Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2008 > February
February 2008
Can tiny footballs save ‘FNL?’
Not knowing is better than knowing bad news, but seriously, the suspense over the future life or death of “Friday Night Lights”has become excruciating.
To ease the tension, ardent fans are on the march, hoping to force NBC to give “Lights” a chance. Some 40,000 pounds of peanuts saved CBS’s “Jericho,” but will thousands of plastic footballs do the trick for “Lights?”
That’s the goal of the official rescue Web site, www.SaveFridayNightLights.tv, which urges supporters to swamp the office of NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman with petitions and, yep, little toy footballs. As of mid-February, about 7,000 mini-footballs had been tossed the waffling execs way.
VH1’s “Best Week Ever” also has an online petition drive to keep “Lights” on — www.bestweekever.tv/category/save-friday-night-lights.
Rescue missions have had mixed results in the past. Decades ago (1984 to be exact) fans saved CBS’s cop drama “Cagney & Lacey” with a massive letter-writing campaign, but viewers’ attempts to save NBC’s quirky comedy “Freaks and Geeks” and Fox’s offbeat sitcom “Arrested Development” flopped.
Officially, “FNL” is finished with its second season and waiting to hear about a third. The production shut down in early December, and the 15th episode aired Feb. 8. The three-month strike by the Writers Guild of America cut short the series’ 22-episode order.
Will we ever know if Jason Street becomes a daddy, if Matt gets over his broken heart, if Riggins finally brings Lyla back to him, of Coach and Tami find time for themselves? We’ve been left hanging, and it’s not fair.
Ratings ooched up slightly (from 5.9 million viewers to 6.2 million) in the just-ended season, but that may not be enough.
Critics drooled over the drama when it debuted, and NBC executives initially touted the show as one of the network’s finest accomplishments. But Silverman has been slightly less enthusiastic.
Trade publications such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter have reported variously that “Lights” will be saved, that it will be moved from NBC to one of the network’s cable networks (Bravo or USA) and that the game is over. More recently we’ve heard that NBC is mulling its options and may not make a decision until May, when the networks announce their fall schedules.
In the meantime, e-mails, petitions and tiny footballs just might tilt the decision toward a return to Dillon. We might as well toss a Hail Mary.
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Austin actor McKenzie campaigns for Obama
Traveling with actress Kerry Washington (“Ray,” “The Fantastic Four”), McKenzie and Washington hosted a rally Thursday morning at 9:30 at Southwestern University in Georgetown, galloped over to Huston-Tillotson University for another rally at 12:30 p.m. and then will dash to yet another gathering for St. Edward’s University at Opal Divine’s on South Congress Avenue.
The busy day will conclude at the University of Texas with a 5 p.m. rally at Dobie Mall.
On Friday, McKenzie and Washington will continue their sweep of colleges in Central and South Texas, heading to Houston for gatherings at Texas Southern and Rice, swinging up through College Station to A&M and returning to Austin for a quick respite.
On Saturday, the duo hits the road again for San Antonio to visit Trinity and UT-San Antonio.
“This is my first time stumping for Senator Obama,” McKenzie said. “There’s a ton of energy right now behind him. I think he’s got a great shot, especially among young people.”
By the way, McKenzie has a role in a new Al Pacino movie, “88 Minutes,” which was filmed last year and is due in theaters in April. Like most actors, McKenzie’s career path hit a bump when the writers’ strike brought Hollywood to its knees for three months.
“What’s next is a little unclear, but we’re getting back into the swing of things,” he said.
Image from Fox Broadcasting
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Tim Russert annoys on MSNBC’s debate
Somebody needs to tell Tim Russert that it’s not all about him. Oh, OK. Let me be the one …
During last night’s Democratic debate on MSNBC, Russert was beyond obnoxious. I know he thinks he’s just being a tough journalist, boring into the candidates with long-winded questions and barking, bug-eyed follow-ups. But really, he’s just being rude.
At least he didn’t play favorites. Russert was equally nasty to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But he did seem to get under Clinton’s skin more than Obama’s.
The format for MSNBC’s Ohio grilling was awkward at best. Anchor Brian Williams and Russert were on one side of an enormous table, with Clinton and Obama on the other side seated about 4 inches apart. The audience was somewhere out in the darkness, off-camera, and apparently warned, under penalty of waterboarding, not to utter a peep until the end. The silence was deafening.
Russert and Williams were armed with “gotcha” questions, dramatized by video clips. Did the Clinton campaign send those photos of Obama in Somali Muslim garb to The Drudge Report? Was the Obama campaign engaging in Karl Rove tactics with those mailers stating that Clinton’s health-care policy would force citizens to pay for insurance whether they could afford it or not?
The whole debate was more of a joint Q&A than an actual debate, but at least both MSNBC and CNN in recent debates have stopped using 60-second buzzers. Candidates can actually finish a thought, on some occasions, before the reporter or opponent interrupts.
But Russert’s blow-hard aggressiveness comes across as counter-productive. People are not tuning in to watch him puff up, turn red and ask questions that are longer than the answers. And they’re not rooting for him to provoke angry or inappropriate responses. If we wanted that, we’d be clamoring for Bill O’Reilly and Chris Matthews to host a smackdown debate.
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NBC’s web-to-TV show ‘Quarterlife’ debuts
As anyone who has ever dyed their hair purple on a whim knows that new and different isn’t always cutting-edge and fabulous.
So what exactly is NBC’s “Quarterlife,” an hour-long show that started life in seven- to nine-minute “webisodes” on MySpace? Hard to say. The format is certainly innovative, but the on-air product really is just a bunch of cheap-looking videos with bad lighting masquerading as an hourlong drama. Six webisodes set to soul-searching music do not a TV drama make — at least not here.
The main reason there is buzz around “Quarterlife”, which arrives tonight at 9 and then moves to 8 p.m. Sundays, is that it comes from the dynamic duo of Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, creators of the legendarily hip “thirtysomething” and “Once and Again.”
