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TNT Wants More Leverage ![]() Variety reports that TNT is renewing Leverage for a third season, which will have 15 episodes. The series has gained viewers in its second season. The drama from Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment averaged 3.9 million viewers in its first season and 4.1 million in season two (both figures include live-plus-seven DVR usage).Leverage is a great series that manages to deliver both humor and thrills. It also has great cast led by the brilliant Timothy Hutton. TNT offers full episodes online. Posted on August 27, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Quentin Tarantino's new World War II film, Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger, is getting rave reviews and excellent box office in its European openings. German critics especially loved film, saying it was a paradigm shift for World War II movies. European audiences are liking what they see. "Inglourious Basterds" is off to a good start in Europe, scoring the best opening day ever in France for a Quentin Tarantino pic with a Wednesday gross of $1.4 million from 499 playdates.Nikki Finke reports that the film made $800,000 in Germany in its opening and is looking like a record breaker for Tarantino film openings. It opened last night (Wednesday) in three territories -- Belgium, France, French-Switzerland -- and scored the highest Tarantino opening ever in those three markets. "The results are great. We opened No. 1 in all three markets and grossed: Belgium $143K at 63 locations, biggest Tarantino opening day; France $1.4M at 499 locations, biggest Tarantino opening day; French-Switzerland $61k at 24 locations, biggest Tarantino opening day," an insider tells me.So, what will American audiences think about the revenge fantasy? We'll find out soon enough: Inglourious Basterds opens tomorrow in the U.S. Posted on August 20, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | TNT Renews Jada Pinkett Smith's Nurse Drama Nurse dramas are all the rage these days. The Hollywood Reporter says that Hawthorne - a nurse drama starring Jada Pinkett Smith - has been renewed for a second season.
During its first season, "Hawthorne," which anchors TNT's Tuesday original-programming block at 9 p.m., is averaging 3.8 million viewers, a 69% improvement in the time slot.Showtime's Nurse Jackie was also renewed and NBC has a nurse drama caled Mercy coming this fall. They probably can't all be hits but two out of three getting renewed already shows the tv execs like what they see. Posted on August 10, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Variety reports that Mel Gibson is going to star in a film called The Beaver. Jodie Foster will co-star and direct the movie that is about a depressed man (Mel Gibson) who cheers himself up by wearing a beaver hand-puppet. The script, written by Kyle Killen, topped the Blacklist in December.Some are excited by this film but it may not be the best idea. It would be more exciting to see Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson do another Maverick movie than to watch a depressed Mel Gibson wearing a hand puppet. Maybe it will be more interesting than it sounds. Posted on July 10, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Chris Pine is Unstoppable Chris Pine got good reviews for his role as Captain James Kirk in J.J. Abrams' rebooted Star Trek movie, so many are watching what he chooses as his next role. Variety reports that he is negotiating to star alongside Denzel Washington in the action drama Unstoppable, which will be directed by Tony Scott. Pine took "Unstoppable" over several other offers after a dinner Tuesday night with Washington and Scott. Production will begin in August for summer 2010 release.It sounds like Speed on a train, with Denzel. That could work. Posted on June 4, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | ![]() Variety is reporting that Angels & Demons starring Tom Hanks had a big weekday opening in Italy of $1.35 million. "Angels," Ron Howard's follow-up to "Da Vinci Code," earned $1.35 million from 800 screens.The Da Vinci Code was a big success because it had a huge international box office. This big opening in Italy is a good signed for the Dan Brown prequel. Posted on May 14, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Columbia Moving Forward for Sequel to Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol Dan Brown's publisher, Doubleday, announced today that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code will be released on September 15, 2009. Columbia Pictures wasted no time and is already getting the ball rolling for the film version of The Lost Symbol. While Columbia Pictures is prepping for the May 15 release of the Ron Howard-directed Tom Hanks-starrer Angels & Demons, the studio will move quickly to get the ball rolling on the third installment of the franchise. Dan Brown has announced that his next installment of the Da Vinci Code series is The Lost Symbol, which will be published in the U.S. and Canada by Doubleday on September 15, 2009. The first print run will be a whopping 5 million copies. Sources said that Brown has completed his manuscript.Tom Hanks and Ron Howard are gearing up for the May release of Angels and Demons, which the Vatican has denounced. Posted on April 20, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Ralph Fiennes to Rule in Hell Ralph Fiennes is in talks to star as Hades, Lord of the Underworld, in the new Clash of the Titans film being directed by Louis Leterrier. Fiennes would join the already announced Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos and Sam Worthington in the reimagining of the Greek myth of Perseus. Liam Neeson had been set to play Zeus, but his involvement is uncertain following the death of wife Natasha Richardson last month.Clash of the Titans requires a huge budget to be done correctly. We do hope Liam Neeson can play Zeus. He would be fabulous. Posted on April 8, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman to Star in Rabbit Hole Aaron Eckhart is in talks to join the cast of Rabbit Hole. Nicole Kidman is set to play the lead, as well as produce. The film is an adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire's Broadway play by the same name.
