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Showing posts with the label Nurse Jackie

AFI Announces Their Official Selections for TV Programs of the Year

Yesterday, American Film Institute announced their official selections for the programs of the year for 2009. I'm happy that the esteemed board--which included The Chicago Tribune 's Maureen Ryan, TV Guide Magazine 's Matt Roush, Variety 's Brian Lowry, actor CCH Pounder ( The Shield ), and writer/producer David Milch ( Deadwood )--chose to recognize several series that don't get nearly as much love from critics and audiences as they should. Along with noteworthy freshman series like Modern Family and Glee (both of which I expected would end up on the list) and the always sterling Mad Men , the panel selected such unexpected entries like HBO's lyrical mystery series No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency , Starz's breakout ensemble comedy Party Down , HBO's groundbreaking (and sadly often overlooked) drama series Big Love (which had its best season yet earlier this year), saved-from-cancellation drama Friday Night Lights , and Showtime's sensational m

Channel Surfing: Michael Trucco "Facing Kate," "Desperate Housewives" Gets FlashForward, Showtime Announces Series Returns, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. Former Battlestar Galactica star Michael Trucco has been cast in USA drama pilot Facing Kate , where he will play the charismatic ex-husband to Kate, a former lawyer (Sarah Shahi) who leaves her job to become a mediator after the death of her father. Also cast: Virginia Williams ( Lie to Me ), who will play Kate's younger stepmother, a domineering woman who is desperate to hold onto her late husband's law firm. Bronwen Hughes will direct the pilot, which hails from Universal Cable Prods. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Desperate Housewives will offer a flashforward of sorts in their first episode after the December 6th cliffhanger that will explore several "what if" scenarios. "Two Wisterians featured prominently in the alternate reality sequences will be Gaby and Carlos’ youngest daughter, Celia, and Mike and Susan’s son, MJ," writes Ausiello. "I

Life of Riley: Honesty Is (Not) The Best Policy on "Nurse Jackie"

It was inevitable that the double-life that Jackie Peyton strove so hard to create for herself would come crashing down around her eventually. And so it would appear to have done so on the gripping and profound season finale of Showtime's exquisite dark comedy Nurse Jackie ("Health Care and Cinema") as Jackie (Edie Falco) was startlingly slammed out of her reverie and into reality. Written by Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem, the season finale saw Jackie's lover Eddie (Paul Schulze) find out about her husband Kevin (Dominic Fumusa) and cause a scene at the hospital, forcing Jackie to sink lower than we've ever seen her before. Throughout the complex and lyrical first season of this unique and beautiful series, Edie Falco has brought a rich humanity to the role of the deeply flawed Jackie Peyton, a woman who tries so hard to do right by her patients but often does more harm than good to herself and those around her. It was only a matter of time before one of the men i

Channel Surfing: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Ascends to "Thrones," FOX Breaks in with Olmstead and Santora, Edie Falco Talks "Nurse Jackie," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Virtuality star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has been cast in the pilot for fantasy drama Game of Thrones , HBO's adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novel series. Coster-Waldau will play Jaime Lannister, described by The Hollywood Reporter 's James Hibberd as "one of the king's guards and a ruthless usurper of the previous king." Also cast in the Tom McCarthy-directed pilot: Tamzin Merchant ( The Tudors ), Richard Madden ( Hope Springs ), Iain Glen ( Into the Storm ), Alfie Allen ( The Other Boleyn Girl ), Sophie Turner ( Doctor Who ), and Maisie Williams, all of whom join the previously announced Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Jennifer Ehle, Kit Harrington, Harry Lloyd, Peter Dinklage, and Jack Gleeson. Production begins this October in Ireland. ( Hollywood Reporter ) FOX has handed out a pilot script order with penalty to drama Break Out Kings , from 20th Century Fox Television and Prison Break writer/producers Matt Olms

Channel Surfing: David Anders Clocks in for "24," ABC Developing "Time Traveler's Wife" Series, Matt Lauria to Shine "Lights," and More

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. David Anders ( Alias, Heroes ) has been cast in a recurring role on Day Eight of FOX's 24 and Zap2It's Rick Porter has managed to obtain some further information about Anders' villainous character. Anders, who is slated to appear in a handful of episodes next season, will play Josef Bazhaev, the son of an Eastern European mobster, who is described in casting breakdowns as being the "heir apparent to an Eastern Promises -style godfather. Josef is a dangerous man but is cautious and worries about things more than his father." ( Zap2It ) Just a few days after the opening of feature film The Time Traveler's Wife , ABC has announced that it is teaming up with Friends creator Marta Kaufman and Warner Bros. Television to develop a drama series based around the film (itself an adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel). Kaufman will write the pilot script and executive produce. "ABC executives believe the