It’s also noteworthy because it is among the first prime-time series to start life on the Internet and then move to TV, which is the opposite route shows have been taking.
Herskovitz and Zwick surely could have gotten an on-air deal for their show, which focuses on troubled, whining pretty people who are just out of college and not yet thirtysomething. As the title implies, the cool half-dozen are twentysomethings, but that title would be too derivative.
Dylan (played Bitsie Tulloch, one of the many totally unknown actors in the cast), is our androgynous lead character. She shares her inner-most angst and self-absorption in a video blog that she also uses to reveal her friends’ inner lives. These allegedly cool folk fret about life, profession and the pursuit of sex. Yawn.
Would “Quarterlife” have made the leap from Internet to NBC if it weren’t for the writers’ strike? Maybe, but probably not. Web shows that hope to find a home on big-screen TV are going to have to spend more than $20 for decent lighting to avoid looking ridiculous.
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Oscars: Jon Stewart, yes. Best songs, no-no!
A few random thoughts on last night’s Academy Awards … (For real coverage, check out all of our movie-and-fashion live blogs on Austin360.com.)
Jon Stewart rocks! Smart, quick-witted but careful not to be too cutting, the “Daily Show” anchor brought much-needed levity and intelligence to the always bloated back-patting extravaganza.
A relatively brisk 3 hours and 45 minutes, the ABC telecast would have benefited from handing out at least one acting award before the second hour. In the past, the supporting actor statues have been bestowed relatively quickly, but the top of last night’sshow was instead loaded with technical and production stuff.
The mood was surprisingly subdued, considering this was supposed to be a celebratory glamour-fest on the (high) heels of the just-settled writers’ strike. Brightly-colored couture notwithstanding, the Oscars lacked the sparkle I expected.
Loved the clips of previous 79 best picture winners. Oddly enough, I always look forward to the quick-moving obituaries — even though more than half of the deceased are agents and sound mixers I’ve never heard of before.
As always, the biggest complaint — from me as well as hordes of viewers — is the interminable length of the show. This year wasn’t nearly as bad as the 4-hour, 30-minute telecasts we’ve been subjected to in the past. (You’d think ABC wouldn’t want to go past midnight on the East Coast, wouldn’t you?).
But there’s still room for whittling, and here’s my suggestion: Cut those darn best-song performances. The music is generally awful, the production numbers can be excruciating and apparently songs haven’t been a big deal for movies in years. Maybe not since “The Titanic.” Anyway, cut the performances and just read out the titles with little clips like they use for other nominations.
By the way, Barbara Walters’ choices for her pre-Oscar interview show were curious: Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Williams, Harrison Ford and Ellen Page. Among the four, only Page had anything to do with the Academy Awards. Maybe Baba doesn’t have the magic Rolodex she used to have.
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CNN’s Austin debate: A really big show
“American Idol?” What “American Idol?” Four contestants were sent packing, but I, an admitted and unrepentant fan of the show, didn’t watch last night’s pivotal results episode. (But I can catch up, courtesy of our “Idol Chatter” blogger Gary Dinges.
I was glued to the Democratic debate on CNN — you know, that little event that has consumed Austin’s political elite and shut down streets for days. Beamed live from the University of Texas campus, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama went toe to toe for the 19th time, and although nothing Earth-shattering happened, it was must-see TV anyway.
CNN host Campbell Brown seemed to realize early on that she wasn’t going to be in control, so instead of battling the participants at every turn, she just let the flow go. Clinton and Obama stayed on health care for what seemed like hours (but really was only about 20 minutes, while questioners CNN’s John King and Univision’s Jorge Ramos tried to move them in a different direction.
This was the first of the televised debates I’ve seen (I’ve seen most but not all) in which the audience actually booed. That came when Clinton accused Obama of plagiarizing lines from Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts — who happens to be a friend of Obama’s AND a co-chairman of his campaign. The line was a poor attempt at sarcasm and fell flat: “That’s not change you can believe in; that’s change you can Xerox,” Clinton said to a chorus of boos.
The two kissed and made up before the debate was over, with Clinton insisting she was “honored to be here with Barack Obama,” Obama patting her on the back and shaking her hand and the crowd leaping to its feet and cheering lustily.
Post-debate analysis followed on CNN, with Anderson Cooper taking charge, and Keith Olbermann running the ship at MSNBC. Cooper focused on regular CNN talking heads Gloria Borger, David Gergen, Jeffrey Toobin and Donna Brazile. Olbermann pulled in various campaign spokesmen from the “spin room” at the debate venue. What a deafening mess that must have been!
The media hordes likely will stick around for a whole. Although Clinton is gone, daughter Chelsea has an event this morning, and Obama is revving up for a big ol’ rally at the Capitol tonight. There may be fewer gigantic satellite trucks around (KVUE’s Christine Haas last night reported seeing one from Belgium, for crying out loud!), but traffic will continue to be a mess anywhere north of Lady Bird Lake and south of the UT Tower.
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Debate in Austin: Media hordes have arrived!
Austin is the center of the political universe — at least for this particular day. And night.
You want proof? Try driving anywhere near the University of Texas campus between San Jacinto Boulevard and 21st Street … or pretty much anywhere near the Recreational Sports Center, where tonight’s Democratic presidential debate will take place. It’s a zoo out there!
As evidence of the importance of this showdown between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, 25 gigantic satellite trucks were lined up before noon. More are expected, lots more.
By 5 o’clock this afternoon, reporters will be shouting their “live from Austin” standups outside the Rec Center in anticipation of the 7 p.m. debate. And they’ll be lining up again with updates for each station’s 6 and 10 p.m. news. Some may even hang around until tomorrow for reactions and updates.