John Cameron Mitchell ("Shortbus") is directing and Kidman's producing through her Fox-based Blossom Films banner. The deal for Eckhart comes two years after Kidman signed on.Kidman and Eckhart...we like it. Posted on April 2, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | A Major Death on Lost is Coming Kristin de los Santos of E! says that there will be a major death coming on Lost. And Kristin is never wrong. She won't say who it is, of course, other than it's not Kate. Here's what I can tell you about this death:We have no idea who it is, but Lost is so amazingly good this season we really don't want anyone else to be killed off. Posted on March 11, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Sex and the City Sequel is a Go Now that all four stars have signed contracts, the Sex and the City sequel is definitely happening. Kim Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon will all be reprising their roles from the hit TV show. Writer/director/producer Michael Patrick King has also signed his contract.
No start date's set for shooting and no script's been written. New Line president Toby Emmerich has been aiming to fast-track the project in hopes of a summer 2010 release. As on the original, John Melfi and Parker will be producers on the sequel with King.If the second film does as well as the first, you know what that means. Posted on February 5, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Jackie Chan to Star in Karate Kid Remake Jackie Chan is in final negotiations to star in the remake of the hit film, The Karate Kid. Harald Zwart will helm the pic, which has been revamped as a starring vehicle for Jaden Smith. Set in an exotic Asian locale, the new film will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth (Smith) learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor (Chan). Chris Murphy penned the screenplay.Jaden Smith has the hottest career in Hollywood these day. He was kind of sulky in The Day the Earth Stood Still, but perhaps he'll shake of the pout to play the karate kid. But it's going to be hard to best the original kid, Ralph Macchio. Posted on January 13, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Hugh Jackman Drops Out of Cleopatra Musical Hugh Jackman has dropped out of Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film, which is a rock musical version of Cleopatra starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. No deal had been signed as the ambitious $30 million project is completing its financing, but Soderbergh asked his "Traffic" star Zeta-Jones to play Cleopatra and wanted new Oscar host Jackman to play her lover, the Roman general Marc Antony. Discussions are reportedly in the works for the role of Julius Caesar to be played by Ray Winstone, the "Beowulf" star who just completed shooting the Martin Campbell-directed "Edge of Darkness" with Mel Gibson.Hugh Jackman has made his first wise decision of 2009. Did we mention the film will also be in 3-D? Because just when you think a project couldn't be any more ridiculous, it gets worse. What in the world is Catherine Zeta-Jones thinking? Posted on January 2, 2009 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | The Mentalist Sees Good Ratings In His Future CBS' The Mentalist hit a
series high in ratings last night, averaging 18.8 million viewers.
