Muyiwa's Reviews and Comments

2016-01-19T23:55:00.001+01:00

The disputed genius of Arsène Wenger – These Football Times (via http://ble.ac/teamstream-) http://teamstre.am/1PD8wf2

Success or Failure: How the Winchesters Have Done in Supernatural Season Finales

2014-05-13T20:52:00.001+01:00

As we quickly approach the finale of season 9, I thought it might be fun to look back at how the Winchesters have fared in finales over the years. Did they succeed or did they fail in their goal?

Before we proceed, just let me say that I love Sam and Dean, and would certainly want them on my side, no matter what, if another Apocalypse was nigh...

Season 1: Devil's Trap - the Winchesters (all three of them!) fail to kill Azazel.
2: All Hell Breaks Loose II - while Dean does succeed in killing Azazel, they fail to prevent the Devil's Gate from opening.
3: No Rest For the Wicked - the Winchesters fail to kill Lilith thereby sending Dean to hell.
4: Lucifer Rising - Sam does succeed in killing Lilith, but, oops!, that opened Lucifer's cage and brought about the Apocalypse. As my daughter would say, Epic Fail!
5: Swan Song - arguably the WInchester's finest moment as they succeed in putting Lucifer back in his cage and ending the Apocalypse.
6: The Man Who Knew Too Much - Sam and Dean fail to stop Castiel from gobbling up all the souls in Purgatory, thereby becoming a pretty douchebag god.
7: Survival of the Fittest - Dean succeeds in killing Dick Roman (thank Chuck!) forever (we can only hope!) ridding us of the Leviathan threat.
8: Sacrifice - Sam fails to close the gates of Hell forever because Dean won't let him die (awww!).

So the scorecard:
Successes = 2
Mixed = 1
Fails = 5

Hmmm. Does that mean we're going to be stuck with Metatron for another year? That the angels will still be amongst us? Or that the angels get sent back, Boogertron gets his, and Dean goes dark side? I for one am really looking forward to finding out. Here's to a Winchester success for this finale!

News Brief : New deals for The Big Bang Theory, Shonda Rhimes has a new show in the works and more...

2013-12-23T16:27:00.001+01:00

Big Bang Theory Cast to get 3years new deal

Warner Bros TV, the studio producing The Big Bang Theory has unofficially started drafting a new three-year licensing deal. The process will most likely involve signing the series' stars (mainly Jim Parsons, Johhny Galecki and Kaley Cueco ), showrunner (Chuck Lorre) and writers for three more years once their contracts are up at the end of this season.

Shonda Rhimes has new show in development

Shonda Rhimes has a new pilot in development for ABC, penned by Scandal writer Peter Nowalk. The pilot going under the development title How to Get Away With Murder, is supposedly a law school professor and some students who get involved in a murder plot. No details yet, if the show's main character will be in the mold of Shona Rhime's preferred 'strong, independent but emotional' female character.

Gracepoint adding more to its cast

Anna Gunn has joined the American remake of Broadchurch, called Gracepoint. She'll play Det. Ellie Miller, David Tenant's (also the main character in the UK version) partner. Josh Hamilton (American Horror Story: Coven) has been cast as Joe Miller, Det. Ellie Miller’s (Anna Gunn) husband. Michael Peña (World Trade Center, End of Watch) has been cast to play Mark Lasseter, the father of the boy whose murder is at the center of the series. Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl's) is to play the role of a young reporter named Owen Burke.

24: Live Another Day, gets new cast

Fox's 24: Live Another Day limited series has added more actors in series regular roles. Gbenga Akinnagbe (Graceland, Nurse Jackie), Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives) and Giles Matthey (True Blood) have all joined the London-set drama; Akinnagbe will play ambitious CIA field operative Erik Ritter, Davis will play a British national who's the widow of a terrorist. while Matthey will play computer tech Jordan Reed.

In other news .….….

- Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting, Cybill) will guest-star on ABC's new comedy Trophy Wife as Kate's (Malin Akerman) mom.