Channel Surfing: Richardson to Reign on "Tudors," Ty Pennington on "Great British Adventure" for ABC, Jamie-Lynn Sigler Gets "Ugly," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Entertainment Weekly 's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Nip/Tuck 's Joely Richardson has been cast in the fourth and final season of Showtime's The Tudors , where she would play King Henry VIII's final wife, Katherine Parr. The Tudors is set to return in Spring 2010 and Showtime would not comment on the casting. ( Entertainment Weekly 's Ausiello Files ) In a first, British channel UKTV has sold lifestyle special Ty's Great British Adventure to ABC. Special, which will air Sunday, August 2nd at 8 pm on ABC, features Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 's Ty Pennington transforming the rundown Cornish beach down of Portreath, including commissioning a children's park, a sports shop, and walking routes, along with other improvements. ( Broadcast ) Jamie-Lynn Sigler ( The Sopranos ) has joined the cast of ABC's Ugly Betty , where she will recur as Natalie, Daniel Meade's new assistant who is des

Paging Jackie Peyton: Showtime Renews "Nurse Jackie" for Second Season!

It's as simple as drawing blood. Just a day after airing the season premiere of new comedy Nurse Jackie , pay cabler Showtime has renewed the Edie Falco-led series for a second season. The news about the second season pickup of the series, produced by Lionsgate Television, was broken by TVWeek.com's Josef Adalian , who reported that " Jackie earned the best premiere ratings for any Showtime debut since 2004, when Nielsen changed the way it computed premium cable average. The Falco comedy attracted 1.35 million viewers in its two combined Monday runs, according to the ratings company." In other words: wowsers. If you couldn't tell from my glowing reviews of Nurse Jackie (and, oh, here ), I'm already madly in love with this beautiful and hysterical series and am pleased as punch that Showtime would give the series such a ringing endorsement by picking it up for a second year so soon after launching it. Something very happily tells me we'll be hanging out w

Talk Back: Showtime's "Nurse Jackie"

"I don't like chatty. Quiet and mean; those are my people." - Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) I've been spreading the word the past few weeks about the beauty and grace (not to mention dark humor) of Showtime's comedy series Nurse Jackie , which finally premiered last night. You've read both my advance reviews of the first two episodes of Nurse Jackie AND the first six episodes as well but now that the premiere episode has aired, I'm curious to hear what you thought of this series. Did you fall head over heels in love with this series as much as I did? Are you rooting for Edie Falco's deeply flawed Jackie Peyton? Did you love the supporting cast? Are you entranced by Jackie's world? Were you surprised by the ending in which she returns home to her husband (!) and kids (!!!)? Did you gasp when she flushed that psychotic diplomat's ear down the toilet? And, most importantly, do you plan to watch Nurse Jackie again next week? Talk back here.

Nightingale Syndrome: An Advance Review of the First Six Episodes of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie"

I think I'm in love. Back in early May, I had reviewed the first two episodes of Showtime's addictive dark comedy series Nurse Jackie , starring Edie Falco, and waxed ecstatic about the brilliance and humanity of the series' opening installments. Since then, I've had the opportunity to watch the first six episodes of this emotionally resonant and bleakly hysterical series. It's rare to be captivated by the very first minutes of a new series but it's a deft feat that Nurse Jackie not only manages to do so but, once it's grabbed onto you, it never lets go. The energy and drive of the opening episode continues throughout the first half of the series' first season run. And what a run it is so far. In the hands of the supremely talented Edie Falco, Jackie Peyton is a brutally flawed individual, a woman whose sole purpose in life is to provide care for her patients but lacks the gentle discipline to do so for herself. And yet despite--or because of--those fla

Nurse Made: An Advance Review of the First Two Episodes of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie"

"I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results." - Florence Nightingale Every once in a while a television series comes along in which it's impossible to imagine the lead being played by anyone other than the actor in question. Showtime's gripping and darkly hilarious Nurse Jackie , which launches next month, is the perfect example of this. Edie Falco ( The Sopranos ) is so pitch perfect as the deeply flawed Jackie Peyton, a strong-willed and caustic ER nurse at Manhattan's All Saints Hospital who has no compunction about arguing with the know-it-all doctors... or of snorting some Vicodin in order to help her push past the pain of her busted back. In the gifted hands of Falco, it's inconceivable to imagine that Jackie Peyton isn't a real person, so totally does Falco embody the role. Created by Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem, and Evan Dunsky, Nurse Jackie is midnight-dark comedy at its ver

Showtime Supplies "Weeds" with Two More Seasons; Orders Edie Falco Comedy

Speaking Friday at the Television Critics Association, Showtime made a host of programming announcements, the most salient of which is its renewal of its Mary-Louise Parker dark comedy series Weeds , and handed out some series orders. The pay cabler has renewed Weeds for two additional seasons of 13 episodes a piece. Which means that the series will air its fifth and sixth seasons--which follow the misadventures of suburban pot-dealing mom Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her eccentric associates and family members--in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Weeds is currently airing its fourth season on Monday nights at 10 pm ET/PT. Showtime handed out series honors to the untitled Edie Falco comedy pilot, which will now officially be known as Nurse Jackie . (The name follows a series of name changes over the last few years for this long-dormant project, including Nurse Jenna, Nurse Mona , and Nurse Helen .) Edie Falco will star in the half-hour comedy series about a tough-as-nails Manhattan nurse who