The battle of the season's hottest new dramas continues to tilt in the favor of CBS' "The Mentalist," which topped Fox's "Fringe" among young adults for the third time in their last four matchups. NBC's "The Biggest Loser," meanwhile, was on the rise, as both it and "The Mentalist" seemed to benefit from the absence of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."We watch both The Mentalist and Fringe. The only reason we watch The Mentalist on the night it airs is because CBS still doesn't have the full episodes on its site. We usually watch Fringe the next day. Although we're getting tired of Anna Torv and her angst. Why in the world would she go to her partner to tell him that she thinks she's going clinically insane? She knows she has her dead partner's memories, because Walter told her what happened. She is most annoying. Posted on December 3, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Sneak Peek of Season Five of Lost Here's a preview of the episode called "Because You Left" from Season Five of Lost which premieres on January 21, 2009 on ABC. What is going on here? Who's trying to take away baby Aaron? We can't wait for new episodes. Take a look: Posted on December 2, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Four Christmases Topping Box Office For Thanksgiving Weekend The comedy Four Christmases starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn is on track to top the Thanksgiving weekend box office. On Friday--a huge moviegoing day--"Four Christmases" grossed $13.2 million from 3,310 runs for a three-day cume of $28.2 million. Laffer is proving more of a crowd-pleaser than expected.Four Christmases is getting better reviews than the other Vince Vaughn Christmas comedy, Fred Claus. That was truly one of the worst Christmas movies, ever. Posted on November 29, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Jaden Smith is the new Karate Kid Get ready for yet another remake. This time it's The Karate Kid which originally starred Ralph Macchio as the young boy who learned about karate -- and life -- from the wise Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). The movie will star Will Smith's little boy, Jaden. Columbia Pictures is back in the dojo with a new version of the 1984 hit "The Karate Kid," which has been refashioned as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith. The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (who launched the original franchise) and Overbrook Entertainment's James Lassiter, Will Smith and Ken Stovitz. Will Smith, who is the 10-year-old actor's father, co-starred alongside Jaden in his feature debut, "The Pursuit of Happyness," which Overbrook and Escape Artists produced for Columbia.Each time we think that the remake frenzy is abating, we're proven wrong yet again. Posted on November 11, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Fox Announces Mid-Season Lineup Fox has announced its midseason schedule and Joss Whedon fans aren't going to be happy. Dollhouse was supposed to premiere on Mondays with 24. It's been moved to low-ratings Fridays, where it will be paired with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Friday is not a place you put shows you want to do really well. The premiere date is Friday, February 13, 2009, which is just about as stupid as it gets. The producers noted that was the day that Angel was canceled in 2004. -- "Idol" will premiere Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. and will include the usual two-hour, two-part rollout. "Idol" and "Fringe" will still partner on Tuesdays as planned.Well, it's good that there won't be as many commercials during Dollhouse. As for Fringe, the show is totally weird and we quite enjoy it. Posted on November 6, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Jack Bauer Returns in January 24 fans will finally get to see the long-delayed seventh season of the show in January. On January 11 and January 12 Fox will air the two hour premiere. Pre-empted last year due to the writer's strike, "24" returns for two hours on both nights before settling into its regular time period on Monday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m.Dollhouse, which stars Eliza Dushku, went into production hiatus for a couple of weeks while Joss Whedon re-wrote the pilot and changed the cast lineup a bit. This made Whedon fans very nervous, given Fox's history with Firefly. Posted on November 3, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | High School Musical 3: Senior Year Tops the Box Office ![]() High School Musical 3: Senior Year topped the box office this past weekend, making $42,030,184. In second place was Saw V, which made $30,053,954. In third place was Max Payne, which made $7,600,000. Beverly Hills Chihuahua hung on for fourth place, making another $6,884,387. That brings the film's cumulative take to an astonishing $78,110,782. We find that mind-boggling. Posted on October 27, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Nicole Richie Shows Off Her Fighting Skills Now here's something you don't see everyday: Nicole Richie in a martial arts fight against another girl. Tonight, Nicole guest stars on one of our favorite shows, NBC's spy show, Chuck. In this short clip she shows off her fighting skills. Posted on October 20, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Season Finale of Burn Notice is Tonight The season finale of Burn Notice airs tonight on USA at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central time. When a client is forced into a kidnapping scheme, Michael must pose as a security consultant. We just love this show and are quite irritated that it's ending for the season. Here's a sneak peek of the finale: Posted on September 18, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | TNT Renews Two Shows TNT has already renewed two of its series: Saving Grace and Steven Bochco's new legal drama, Raising the Bar. "Grace," which stars Holly Hunter as a troubled yet effective Oklahoma City cop, averaged 4.4 million viewers this summer, airing