- Men At Work has added Jane Seymour, Ed Asner, and Alanna Masterson as guest-stars for its third season.

- Actress Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks, ER, Mad Men) will guest-star on Fox's New Girl as the wilder sis to the adorkable Jess (Zooey Deschanel).

- Serinda Swan (Graceland) will guest-star in The Tomorrow People. She'll play Cassandra "Cassie" Smythe, She's described as being the most powerful breakout on the planet.

- Fred Armisen will reprise his bizarre role as Melipnos from Brooklyn Nine-Nine's pilot for the show's big post-Super Bowl episode. Amy, played by Melissa Fumero, and Jake (Andy Samberg) will run into him while they're out searching for a suspect.

- Michael Rapaport will appear in Season 5 of Justified, as the cousin of Dewey Crowe.

The Evolving Strange world of Doctor Who, Is Moffat taking too much liberties...???

2013-11-27T00:48:00.002+01:00

If the modern world of film and television has taught us anything, it’s that the medium deems a franchise is only as important as the money it makes. If it doesn’t make money, it goes away, only to return in another form – perhaps then led by someone who might care about the franchise, but who doesn’t have the ability to project such passions onscreen. Good intentions only go so far in storytelling, and a poor tale told to such a dedicated following is not easily forgotten.

So why not Steven Moffat? If the man who created the terrifying Jekyll because of his love of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ – who created the imaginative Sherlock (with An Adventure in Space and Time writer Mark Gatiss) because of his love of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective tales – who, in 2006, wrote a short story for a Doctor Who magazine which he then turned into the fan-favorite episode “Blink” – wants to take on a Time War tale which he, himself, said was too impossible of a feat, why not let him?

Why, indeed. Perhaps the answer to all this, after seeing ‘The Day of the Doctor,’ is: because he can, completely and passionately.

3 iterations of the Doctor meeting and existing together without consequense, even if the time stream was out of sync, one dying and regenerating immediately, the other (possibly) forgetting and only the newer doctor remembering, is a silly excuse. Considering all the past episodes of the Doctor hammering on why time couldn't be tampered with. When he had to let his other self go with Rose to the other Universe, because they couldn't exist in the same one.

How could he have entered into his own life-force's time-stream at the end of Season 7's finale, "The Name of The Doctor". No repercussions to him also this time, arguement that his time-stream was under repair from the attack on his life and memories from 'The Silence' is rubbish. The only purpose of that contradicting journey was to introduce us to the forgotten and hidden 'War Doctor'.

The biggest bomb dropped, though, was Moffat’s weekend announcement during an interview with Radio Times that "Matt Smith’s Doctor is in fact the 13th, rather than the 11th". Moffat has officially declared John Hurt’s Doctor as an official incarnation and said that David Tennant’s Doctor used up two regenerations, bringing the tally to 13 lives and leaving fans wondering what this means for the series.

It’s been considered canon since the 1976 episode “The Deadly Assassin” that Time Lords can only regenerate 12 times and live through 13 incarnations, which means Smith should technically be the last Doctor. So where does that leave Capaldi?

Fans had already been theorizing about additional regenerations once John Hurt’s mysterious forgotten Doctor appeared in the season 7 finale, “The End of Time,” wondering if River Song’s regeneration transfer had something to do with it, or perhaps if when the universe rebooted in “The Big Bang”, so did the Doctor’s regeneration count – or perhaps even the High Council added some regenerations on along the way, as they can do. Obviously Capaldi will still be succeeding Smith as the Doctor — now it’s just a matter of seeing how the regeneration cap-breach is explained in the Christmas special.

Moffat had this to say on the matter:
""The 12 regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology. Science fiction is all about rules, you can’t just casually break them.""

Doctor Who : 50th Anniversary Review..... The Day Of The Doctor

2013-11-27T00:21:00.000+01:00

How do you celebrate 50 years, you do it "BIG and in Style". That is exactly what Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary episode did, it went BIG, BOLD, COLORFUL, CONTROVERSIAL and EPIC.