I took this “eyewitness” tour of the media camp before noon because the streets will be closed by 1 p.m. The reporting hordes have come from all across Texas, the United States and the world. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox network news crews are here, along with network affiliates from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. There was even a truck with the CW logo on it — who knew they had news?
All the Austin stations’ trucks are out there — KVUE, KTBC, KEYE, KXAN and News 8 Austin. They must have arrived at the crack of dawn, because they’re all in choice locations.
CNN and Univision, the news networks sponsoring and airing the debate, figure prominently in the crush.
And this being the age when everyone is looking for a way to cut costs, there are plenty of satellite-trucks-for-hire scattered around, beaming footage to dozens (if not hundreds) of stations around the country. Parked next to the Dallas Fox truck was Peak Uplink, serving whoever paid for the service. Other providers-for-hire (as of noon) included Sat-Link and Global Services.
None of the Big Three network anchors will be anchoring from Austin tonight, but reports about the debate will be featured prominently on tonight and tomorrow night’s news. ABC’s Kate Snow and David Wright will be roaming the venue, as will CBS’ Jim Axelrod.
Lots of other media stars will be here, too, so if you’re a media groupie, bring your cell-phone camera and stroll past — but don’t try to drive and park. And for heaven’s sake, don’t try to crash the debate. Secret Service and other security are everywhere.
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Note to Sen. Watson: Next time prepare!
State Sen. Kirk Watson fizzled and swooned on MSNBC last night when Chris Matthews asked him to name “just one” of Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments.
After a bit of dead air and some stammering, it became abundantly clear that Watson was not going to be able to answer the question. Ouch! It was mortifying, and if you think I’m exaggerating, see for yourself.
Austin politicians and pundits are bound to be lured into the national media’s red glare as we close in on the all-important Texas primary on March 4. And cable newsies will be all over Austin tomorrow (Thursday) for the Democratic debate on CNN and Univision.
It’s too late to offer my services to Sen. Watson, but here’s my professional advice, based on a couple of decades of watching similar meltdowns, to anyone else who agrees to go on national television and tout a candidate.
Know the topic to be discussed. Watson is an Obama supporter, so he knew that Matthews would be asking him about Obama. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that you ought to know a few positive facts and accomplishments about the candidate you’re touting. Obama 101.
Also, know that satellite interviews, in which the person being questioned is talking to a camera instead of a face, are the hardest to pull off gracefully. The unseen questioner is babbling into your earpiece, and unless you’re sitting in a studio, background noise makes hearing difficult to impossible. Result: you just might look ridiculous.
If you have any doubt about your ability to handle the situation, don’t do it. You can wind up doing more harm than good. Nobody wants to watch a human being imitating a deer in the headlights. Hillary Clinton’s folks have been burning up the Internet with last night’s clip of Watson unable to cough up a single Obama accomplishment.
I’m sure Watson had a hard time hearing Matthews, who did his trademark badgering a bit longer than usual, and we know that Watson’s appearance had been delayed several times before it actually happened.
Nevertheless, politicians in this day and age must know how to present themselves on television — national or local. Sen. Watson told the American-Statesman today his MSNBC stint felt like a “bad dream.” If only it were …
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New ‘Dancing’ celebs: They’re h-e-e-e-e-r-e!
Surprise, surprise! The dozen semi-celebs who will compete in the sixth edition of “Dancing with the Stars” look better than usual — and they all improve so much that we could be looking at the best group ever.
When “Dancing” returns March 17 (on ABC), we’ll see actors, comics, athletes, singers and magicians. Last time it was a big deal that Heather Mills McCarthy, now entangled in a super-nasty divorce with Beatle Paul, competed. You might recall she has one fake leg but did a pretty decent job of hoofing it up.
This time around one of the celebrity dancers will be actor Marlee Matlin, who is deaf and might be able to hear the beat of the music but not the music itself.
In alphabetical order, here’s the twinkle-toe lineup, as announced last night on the truly dreadful spinoff “Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” finale:
ADAM CAROLLA — A Los Angeles TV and radio personality who hosts his own morning drive show. He’s also an actor-comedian who hosts Comedy Central’s “The Man Show” and the long-running radio show “Loveline” with Dr. Drew Pinsky.
CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE — A Chilean actor famous for Spanish-language telenovelas such as “Como ama una mujer.” He was also a regular on “Family Law” and “CSI: Miami.”
SHANNON ELIZABETH — Actress/model whose films include “American Pie” and “Scary Movie.” Models have bad luck on “Dancing with the Stars.”
STEVE GUTTENBERG — Actor who starred in “Police Academy,” “Three Men and a Baby,” “Short Circuit,” “Cocoon,” “Diner” and “The Boys from Brazil.”
MARIO — Multiplatinum selling R&B/pop singer and actor known for “Just a Friend” and “Let Me Love You.” He also appeared in the dance movie “Step Up,” which maybe should disqualify him.
MARLEE MATLIN — Academy Award winner for her film debut in “Children of a Lesser God,” the actor also had recurring roles on “The West Wing,” “The L-Word,” “Nip/Tuck” and “Desperate Housewives.” Deaf since early childhood.
PENN JILLETTE — The talking half of the famous illusionist team of Penn & Teller. The duo is a major attraction in Las Vegas.
PRISCILLA PRESLEY — Elvis’ ex-wife starred in the “Naked Gun” films and the popular nighttime soap “Dallas.” She looks incredibly clumsy, but maybe she’s not.
MONICA SELES — Tennis champ and holder of nine grand slam singles titles. After a spectator stabbed her in the back on the court, she lost her edge but returned for one final grand slam (Australian Open) in 1996.
JASON TAYLOR — Last year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Taylor has played defensive end for the Miami Dolphins for more than a decade.
MARISSA JARET WINOKUR — Created the role of Tracy Turnblad in the hit Broadway musical “Hairspray,” for which she won a Tony and Drama Desk Award.