seven of the 15 episodes in its sophomore season. The final eight second-season installments of the show, from Fox TV Studios, will air starting in March. With renewal, a 15-episode third campaign will bow later in 2009.In a sign that AMC's Mad Men is having quite an influence, TNT will launch a new series in January called Trust Me. Tom Cavanagh and Eric McCormack will star as colleagues at a Chicago ad agency. We'll tune in to see Eric McCormack. Posted on September 16, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | 24 Shuts Down Production For Rewrites Alas, there is more sad news for Jack Bauer fans: 24 is shutting down production for rewrites. After the completion of episode 18 on Sept. 15, production on Fox's hit drama 24 will shut down until Oct. 9 while the writers reshape the upcoming season's creative direction -- specifically the transition leading to the end game. "We had a couple of scripts that we weren't happy with," 24 exec producer Howard Gordon tells EW.com. "We just couldn't get this direction to work, and we found another one that we liked better, so we wound up retooling it."The January start date is unaffected, but surely this means that there will be some kind of truncated season. We'll buy one more delay, but no more. You can only delay a show so long before fans start getting grumpy and tuning out. Posted on September 8, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Critics Denied Review Copies of New 90210 The producers of the new 90210 have refused to send advance screening copies to tv reviewers. No one will get to see the pilot until it airs on September 2nd. But the CW knows damn well it has just about the only show that's creating real buzz this season, and it just makes good business-sense on their part to avoid any chance of buzzkill by not sending it out to critics, some of whom are inevitably going to give it a negative review, or — even more predictably — whine that it's not as good as the original Beverly Hills 90210. Variety notes that a piece in the St. Louis Post Dispatch has already appeared in the wake of the CW's review-copy ban, headlined, "How Much Does The New '90210' Suck?" That’s exactly the kind of old-media, preemptive negativity that the CW is trying to defuse.So, no previews. We'll just have to wait until September 2nd to see whether the new version is a hit -- or a miss. Posted on August 19, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Lawrence Fishburne Joins Cast of CSI Kristin Dos Santos has the scoop on Lawrence Fishburne's new character on CSI: * Fishburne's character has no name yet, but according to the executive producers, "Our internal code name for the character is the Professor." (Ooh! Maybe the Skipper and his little buddy come, too? )They're totally soliciting suggestions for character names...We think he's going to reinvigorate the show. Fishburne is the epitome of cool. Posted on August 18, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Hawaii Five-O, the Remake Hawaii Five-O is returning to television screens soon. The remake will use the original theme song (probably revamped a bit) and will feature the son of one of the original characters running the police department. CBS is saying aloha to a new installment of the "Hawaii Five-O" franchise from "Criminal Minds" exec producer/showrunner Ed Bernero. The new take on the popular crime drama, which aired on CBS from 1968-80, is one of three projects Bernero has in the works, along with "Washington Field," which is being done in cooperation with the FBI, and a fugitive apprehension drama.The show originally ran for 12 years, which is a really long time. The film version of the show is now on hold. No casting news yet, but it will be interesting to see who they cast as the son. Posted on August 12, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Seven Seasons of Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives now has a planned life of seven seasons. "Desperate Housewives" creator and executive producer Marc Cherry told a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Thursday that he plans to end the ABC series after seven seasons. The domestic comedy-drama starring Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria Parker begins its fifth season this fall.This is good news for Housewives fans. We just want to see Eva Longoria with her short hair and fatsuit. Well, extra padding. She's supposed to have let herself go, which is kind of hard to picture. Posted on July 22, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Psych Season Two Off to a Great Start ![]() Psych returns tonight and that is a very good thing. The psychic detective Shawn Spencer (who uses his powers of observation to pretend to be a psychic) is back again with his lifelong friend Gus. Cybill Shepherd guest stars as Shawn's mother. Meanwhile, Gus' boss demands that he quit the Psych Agency and focus on his own job at the drug company. But when Gus' boss' boss has a ghost problem, Gus and Shawn are on the case. Cybill Shepherd is very funny as Shawn's psychologist mother and the dialog is as snappy and fun as usual. But it is the chemistry between James Roday (Shawn Spencer) and Dule Hill (Burton 'Gus' Guster) that really makes this show work. We've loved this show from the start and it's as entertaining as ever. Psych airs tonight on USA at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 p.m. Central. And, just for fun, here are Shawn and Gus singing "Ebony and Ivory." Shawn does a pretty decent Paul McCartney imitation. Posted on July 18, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Season Seven of Monk Premieres Friday The season premiere of Monk is this Friday night. One of the first things fans will want to know is how will the show handle the death of actor Stanley Kamel, who played Adrian Monk's psychiatrist Dr. Kroger. We've seen the premiere episode and the writers handled it perfectly. There is a tribute to Stanley, and his importance to the cast and crew is clear. But now Monk needs a new psychiatrist.