In ‘The Day of the Doctor,’ written by Steven Moffat, the fan-favorite storyteller masterfully weaves a complicated – and likely controversial – adventure through the heart of the Time Lord’s darkest moment, bringing together all of the forms of television’s iconic time traveler to provide an unnecessary update to what was thought to be the demise of Gallifrey, and the Doctor’s most defining decision. Unnecessary, yes – but worth it? Absolutely. A story centuries in the making, combining the powers of the Hero, the Warrior and the Doctor to tell the greatest story never known, providing a superb conclusion to a Doctor Who milestone that couldn’t have been more perfect.

And how does a man who can traverse all of time and space even celebrate an anniversary anyway? Intergalactic party poppers? Well, just as it should be for any landmark birthday, he does it by spending a lot of time remembering the past and just enough time looking ahead at the future too.

At the heart(s) of the episode, we have a simple tale of Doctor Who baddies The Zygons – shapeshifting monsters that can mimic people (and animals) around them but otherwise look like big, ugly suckers – breaking free from oil paintings in London’s National Gallery to take over the world. Meanwhile, Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor jumps through a time fissure to team up with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and save the day. With help from a feisty Queen Elizabeth I too, because what’s Doctor Who without an important historical figure getting stuck into the action?

It’s not all fun and action though. Delivering on the epic saga side of the Time Lord’s story was the mysterious ‘War doctor’ (John Hurt) who was on the brink of carrying out the mass genocide that has dogged the Doctor ever since Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor (Now the Tenth Doctor) walked out of the TARDIS in the regenerated show in 2005. In a clever narrative twist – with more than a hint of A Christmas Tale about it – this more serious, ruthless Doctor is given a chance to meet his future incarnations to see first-hand the consequences of his actions and how he will feel about them with the benefit of hindsight.

It’s a great plot device because Steven Moffat has the benefit of pleasing old and new fans at the same time: telling a typical Who story while using Hurt’s War Doctor as a spectator, letting the outcome of this adventure affect his lives-altering decision. And as he wrestles with the dilemma of pushing a big red button that will destroy his home planet Gallifrey – including billions of little Time Children – in order to end the Time War, we finally address a plot that has taken eight years to finally tell. This includes lots of regretful Matt Smith continuing to carry every world on his shoulders and lots of wrathful David Tennant, angry at both other Doctors for seemingly taking the decision too lightly.

With Moffat’s carefully crafted words at disposal, Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt each shine as their own, defined versions of the Doctor, while also tagging enough of the others’ sentences with quirky remarks to remind those watching that, although different, these men are one and the same – different versions with different experiences to add, or forget, as with the case of Matt Smith’s Doctor.

An explanation for the personality of Tennant’s Doctor, too, was surprisingly included, and is a perfect example of how the immense attention to details justifies everything needed to tell this impossible tale. Tennant’s Doctor – the man who regrets – and Smith’s Doctor – the man who forgets – help provide a wonderful bookend to the evolution of a character so defined by a single decision from his past. This allows audiences to believe, albeit momentarily, that the two actors’ unique cadence wasn’t simply birthed in an audition room, but that it was a calculated move to convey the stages of the Doctor as he attempts to cope with the self-inflicted genocide of his entire race.

Of course, along the way, there are still plenty of shout-outs for Whovians young and old Surprises in the the 50th Anniversary also includes more than enough onscreen surprises which raise the same goose bumps, including, but not limited to: a reprised Billie Piper’s role as an omniscient Rose/Bad Wolf, the prominence of old Who comrades U.N.I.T throughout the episode and Tom Baker’s magical appearance as the Curator - who also happened to leave Smith’s Doctor with some curious clues about possible returning faces.

Thankfully Moffat knows how to provide a finale fitting for such an occasion and all was quickly forgiven. With a climactic resolution that not only provided a TARDIS-wetting sequence that made room for every Doctor incarnation to date – not to mention the fist-pumping appearance of one yet to come – but also changed the overall narrative of the revived show, there can’t be a single fan that wasn’t completely satisfied and fulfilled as the credits rolled. And that’s without mentioning a gratuitous, but utterly delightful final cameo that pays tribute to arguably the greatest Time Lord of them all.