KRISTI YAMAGUCHI — An Olympic gold medalist (1992) and world champion, she’s one of the most popular skaters ever. Strong and graceful, she should ace the competition.
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‘Bruno/Carrie Ann’ finale: who cares? Except for one thing …
The only reason to watch the bloated “Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” finale tonight has nothing to do with the lame spinoff reality show itself.
No, the only reason to tune into ABC tonight is to see the next batch of celebrities revealed who will hoof it up on “Dancing with the Stars.” Who will be the next B-list celeb to drop 20 pounds and surprise us, as Marie Osmond did last time? Who will be the athlete who surprises us with his grace, as Emmitt Smith did the season before last?
“Dancing” returns to the network March 17, so mark your calendars.
“Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” was an ill-conceived spinoff featuring teams of singers/dancers under the direction of “Dancing” judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. A desperate concept poorly executed, the show limps off the air tonight after the winning team is announced.
Oh, and host Drew Lachey performs, in case that thought gets you going. The two-hour finale, which has not been a strike-proof phenom like Fox’s equally awful but oddly popular “Moment of Truth,” might get a rating bump at the end, when the “Dancing” cast is scheduled to be announced.
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Bloody good! ‘Dexter’ jumps to CBS on Sunday
The strike may be over, but replacement programming will continue — at least until regular network series are up and running again.
As previously reported, that will take about a month for sitcoms and six to eight weeks for dramas. Serialized dramas, such as “24” and “Heroes,” won’t return until next season.
In the meantime, strike contingencies continue.
CBS gives Showtime’s grimly witty, brilliantly acted “Dexter” a tryout this Sunday (at 9 p.m. on KEYE Channel 42). It will begin with the first episode of season one. This, shall we say, offbeat drama shocked and amused even the most hard-to-shock-or-amuse critics.
Not remotely similar to anything else on TV, “Dexter” is about a sweet-faced, totally likable guy who works as a forensic scientist for the Miami police. Michael C. Hall is simply splendid in this role, with his boyish looks and uncanny ability to turn coldly terrifying in the blink of an eye.
Dexter is a blood-splatter expert, and his expertise comes in part from personal experience because, in his spare time, he’s a serial killer. He only straps down, tortures and fillets evil people who have eluded the law and deserve to die. But a crime drama hero who is also the most sinister of villains? That’s different.
The Showtime series has completed two seasons and been renewed for a third. As you’d expect, the pay cable version of “Dexter” has lots of blood and gruesome torture and murder. It’s brightly lit (the setting is Miami, after all) but darkly bizarre.
I’m not sure how CBS is going to get around the icky factor, but the network will have to do some creative editing for the show to pass muster with broadcast standards. Language shouldn’t be a big problem — a few F-bombs now and then, but certainly not as extreme as “The Sopranos” or “Brotherhood.” Easty to blip.
The whole premise and sensibility of the show, however, are more of a challenge. I’m even wondering how the title sequence, which manages to make Dexter’s morning routine (shaving, cooking breakfast, etc.) look like a gory massacre, will survive.
The show, based on a series of best-selling books by Jeff Lindsay, is way more twisted and creepy than FX’s “Nip/Tuck.” If these descriptions sound offensive, don’t watch “Dexter.” And if you’ve got impressionable children in the house, it’s probably not a good idea for them to watch either.
But for adults with adventuresome tastes, “Dexter” is a wonder. Hall plays this deeply complicated fellow with a sort of basic-blank personality that veers between sassy, affectionate, vulnerable and evil. The show is an acquired taste … and a very guilty pleasure.
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Update on shows’ return
The networks are beginning to recover from the strike and releasing more specific plans for resuming production and getting new episodes back on the air.
Here’s our updated status list for the return (or not) of most of the network prime-time series. Sadly, still no word from NBC on the fate of Austin-based “Friday Night Lights.”
ABC
“Big Shots”— gone for good.
“Boston Legal”— returns with six or seven episodes by end of May.
“Brothers & Sisters” — returns late April with four or five new hours.
“Cavemen”— gone for good.
“Desperate Housewives” — returns in April with four to six episodes.
“Dirty Sexy Money”— gone until fall.
“Eli Stone” — 11 new episodes left.
“Grey’s Anatomy” — Four or five new episodes to air in April and May.
“Lost” — Five new episodes to air in April and May.
“Men In Trees” — returns Feb. 27 with 11 new episodes.
“Private Practice”— returns in the fall.
“Pushing Daisies” — returns in the fall.
“Samantha Who?” — returns in late spring.
“Ugly Betty” — returns with four or five episodes in April and May.
“Women’s Murder Club” — probably gone for good.
CBS
“Cane” — gone, probably for good.
“Cold Case”— returns March 30 with five new episodes.
“Criminal Minds” — returns April 2 with seven new episodes.
“CSI” — returns April 3 with six episodes.
“CSI: Miami” — returns March 24 with eight episodes.
“CSI: NY” — returns April 2 with seven episodes.
“Ghost Whisperer” — returns April 4 with six episodes.
“How I Met Your Mother” — returns March 17 with nine episodes.
“Jericho” — has six more new episodes to go this season.
“Moonlight” — returns April 11 with four episodes.
“Numb3rs” — returns April 4 with six episodes.
“NCIS” — returns April 8 with seven episodes.
“Rules of Engagement” — returns April 14 with six episodes.
“Shark” — undetermined.
“The Big Bang Theory” — returns March 17 with nine episodes.
“The New Adventures of Old Christine” — undetermined.
“The Unit” — undetermined.
“Two And A Half Men” — returns March 17 with nine episodes. “Without A Trace” — returns April 3 with six episodes.
NBC
“30 Rock” — returns April 3, possibly with 10 new episodes.
“Bionic Woman” — gone, probably for good.
“Chuck” — gone for the season; returns in September. “ER” — returns April 10 with with four to six more episodes.
“Friday Night Lights” — gone for this season; future unknown.