The show opens a few months after Dr. Kroger's sudden death. Adrian has been trying out new psychiatrists, to no avail. But one doctor (played by Golden Globe winner Hector Elizondo) seems to make the grade. He even has wipes handy at their first meeting. In this episode, When Adrian buys a new house, chaos ensues. Brad Garrett guest stars as the handyman from hell who has more than remodeling on his mind. It's classic Monk: funny, touching and totally watchable. The upcoming season has some great guest stars and story lines: you can see a summary of what's coming here. Monk premieres Friday, July 17, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time/8:00 p.m. Central time on USA. Posted on July 15, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Premiering this Week: Burn Notice Second Season We just finished watching the first two episodes of Burn Notice -- and they are smoking hot. This is smart, funny, wildly entertaining tv. The kind that there just isn't enough of. When we left spy Michael Weston at the end of season one, he was driving into the back of a large semi trailer as part of a deal to find out who "burned" him, making him persona non grata in the CIA and leaving him stranded in Miami.
Michael (played with deadly aplomb by Jeffrey Donovan) hates Miami and is determined to find out who burned him. With the help of his old FBI friend (played brilliantly by Bruce Campbell) and his ex-girlfriend, the lethal Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), Michael investigates what appears to be a conspiracy to oust him. To make ends meet, he does some detective work and helps people in need. Oh, and he gets nagged by his mother (Sharon Gless). She nags a lot, actually. In season two, Michael is forced to go back to work for the people who burned him, although he still doesn't know who they are. But they have the key to his future, so he plays along. His new handler is the sexy and evil Carla (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer). Carla wouldn't be so bad, except she keeps threatening his mom's life. The first season was great, but if the first two episodes we saw are any indication, the second season will be even better. Matt Nix, the creator and main writer for the series, keeps the dialogue snappy and smart. And there is no one who does better with snappy and smart dialogue than Bruce Campbell. Jeffrey Donovan plays it just right: he seems smart, lethal and yet he still dutifully shows up when his mother demands that he fix her coffeemaker. Matt Nix throws in McGyver-like ingenuity, lots of action and great scenery. And Michael's droll voiceovers about everything from his favorite weaponry to how to build a bomb are priceless. Burn Notice premieres this Thursday on USA at 10:00 pm Eastern time. Posted on July 8, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Benjamin Bratt is The Cleaner We saw Wanted on Fourth of July -- loved it -- and one of the trailers was for The Cleaner, a new drama that will premiere on A & E on Tuesday, July 15, 2008, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. This is the network's first original scripted drama in more than six years.
Bratt plays extreme interventionist William "The Cleaner" Banks. Inspired by a true story, Banks had his own addictions, but struck a deal with God. He agreed to dedicate his life to helping other people kick their bad habits ..."by any means necessary". We have no idea what an "extreme interventionist" is; certainly it sounds intense. The trailer was quite interesting. We'll be tuning in to check it out on the 15th. Posted on July 7, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Get Ready for sn Avalanche of Sequels Den of Geek rounds up the thirty (!) sequels that are being planned by Hollywood. We knew that there seemed to be a lot of sequels around, but his list really puts it into perspective. It's like original moviemaking stopped when the 80s ended or something. The Brazilian Job: the follow up to Paramount's US remake of The Italian Job is still on the cards, and it's got a 2009 release date marked. Jason Statham, Mos Def, Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron are attached, as is director F Gary Gray.See the entire list here. One sequel we're ready for right now is Indiana Jones 5; George Lucas was so happy with the reception of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that he's hinting at more films. But if it takes him and Spielberg another ten years to do it, it's just not going to work. Posted on June 2, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | The New Trailer for Burn After Reading Here's the new trailer for Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers next film after No Country for Old Men. The film stars Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton. It's a dark comedy about a disgruntled former CIA agent (Malkovich) who writes his scandal-laden memoirs. The spy's soon to be ex-wife (Swinton) steals the disk, then accidentally leaves the CD with the manuscript at the gym, where it's found by a trainer and the gym owner (Pitt and McDormand) who want to blackmail the owner of the CD. Madness ensues. Posted on May 31, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Lost Season Four Finale: (Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead!)
