull that trigger.
It's their estranged relationship that provides one of the best illustration of what I was discussing earlier. Nicki's main character trait is her manipulative nature; she can't help who she is but she can choose whether or not to give into her nature... or to use her powers for good, as she does with Marilyn. But Cara Lynn has inherited her mother's nature: she's devilishly manipulative. Despite her agreement with Nicki, Cara Lynn doesn't tell JJ that Nicki and Bill are taking her Washington because she knew he wouldn't agree to it; rather, she lets Bill and Nicki receive the irate wrath of her father rather than stand up to him herself. (That wrath includes a surprise and rather menacing visit at Margene's house.)
Likewise, angry that Nicki forced her to wait downstairs in the lobby for so long, Cara Lynn brings up Nicki's abandonment of her as a baby. When Nicki attempts to explain, Cara Lynn storms off, leading to a tantrum in which Cara Lynn tells the security guard that Nicki has a gun. A classic Nicki move, really. Cara Lynn might pretend to be sweet and naive but she has as much of a gift for emotional subterfuge as her mother. It's in her nature, really... and as much as Nicki might want her daughter to turn out differently, they might be doomed to the same fate.
JJ. Understandably furious at learning that his daughter has been flown across the country without his consent, JJ flies off the handle and confronts Margene, who is home with the Henrickson kids and Jodean. His threatening manner and anger recall Alby during Season Two of Big Love, a shadow forcing its way through the cracks in the Henrickson home.
But despite his anger toward Bill and Nicki, JJ has bigger plans that involve Wanda and Joey and he manages to convince them that the authorities are suspicious about Roman's death and intend to exhume his corpse. Knowing that Roman has his DNA under his fingernails, Joey panics and digs up Roman's body himself... while JJ's cancer-stricken wife Malinda watches nearby. (If this whole scheme weren't creepy enough, we learn that it's JJ who is acting as Malinda's physician, performing her blood transfusions and biopsies himself.)
Alby. Alby's twisted relationship with Dale got even more complicated this week as they continued to give into their mutual attraction to one another, both at the compound offices and in a hotel room. Despite his hunger for Dale, Alby maintains that he is not gay but just "likes fooling around." Dale, however, believes that his homosexuality is a test from Heavenly Father and that he must try not to give into his base desires, knowing that same-sex attraction doesn't exist within the celestial kingdom and is only limited to their time on Earth. The sin, he says, isn't being gay, which is in their nature, but in giving into those feelings.
While it's clear that Dale is falling for Alby despite his efforts to remain pure (loved the scene where he asked about his facial scar, the result of his aborted attempt on Adaleen's life last season), I can't help but question Alby's devotion to his lover. The fact that he snapped a photo of them naked in bed together raises some looming issues: Alby can now hold this proof of their relationship over Dale's head if he needs to should the state trustee go against his authority down the line.
However, Dale now has something over Alby as well: he knows that the UEB has spent $100 million of the trust in building a top secret satellite compound in Kansas. It's this compound that JJ alluded to when he urged Nicki to make sure Bill doesn't start poking his nose into Kansas. But just what is going on there? Why is Malinda in such a rush to return. Hmmm...
And then there's the little matter of Roman's spirit hovering over the action, manifested all the more three-dimensionally by Alby, who appears to have absorbed Roman into his subconscious, hearing the hateful sting of his scorn following his night with Dale. As he dresses in his Temple garment, Alby pictures his father sitting in an armchair, watching him, judging him, loathing him. Yes, things just got a hell of a lot more insidious...
Jodean. I was so happy to see Mireille Enos return this season as the sullen Jodean Marquart. Still reeling from her sister Kathy's death, Jodean seems to have nothing to live for and exists firmly under her husband Frank's thumb. But there are signs of a friendship blossoming between her and Margene, one that I hope continues to be explored. The palpable sense of relief and comfort that washed over Jodean when she and Margene embraced spoke volumes about the isolation and loneliness she feels now that her twin is dead. Sad and touching.
Barb and Sarah. Barb and Sarah's efforts at reconciliation didn't so much as hit a wall as they did a woman... meth trafficker Leila Stilwell (Frozen River's Misty Upham). After Barb's sensitivity seminar crashed and burned (loved that woman's fiery reply to Barb's insistence to tell her how she really felt), the mother and daughter got their own taste of racial sensitivity training. Despite Tommy's insistence to let them handle this issue, both Barb and Sarah return to the reservation to check on Leila and get sucked into the drama without really having an understanding of the underlying issues. Tommy tells Barb that Leila is a mule bringing meth onto the reservation from Canada and that the tribe has a strict policy about meth: houses used to store it are razed and traffickers are banished. That Barb would offer Leila an inroads to the casino is mindboggling to him; they are trying to keep meth as far away from the casino as possible.
But it's too late for Sarah, who feels some personal responsibility for Leila. Besides for giving her money at the clinic, she returns to the reservation and is seen at Leila's house looking after Leila's baby. Considering her own brush with motherhood last season (and her eventual miscarriage), I'm concerned about Sarah's involvement with Leila, especially if there are drugs involved. Sarah is in way over her head but doesn't quite realize it yet...
Margene. She's not the only one in over her head, though. After everyone bailed on showing up to the television station to support Margene's primetime appearance, she's ecstatic to see Ben show up for offer some emotional support... especially after he came to her rescue earlier with JJ. She's so happy in fact that she gives into the seething sexual tension that has existed between them since the start of the series and they share a kiss.
Margene is horrified by what she has done and immediately realizes that she has made a huge mistake, but that mistake is compounded when Ben is identified on television as Margene's husband while Barb watches in shock. This storyline has been four seasons in the making and I'm glad to see that Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer are delving into this plot headfirst. I only wonder just what the fallout will be from this illicit kiss, a move that both surprised and shocked Margene. Has she crossed a line that can't be uncrossed? Will her actions further splinter the already fragile Henrickson clan?
All in all, another fantastic installment of Big Love that doled out some tantalizing tidbits about this season's many mysteries, amped up the tension, and kept the characters questioning their true selves. Next Sunday can't come quickly enough...
Next week on Big Love ("The Mighty and the Strong"), an audit uncovers insurance discrepancies at Home Plus, forcing Bill to take drastic steps to protect his secrets and save his candidacy; J.J. approaches Alby with a potential solution on how to dispose of a “flock cast adrift,” flummoxing Nicki; Sarah gets a taste of motherhood, albeit with someone else’s child; Bill decides that a change of scenery might be best for Ben.