“Heroes” — returns in the fall.
“Journeyman” — gone for now, probably for good.
“Las Vegas” — probably gone.
“Law & Order” — returns April 23 with several episodes.
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” — returns April 15 with new episodes until May.
“Life” — gone; returns in the fall.
“My Name Is Earl”— returns April 3 with six to eight new episodes.
“Medium” — returns with six new episodes this season.
“Scrubs” — returns April 10 with four episodes, then gone.
“The Office” — returns April 10 with eight episodes.
Fox
“24” — Returns, probably midseason (January ’09).
“Back to You”— returns in March.
“Bones” — has four new episodes left for the season.
“K-Ville” — gone.
“House” — returns with four to six new episodes in mid-April.
“Prison Break” — gone, probably for good.
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” — future undetermined.
“Til Death” — returns with new episodes in March.
Post-strike thoughts … and cable series status
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming — sort of.
The nasty writers’ strike is over, and we more or less know the fate of most prime-time shows. But we don’t know exactly when the shows coming back actually will be back. Except for “Saturday Night Live,” which returns Feb. 23. Look for the political satire to heat up and maybe even be worth watching. A lot of ground to make up, though, because much has happened since the show disappeared in early November.
We’re living in dream world if we think we’re finished with “Moment of Truth” and extra episodes of “The Biggest Loser.” While waiting for scripted dramas to return, the networks will be shoving more of the same at us — and probably will keep some of them around indefinitely as a cheap way to fill the schedule until post-strike hysteria calms down.
On the homefront, don’t look for Kyle Chandler to be sipping coffee at Jo’s on South Congress Avenue. Austin’s own Sarah Aubrey, executive producer of “Friday Night Lights,” told me yesterday that she’s “90 percent sure” the show is gone for the season. But she’s also optimistic that NBC will order a third season for fall — this despite entertainment president Ben Silverman’s caustic comments a few weeks ago that “Lights” viewers ought to start watching “30 Rock” instead.
And by the way, the biggest TV star from Austin now has no connection whatsoever to “Lights.” It’s adorable Uno, the cuter-than-cute beagle who trotted away with Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show last night. Woof, woof and WOOF!! I think we should have a parade when he returns.
Yesterday we raced around trying to nail down the status of most of the truncated season’s prime-time shows on broadcast TV. Of course, we didn’t list ‘em all, which apparently ticked off fans of “Numb3rs” (settle down, folks, it’s coming back!) and the entire lineup of the CW (we just don’t care about “Gossip Girl,” although I can confirm that it is coming back).
Now we’ve got some info on the future of cable series, which, because of their tendency toward off-season schedules, weren’t quite as disastrously affected by the strike.
CABLE
“Big Love” (HBO): Returns early next year instead of summer or fall.
“Burn Notice” (USA): Undetermined.
“Damages” (FX): Will return later this year or early next year.
“Dirt” (FX): Returns March 2, but the number of episodes has been cut from 13 to 7.
“Entourage” (HBO): Returns in the fall instead of summer.
“Mad Men” (AMC): Returns in the summer, as planned.
“Monk” (USA): Returns in the summer, as planned.
“Rescue Me” (FX): Delayed from summer to fall.
“Saving Grace” (TNT): Undetermined.
“The Closer” (TNT): Returns in late June, as planned.
“The Riches” (FX): Returns in spring, with 7 instead of 13 episodes.
“The Shield” (FX): The planned final season of 16 are finished but need post-production work, so the show will return in the summer instead of spring.
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What’s the status of your show?
The strike may be over, but it will take some time for new scripts to be written and new episodes to be filmed. To help you keep track, here is a list of most (but not all) of the major networks series:
ABC
“Big Shots”— gone for good
“Boston Legal”— returns with 6 to 7 episodes more by end of May.
“Brothers & Sisters” — returns late April with 4 to 5 new hours.
“Cavemen”— gone.
“Desperate Housewives” — returns in April with 4 to 6 episodes.
“Dirty Sexy Money”— gone until fall.
“Eli Stone” — 11 new episodes left.
“Grey’s Anatomy” — 4 to 5 new episodes to air in April and May.
“Lost” — 5 new episodes to air in April and May.
“Men In Trees” — returns Feb. 27 with 11 new episodes.
“Private Practice”— returns in the fall.
“Pushing Daisies” — returns in the fall.
“Samantha Who?” — returns in late spring.
“Ugly Betty” — returns with 4-5 episodes in April and May.
“Women’s Murder Club” — probably gone for good.
CBS
“Cane” — gone.
“Cold Case”— returns with 4 to 6 new episodes in April.
“Criminal Minds” — returns with 4 to 7 new episodes in late April and May.
“CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: NY” — return with 4 to 7 episodes by late May.
“Ghost Whisperer” — returns with unknown number of new shows in April.
“How I Met Your Mother” — returns in March with 5 to 7 episodes.
“Jericho” — has 6 more new episodes to go this season.
“Moonlight” — status undetermined.
“NCIS” — probably 3 or 4 new episodes by May.
“Rules of Engagement” — undetermined.
“Shark” — undetermined.
“The Big Bang Theory” — returns in March, number of episodes unknown.
“The New Adventures of Old Christine” — undetermined.
“The Unit” — undetermined.
“Two And A Half Men” — returns in March with 5 to 7 episodes.
“Without A Trace” — returns in April with 4 to 7 new episodes.
NBC
“30 Rock” — returns in March, possibly with 10 new episodes.
“Bionic Woman” — gone.
“Chuck” — gone for the season; may return in September.
“ER” — a few more episodes possible this season; future unknown.
“Friday Night Lights” — gone for this season; future unknown.
“Heroes” — returns in the fall.
“Journeyman” — gone.
“Las Vegas” — probably gone.
“Law & Order” — several episodes left this season.
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” — new episodes until May.
“Life” — gone; returns in the fall.