The season finale of Lost was just amazing. First off, we spent the entire episode asking "Who's Jeremy Bentham??" remembering the name from Star Trek ("the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."). He was the English philosopher (among many other things) who advocated utilitarianism. Basically, it's the ends justify the means. It's all about the community, so to speak. But it turns out that Bentham is just a pseudonym for John Locke! It's Locke in the casket. So, to sum up: after the Oceanic 6 (plus Desmond) make it off the (now moved) island, they live their lives for three years, some of them more successfully than others (Jack is a basket case, Sun is a power-mad baddie who's joining forces with the evil Charles Widmore, Sayid is an assassin with a good heart, Hurley plays chess with Mr. Ecko, and Walt wants to know why the six are lying.) Locke then shows up and tells Kate, Jack and Walt that terrible things have happened on the island since they left and that they must come back. And speaking of getting off the island, the most amazing scenes -- and there were many, including Sawyer's incredibly heroic act -- went to Benjamin Linus. How we love us some Benry. He confirms the time travel thing to Locke after telling Locke to "watch this informative video." The video stars the famous Dr. Melvin Candle, who is now calling himself Dr. Halliwax. Here's the clip: Poor Benry! He loves leading the Others, but the price to moving the island is banishment. He looked miserable as he turned the giant wheel thing (it has to be of alien origin, that's our thinking). Now that the Oceanic Six is off the island, the next season will focus on why and how they must get back to the island. Luckily, Benry has "some ideas" about that. Meanwhile, Penny and Desmond are totally happy -- at least until her father finds them. We can't wait till next season. Posted on May 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | USA Network Expanding Character Arcade As television producers have become more web-savvy, they now routinely build websites for new shows, with character blogs, plot summaries, photos and message boards. It's smart because it builds fan loyalty and it makes the fans happy because they can easily view episodes they missed, interact with other fans and get the latest scoop on the show. USA Network has gone a step further with the concept, launching Character Arcade, a casual gaming site which features over 25 character-based flash games -- such as Monk-shui and Psych In Training -- and original takes on popular online games like Character Sudoku and Character Solitaire. The site was launched earlier this year and already has over 165,000 users. The site is now expanding into social networking and will also add more games. When fans sign up, they can create their own gaming profile to play games, make friends with fellow players, track the performance of elite gamers and friends, send direct challenges to rival gamers, and win prizes. It's an interesting concept: the site is for all USA Network shows. And speaking of those, our current favorites are Burn Notice, Psych and Monk which are all returning this summer. Here's the promo for Character Arcade: Posted on May 29, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Joshua Jackson Talks Fringe Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv, the stars of J.J. Abrams new show Fringe talk about the show and what fans should be watching out for. Anna has a British accent. No doubt they'll make her do an American accent for the show, just like producers do for everyone from Hugh Laurie on House to Alex O'Loughlin on the recently-departed Moonlight. Let them do their own accents, we say. We're tired of Brits playing Americans. But we will be tuning into Fringe, which sounds like Alias meet The X-Files. Posted on May 28, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Indiana Jones Tops the Box Office Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull made box office magic over the Memorial Day weekend, taking in $126,917,373 over four days. We saw it and loved it. And we were shocked at how good Shia LaBeouf was. Really. He was pretty annoying in Transformers, but somehow he's grown up a bit. He's calmer. He's funnier. Or maybe he paid attention to what Harrison Ford was doing and learned a few tricks. In any event, the dialogue is snappy, the action is non-stop and Harrison Ford has still got it. We're ready for Indy 5! In second place was The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which pulled in another $29,810,163, putting its cumulative take at $97,855,173. In third place was Iron Man which made another $26,111,130, for a cumulative take so far of $258,278,546. Now that's what we call a comeback for Robert Downey, Jr. The sequel is already being planned. In fourth place was What Happens in Vegas, which made another $11,363,713 for a cumulative take of $56,609,605. That's excellent for a romantic comedy and probably means we'll be seeing more of Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in the near future. Here's the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull: Posted on May 27, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Moonlight Cancelled, Terminator Returns Even a last-ditch effort to move the show to the CW didn't work: CBS' Moonlight is officially canceled. We are not happy about this at all. In other, happier tv news, the Fox upfronts were this week. Here are the new show pickups: Fringe: Supernatural procedural from Lost masterminds J.J. Abrams and Jeff Pinkner and Transformers writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and starring one Mr. Joshua JacksonAnd in the best news yet, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed. Posted on May 15, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Jennie Garth Returns to 90210 Jennie Garth is returning to the zipcode that made her famous: 90210. She's joining the cast of the CW's Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off. Jennie will be a recurring character, and will play her same role as before -- Kelly Taylor. In the new show, Kelly plays a guidance counselor at her alma mater, West Beverly Hills High. Though she is not a regular on the new 90210, her casting brings the new show closer to the traditional formula of a spinoff, featuring a character from the original series.But what about Shannen Doherty? And Tori Spelling? We need controversy, people! Posted on May 12, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Lost: Cabin Fever ![]() So, how amazing was Lost last night? We got the story of John Locke's childhood and the parallels to Ben's life were eerie. Being born premature, losing their mothers (Locke's gave him up, Ben's died -- although they were both named Emily), both were chosen by the ageless Richard Alpert as boys because they were "special." But Locke refused his destiny, while Ben embraced his. And what about that incredible scene where Richard place several items in front of young Locke, asking him to choose the items that had belonged to him before. That's just how they choose the next Dalai Lama. Buddhists believe the next Dalai Lama is a reincarnated former Lama so they ask the child to choose which items were his in a former life. When Locke chose the wrong item, Richard was furious and stomped out of the house. Locke's destiny as the savior of the island appears to be approaching. Or is it? After all, Hurley was able to see the cabin too. Claire turning up in the cabin with Christian Shepard seems to point to the fact that she's dead. But she acted so differently that it didn't seem like her. Spiritual possession by Jacob's minions, anyone? But our favorite moment was when Ben and Hurley sat outside the Creepy Cabin waiting for Locke to come out with a solution to their problems. Hurley opens a chocolate bar, then thinks a minute and hands half to Ben. Ben, clearly shocked that anyone would voluntarily share something with him out of the goodness of his heart, takes the bar and chews...thoughtfully. Great scene. And the answer to the problems of murderous commando Kearney coming to kill them all? Why, move the island! But of course! How we love this show. Posted on May 9, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Lindsay Lohan to Guest Star on Ugly Betty Lindsay Lohan will guest star on Ugly Betty's season finale on May 22nd. But that's not all. No, the big news is that Betty producers are currently talking to LiLo's camp about bringing her back next season for a sizable arc -- and I do mean sizable. We're talking as many as eight freakin' episodes. No doubt ABC is looking at the ratings mileage CBS got out of Britney Spears' How I Met Your Mother cameo and is hoping Lohan can perform the same magic for Betty, which, despite firing on all cylinders creatively this season, has seen its viewership tumble by double digits. Depressing, I know.We like the idea of a Lindsay guest starring stint on Ugly Betty. But we don't know about her playing some random fast food worker. Still, Lindsay can do comedy quite well -- whatever the writers do, it will most likely be funny. Posted on May 1, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Sneak Peeks For Grey's Anatomy Here are two sneak peeks of the Grey's Anatomy episode that will air tomorrow night on ABC. They're pretty funny. (Videos via Watch With Kristin). Posted on April 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | The Secrets of Benjamin Linus Kristin of Watch With Kristin at E! has a fantastic
interview
with Michael Emerson who plays the complex and utterly fascinating Benjamin Linus on Lost. After Thursday's mind-blowing episode (in which we see Ben in a whole new light, including kicking some serious butt in the desert and being secret agent man in Iraq) the entire show landscape has shifted. The ultimate battle between Charles Widmore and Benjamin Linus for control of the island is on.
Jumping to the end of episode then, Charles Widmore says, I didn't kill your daughter, you did. How much does Ben feel culpable in her death?He's right about that. We do like Ben Linus more than Charles Widmore. In fact, Ben has been growing on us all season, because of Michael Emerson's amazing performance. Charles Widmore is totally evil -- think of how mean he was to Desmond. And we can't believe Widmore had Ben's daughter killed; clearly Widmore and Ben had some kind of "family is off limits" agreement in their war over the island. It's all starting to make sense why Sayid went to work for Ben. We really wouldn't want to be someone on Ben's or Sayid's hit list, that's for sure. Now we know that many of you think Ben is totally evil and ruthless, but really his mission to save the world is so important that he has to be ruthless. At least that's how we feel about it this week. Posted on April 26, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Hopeful News For Moonlight Fans Some hopeful
news
for Moonlight fans: executive producer Joel Silver is determined to get the show a second season. Silver told Sci Fi Wire that he and the writers are already working out the story arc for next season. He will pitch the ideas and the proposed renewal to CBS next week.