“My Name Is Earl”— returns with 6 to 8 new episodes in April and May.
“Medium” — returns with 6 new episodes this season.
“Scrubs” — returns with 4 episodes, then gone.
“The Office” — returns with 8 episodes to air April and May.
Fox
“24” — Returns, probably midseason (Jan. ‘09).
“Back to You”— returns in March.
“Bones” — has 4 new episodes left for the season.
“K-Ville” — gone.
“House” — returns with 4 to 6 new episodes in mid-April.
“Prison Break” — gone, probably for good.
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” — future undetermined.
“Til Death” — returns with new episodes in March.
Digits crossed: Writers’ strike ends today!
Official voting by the 10,000 members of the Writers Guild of America takes place today in Los Angeles and New York. An official announcement will take place after votes are cast and counted. Who knows when that will be? This afternoon? Tonight?
But optimism is running so high that the new writers’ contract with producers, studios and networks will be renewed that Hollywood already is planning to dive back into work quickly — possibly by the end of this week.
Sarah Aubrey, the Austin-born executive producer of our beloved Austin-based “Friday Night Lights,” says last Friday night’s episode “likely” will now serve as the season-ender. Six or seven more installments were to have been produced for the current season, but there’s not enough time to get the show up and running in time. The future of “Lights” remains uncertain, but Aubrey insists she’s still “cautiously optimistic” that NBC will bring it back for a third season in the fall.
If the strike does end today, the crippled TV season could be saved, sort of.
Hits such as ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’s “CSI” franchise could resume production in a couple of weeks, with new episodes on the air as early as mid- to late April. The New York Times posted its speculation about the future of most broadcast shows on its DeCoder TV blog. Similar predictions, some of which border on wishful thinking, appear in the San Jose Mercury-News.
Other shows will not return until next fall or, in some cases, ever.
Fox already has announced that its serial thriller “24” will not return this season. They say it wouldn’t make sense to crank out 24 episodes of the one-day real-time drama and have them run through the summer, when fewer viewers are available and profits are smaller. And NBC has indicated “Heroes” will not return until fall 2008 — if then.
Shows that were struggling in the ratings before the strike, such as NBC’s “Bionic Woman” and “Chuck” and CBS’s “Cane,” likely will never be seen again.
Comedies can rev up and get back on the air sooner than dramas, so we could see new episodes of “Two and a Half Men,” “The Office” and “My Name Is Earl” in late March. Dramas likely will cut back on the number of installments and air only a handful more episodes through the May sweeps, traditionally the end of the season.
We should remember that speculation about the future of specific shows and the season in general are just that — speculation. Network programmers are still scratching their heads, so we’ll track the situation and keep you posted.
Lame Grammys drag on, Westminster Dog show gears up
Worst Grammy show ever … slow pacing, too few performances that went on too long, pairings that didn’t remotely work and not-televised winners stripped across the screen in illegible print that looked like a bad digital-clock readout.
Whose idea was it to pair Kid Rock and Keely Smith? Fire that person! B-a-d. Miss Keely sounded fine, but Mr. Kid? Ouch. Not so much. The Kid and Keely were even worse than the sad rock geezer trio of Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and John Fogerty.
It’s fine to pay tribute to veteran musicians, but it’s not fine to have them perform if they’ve, you know, lost their ability to perform.
But don’t get me wrong — there were highlights to CBS’s Grammys. They were just few and far between and far fewer than past years. Tina Turner and Beyonce were fabulous. Talk about a perfect pairing — these two could be sisters (in spite of the multidecade age difference). Simply splendid.
Maybe if the show had had a host it wouldn’t have trudged on so slowly and, too often, so sadly.
Prestigious pup parade starts tonight
Dog lovers like me look forward all year to the arrival of “The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show,” and tonight at 7 the fun begins. The first hour is on USA, followed by the next two hours on CNBC. Tuesday night’s three-hour shindig, topped off by the eagerly anticipated Best in Show category, is all on USA.
First group judged tonight will be hounds. Among the breeds in the hound group are Afghans, beagles, bloodhounds, Irish wolfhounds, whippets, foxhounds, Scottish deerhounds and the brand new competitor, the Plott. Dog experts are rumored to be in love with a certain beagle this year, which could give the little breed its first shot at Best in Show.
Some of you might have read the tongue-in-cheek piece I wrote in Saturday’s newspaper about the four breeds making their debut at Westminster: Plott, Swedish vallhund, Beauceron and Tibetan mastiff. I poked a little good-natured fun at the vallhund, which has exceptionally short legs on a sturdy body that resembles a German shepherd.
Well, vallhund folks were NOT amused. I got angry e-mails from owners from as far away as Berlin (yes, Berlin, Germany) telling me how heartless and stupid I am to pick on this particular dog. We all love our pups, and beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Sorry anyone took offense, but seriously, don’t take it personally.
‘Lights’ out tonight? Maybe, maybe not.
“Friday Night Lights” ends its season tonight at 8 on NBC. Maybe. The brilliant drama that is beloved by critics but ignored by viewers has been on a wild ride on the rumor express.
But first things first. Tonight’s installment, which NBC is touting as the “season finale,” features a guest starring appearance by “FNL” creator/executive producer Peter Berg. He plays a former boyfriend of Tami Taylor who stirs things up when he shows up in Dillon. Coach Taylor does not take kindly to romantic competition, so we can expect a few sparks.
Also in the episode, Smash pursues his dream of nabbing a football scholarship, and sad-sack Tim Riggins just keeps on getting his heart broken. I’m thinking of starting a Save Tim campaign if the show continues …
Speaking of which, this so-called season finale is the show’s 15th episode in a season that was supposed to have 22 episodes. The writers’ strike shut down production in December. The Austin-based series has been on the bubble practically its whole life, bringing in little more than 6 million viewers a week. But rave reviews and the hope of audience growth kept it going.