"We're hopeful," Silver said in a group interview on April 18 while promoting his latest film, Speed Racer. "I mean, the next episode goes on next Friday night, which is a really great episode. It starts out, Mick [Alex O'Loughlin] is still human, but then he has to go back to being a vampire. And I have three more really strong episodes. And I hope that it does come back, because we have a whole plan for next year that's fantastic."We're with you, Joel: knock em out at the pitch meeting! Posted on April 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Audiences Staying Away From Topical Films Variety reports that audiences are growing quite tired of topical films, such as those that cover hot-button political issues and the Iraq War. Filmmakers, mindful that it took more than a decade for Hollywood to effectively tackle the Vietnam War onscreen, were eager to embrace the topicality of Iraq while it was still hot. And both indies and studio speciality divisions jumped in headfirst. In retrospect, it's easy to see why they failed, and why the next round -- yes, there are more on the way -- faces an uphill battle.We enjoyed The Kingdom, although the last scene needed a bigtime edit. But hey, it was Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx in an action thriller so that's always good. We think it's too soon to start doing movies about the Iraq War. It's still going on: if we want to read stories about it all we have to do is pick up a newspaper or watch television. It's just too early for all that. We think it's still to early for 9/11 movies: we saw it happen live on TV, after all. Posted on April 19, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | The Return of Lost Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof talked about the return of Lost next week in a conference call with reporters. Here's the scoop: Something big is up for Claire. "I think there is a very compelling event involving Claire's character that will take place between now and the season finale." (Rumors include everything from a kiss to the kiss of death...)We've been watching this show way too long, because that paragraph actually made sense to us. Oh, and we think Claire is doomed. Lost returns with the first of five new episodes on Thursday, April 24, 2008 in a new timeslot, Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. Next week's episode is titled "The Shape of Things to Come." Part one of "There's No Place Like Home" will air on May 15th. The two-hour second part will air on May 29th at 9 p.m ET. Posted on April 18, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Stanley Kamel Dead at 65 ![]() Stanley Kamel, a veteran actor who is currently playing Dr. Kroger on the hit television show Monk, has died. The L.A. Times reports that he suffered a heart attack in his home; he was 65. Stanley Kamel, a veteran character actor who appeared most recently in the USA television network series "Monk" as detective Adrian Monk's psychiatrist, has died. He was 65.We love Monk and Stanley Kamel's portrayal of Monk's psychiatrist Dr. Charles Kroger was always such fun to watch. He will be missed. There's no word yet from USA Network about how they're going to handle the actor's death in the script; right now, no doubt the entire cast and crew is still hearing about the tragedy. Posted on April 10, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Friday Night Lights Saved By DirecTV DirectTV has just saved the show Friday Night Lights. The fans are devoted, but the ratings are low, so the deal that NBC cut with DirecTV should make fans very happy. For television networks, it is a common quandary: what do you do about a show that critics adore, that has a passionate base of fans, but that consistently gets mediocre ratings? NBC, for one, thinks it has a creative solution. Last week, it announced a deal with DirecTV, a subscription satellite television service, that would keep Friday Night Lights on the air for a third season. DirecTV will help defray NBC's production costs and in exchange will receive the right to show Friday Night Lights first.This is a very interesting development. Will fans subscribe to DirecTV in order to see the shows early? That seems to be the sticking point here. Because surely DirecTV is doing the deal to increase subscribers. Posted on April 9, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | Heroes and Chuck to Air in Uninterrupted Blocks Heroes, Medium and Chuck will be returning in lengthy blocks in the fall, according to NBC. NBC's returning genre shows -- Heroes, Chuck and -- will each air a full complement of original episodes next season, in contrast to this year's strike-truncated season, with Heroes and Chuck set to air without repeats through December. The announcements came at the network's presentation to advertisers in New York on April 2.We like the fact that they will air in blocks: when they chop up the shows into four weeks on, three weeks off, it just ruins the continuity. Who remembers what happened weeks ago? We barely remember what happened yesterday. Posted on April 5, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) | |
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