At one point in December, rumors flew that NBC might sell the series to ESPN and let the Dillon Panthers celebrate its football DNA, rather than try to cover it up in hopes of attracting female viewers.
Next came rumors that “FNL” had been guaranteed a third season, no matter what Nielsen said. But that little ray of sunshine was followed by dark remarks by NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman, who said last week, after being asked about the future of “FNL,” that people should start watching something else. Not good.
But now comes a fresh wave of rumors that NBC is considering moving the show, which won a prestigious Peabody Award last year, to its cable networks Bravo and USA. And, these optimists say, NBC is still mulling keeping it on the broadcast network next season.
Executive producer Jeffrey Katims told Entertainment Weekly recently that if the writers’ strike ends by Feb. 15, “FNL” writers could whip out the rest of the season’s stories in five or six installments — and that they would NOT end it as a series finale.
Hope springs eternal in the hearts of the Dillon faithful.
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‘Lipstick Jungle’ — yet another ‘Sex and the City’ ripoff
How many “Sex and the City” ripoffs are we going to see this spring?
Well, at least two on the major networks. We’ve already been smacked with ABC’s “Cashmere Mafia,” a glitzy gander at four rich female CEOs in New York. Lucy Liu heads the cast, which also includes Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville.
Tonight NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle” joins the fray (9 p.m. on KXAN Channel 36). This particular clone stars Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price as a trio of wildly successful New York women and bosom buddies.
Like “Cashmere Mafia,” “Lipstick” is pretty to look at (the clothes are fabulous), but it’s an empty vessel without either strong drama or smart humor.
Can women really have it all, career and family? Zzzzzzz … the whole premise is so 1970s it puts you to sleep just thinking about it.
Strike update …
It’s not over ‘til it’s over, but the Writers Guild of America is expecting to present a draft of the agreement tentatively reached with Hollywood studios and producers over the coming weekend.
Does that mean the strike could end and productions go back to work next week? Maybe, but let’s not count our chickens too soon.
The writers on the East and West Coast will ponder the deal Saturday, but insiders say there are still a few “sticking points” that could hold things up.
But if saner heads prevail and the three-month strike ends, there’s still a slim possibility that shows gone since November could gear up quickly and finish the season through May.
We hope so because we just can’t stand the thought of more episodes of “American Gladiator.”
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Austinite on ‘Wheel of Fortune’
Roy Bright, the pastor of Next Dimension Christian Fellowship in Austin, will be a contestant on Thursday’s edition of “Wheel of Fortune.”
The episode, which airs at 6:30 p.m. on KXAN Channel 36, was taped in advance, but we don’t know how this married father of three fared in the competition. We’ll have to tune in to find out.
“Wheel of Fortune,” television’s longest-running syndicated series, is in its 25th season and routinely nabs more than 47 million viewers a week.
Carol Kaelson photo
Permalink | | Categories: Local people on TV
Dizzying graphics on Super Tuesday TV
Watching five hours of Super Tuesday coverage last night — and flipping among eight channels — left me dizzy and more than a little grumpy. If it’s possible for TV to cause attention-deficit disorder, I think I’ve caught it. I was having trouble focusing on my toothbrush this morning.
Complaints? I’ve got a few, and mostly they have to do with the overload of graphics. Cable news, not surprisingly, is the worst offender in this regard. CNN, MSNBC and Fox all seem determined to post every number and piece of information they have on hand. The result is info overload on the screen.
MSNBC looked pretty good at first, with just a couple of sleek bars at the bottom that stayed on for several seconds before switching to another state and set of returns. But not long into the evening, MSNBC added a big-fat sidebar on the left part of the screen. So there was changing info — maps, stats and photos — on the side and the bottom of the main screen.
Fox News Channel’s graphics also were exceedingly annoying. Not only were there too many lines of information (I counted six stacked lines in the “crawl” at the bottom of the screen at one point), but most of them moved constantly, with two tickers moving at different speeds and different intervals. Who can digest this much stuff?
CNN occasionally stacked its graphics, but most of the night their results crawls were easy to read and, thank heavens, mostly static.
ABC — with the comfy anchoring trio of Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos — seemed to be on top of breaking news and more or less enjoying the evening. ABC made a singular mistake adding its regular (nonelection) news crawl to the bottom of the graphic election info. And the network was pretty slow in projecting winners. But otherwise, ABC News, which turned over all of its primetime slate to election coverage, performed well.
CBS News, with anchor Katie Couric flanked by a bunch of aging men in suits, just seemed bemused. She and Jeff Greenfield made a lot of old-age jokes about Bob Schieffer, and the network did have big, easy-to-read graphics. But I’m just not seeing Katie’s gravitas in these breaking news situations.
NBC, which had no primary coverage until 9 p.m., came too late and never caught up. Brian Williams is a perfectly capable anchor, but by the time NBC got on the air, my remote-pushing finger was weakening.
I know I’ll get howls of protest over this, but, seriously, watching Fox News, you’d think the only primaries happening last night were on the Republican side. I timed the “fair and balanced” network for Repub vs. Dem for an hour, and the Republican races got more than twice as much time than the Dems.
Maybe Fox just wanted to give new analyst Karl Rove a showcase. One other nit: Does anybody else think the normally bright and energetic Brit Hume looked terribly bored and bummed last night? His heart just wasn’t into to it. He droned and frowned and just seemed desperately in need of vitamins … or something.
But the quick-projection award does go to Fox. They came out early and correct on all the races I saw (I shut down at 11 p.m., by the way). For some reason, CNN’s projections often came as much as a half-hour behind Fox. And ABC was surprisingly slow, too — although I’m sure the slow projectors will prefer to be called “cautious.”
All this flipping has left me with fuzzy vision, stew for brains and a wiggly index finger. Too much information, too much talking, just too-too much Super Tuesday. ‘Til next time …
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Are you ready for some politics? Brew some coffee for a late night!
Don’t look for an early end to tonight’s political melodrama.
Even if the California primary is not a close call on both ballots, the polls don’t close until 10 p.m. our time — 8 p.m. on the West Coast. But pundits are predicting a very close race between Mitt Romney and John McCain on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side. California could be a cliffhanger.
So plan on a long night if you’re one of those election junkies (that would be me) who has to watch returns until the last race is called.
There should be some early results as well from the East Coast, so we’ll have something to fill in on our home tally sheets.
Super Tuesday has turned into such a hot ticket that only Fox of the major broadcast networks is not covering the returns. Fox will run crawls if results come in during “American Idol” (tonight is the Atlanta auditions), but the network is counting on election fiends tuning into its cable news channel.
ABC is taking all three hours of prime time for its coverage, anchored by Charles Gibson. Katie Couric and CBS, which originally planned one hour of coverage, has expanded to two (8-10 p.m.), but NBC, led by Brian Williams, is sticking with its 9 to 10 p.m. hour — apparently not wanting to deprive fans of the scheduled two-hour “Biggest Loser” episode.
Hunker down to one of the three cable news networks if you don’t want to worry about switching channels or waiting for crawls over entertainment programming. This is what cable news does best — live breaking news that lasts more than an hour.
It might not be the Super Bowl, but Super Tuesday, for those of us who are totally enthralled by the race for the White House, is “event programming.”
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Karl Rove joins Fox News
In case you’ve been wondering — and worrying — about whatever happened to Bush White House mastermind Karl Rove, he’s set to make his debut as a political analyst for Fox News on Super Tuesday.
A former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, Rove took a hike from D.C. last August as an investigation was launched into possibly illegal or unethical activities in the White House.
Before joining the Bush administration, Rove oversaw strategy for Bush’s Texas gubernatorial campaign and several other Republican campaigns. He also has taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.
Effective Tuesday, Rove will be a prime-time cable TV star.
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Super Ads, Super Dull
Maybe it was because I hate low-scoring football games dominated by defensive play. Or maybe it was because the Perfect Patriots, whom I love so well, collapsed like a cheap cardboard box.
But I wasn’t feeling the love for all those million-dollar Super Bowl ads. None of them made me gasp in amazement or double over laughing.
There were a few that were simply OK — the lizards dancing to “Thriller,” the giant pigeon proving FedEx is a better way to ship stuff, the sleeping badger nursing its young on the front seat of an oh-so-quiet-riding Toyota.
The collective creativity of advertisers just didn’t cut it this year, but presumably those who forked over $2.7 million for a spot felt they got their money’s worth. Fox says early ratings indicate this year’s Super Bowl just might break last year’s record 93 million viewers. (Final Nielsen national ratings are expected later in the week.)
“The Captain” not so welcome
The promotional spot featuring Jeffrey Tambor hacking away at a golf ball is pretty funny, but unfortunately that’s about the only funny scene in CBS’s dreadful new sitcom “Welcome to the Captain,” which debuts tonight at 7:30 p.m.
I cut Tambor all kinds of slack because he made me laugh all those years on “The Larry Sanders Show” and then ruled the roost on “Arrested Development.” But this thing, about an allegedly iconic Hollywood apartment building crawling with wacky characters, is a major groaner.
Raquel Welch plays an over-the-hill femme fatale, Tambor plays a former “Three’s Company” writer and a new guy named Frank Kranz plays an idealistic young filmmaker who winds up in the decaying building. The dialogue and situations are simply painful.
Where’s Tonya?
For those of you still wondering what happened to former KXAN morning anchor Tonya Kerr, she’s hosting a new online show called “The Parent Code,” produced by the Austin-based ON Network, which delivers HD shows on multiple digital platforms. “The Parent Code” offers child-raising advice from a variety of experts.
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Super Sunday: Are you ready?
Are you ready for some football? Boy, if not, you’ll want to avoid Fox most of the weekend — and especially Sunday.
In case you’ve been orbiting another planet, Sunday is the Super Bowl, allegedly a time for football but mostly a time to eat too much guacamole, drink too much beer and start the whole she-bang way too early in the day … considering the game itself doesn’t start until late afternoon.
Fox (KTBC Channel 7) gets the festivities underway at 9 a.m. Sunday. No, that’s not a typo. At 9 a.m. Sunday, a gaggle of reporters will gather to babble about politics and sports. Mostly sports. At 11 a.m., Fox does a re-cap of the entire 2007-08 football season in “The Road to the Super Bowl.” Lots of great clips, for those who haven’t seen a NFL single game.
The bloated “Pre-Game Show,” hosted by “American Idol” man-child Ryan Seacrest, starts at 1 p.m. This is the portion of the day that will have way more commercials than programming, but since the ads are the main reason millions tune in, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But keep in mind the hottest new ads won’t appear until the second half of the game.
The football game? That little thing? The Perfect New England Patriots take on the Surprising New York Giants at 5 p.m., with Troy Aikman and Joe Buck calling the action. Kickoff actually is scheduled for 5:18, but you’ll want to calm the rowdiness in your house before the serious stuff starts, so think of 5 p.m. as the start.
Super Sunday isn’t over until around 9 p.m., because Fox has to squeeze in more commercials and the “Post-Game Show,” scheduled for 8:30 p.m. but possibly later depending on time-outs and penalties and such.
The network that lands the Super Bowl always packs the day with promos for its prime-time lineup, and Fox is poised and ready to promote itself. “American Idol” will be everywhere, including the half-time show, when Paula Abdul is expected to sing and dance. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are the headliners, but Judge Paula is likely to get more attention from the network.
Super Sunday is a very long day, so plan accordingly. Take a trot around Lady Bird Lake on Saturday; get all your errands out of the way that day, too. If you’re a churchgoer, consider the early service you never thought you’d ever attend. Now, you’re ready for some football!
Permalink | | Categories: Sports on TV