Peter Capaldi's cameo as the Twelfth Doctor ( Thirteenth or Fourteenth Doctor?)

“The Day of the Doctor” adds a surprisingly happy twist to the Doctor’s darkest moment, and Moffat’s use of a clever time travel twist, to keep the integrity of the former Doctors intact, does little to change the fact that Smith’s Doctor now knows the truth – and for what purpose?

Overall, the episode faltered somewhere in the middle, It took a while to start delivering on every Whovian’s wishlist for the episode, but with plenty of entertaining back-and-forth between our most recent two Doctors (the ones with the sand shoes and the bow-ties), plenty of fan-pleasing homages, hilarious plot turns and a story that paid tribute to every element that makes Doctor Who such a brilliant show. Ending with a fantastic finale meant that, fittingly for the 50th anniversary, it was all gold.

News Briefs : HBO orders Leftovers to series

2013-11-06T00:15:00.001+01:00

... It's not HBO, it's leftovers. Well, it will be The Leftovers. The cable network has ordered to series the latest project from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, the slightly supernatural drama The Leftovers. Based on the book by Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers follows what happens after the biblical Rapture takes all the righteous people away and leaves the Earth populated with everyone who didn't get called up to heaven. Specifically, the series will center on a group of people who must survive without their more devout loved ones. Liv Tyler, Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston, Amy Brenneman, Emily Meade, Michael Gaston, and Chris Zylka are all in the cast, and HBO has asked for 10 episodes.

... Former Awkward. showrunner and creator Lauren Iungerich has received a put pilot commitment for Bitch off the Ol' Block, a comedy about a woman who is reunited with her teenage daughter. The daughter turns out to be a smart-assed version of the mother and moves in with the mother and her roommates, who all raise her. Another twist on the family member moving in at an inopportune time!

... Enlightened creator and star Mike White has a new project cookin' at NBC. The show is about a young 16-year-old chef prodigy who works in a kitchen with his temperamental idol! NBC has given White's project a put pilot commitment.

... Hot on the heels of Magic Mike and the general idea that hunky half-naked men lure eyeballs, Fox has made a put pilot commitment to The Whole Shebang, a new comedy from producer Jennifer Garner and writer Jason Micallef (Butter). So how do gyrating washboards in banana hammocks fit in? A newly single soccer mom inherits a male strip club and discovers a supportive yet dysfunctional surrogate family within.

... Syfy has acquired the Canadian werewolf series Bitten for broadcast. The series stars Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) as Elena Michaels, the lone werewolf in existence. Elena ditches her pack and moves to a new city, but what do you know? A bunch of dead bodies pop up and next thing she knows, she's back working with her old gang of werepeople. Syfy will air all 13 episodes of the first season. Bitten was originally broadcast on Canada's Entertainment One.

CASTING NEWS

... The Walking Dead will add Christian Serratos to play the character Rosita Espinosa, who appeared in the comics, for Season 4. The casting announcement says she'll recur in Season 4 with the option to become a regular in Season 5, so I like her chances to survive!

... ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland has found its voice for the Caterpillar. Veteran punk rocker Iggy Pop of The Stooges will speak for the drug-huffing butterfly worm. Other voices in the cast include John Lithgow for the White Rabbit and Keith David for the Cheshire Cat. Iggy takes over the job from fellow musician Roger Daltry, who lent his voice to the Caterpillar when Once Upon a Time used the character. [EW]

... Billie Piper and Helen McCrory have been cast in Showtime's Penny Dreadful. The eight-episode horror series follows several characters from literature, including Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Grey, as they sit on the fringes of society in old London. Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) will play an Irish immigrant trying to escape her past, and McRory (Harry Potter) will be a "spiritualist." Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, and Eva Green are also involved in the show. Look for Penny Dreadful in 2014.

... Everybody Loves Raymond brother Brad Garrett will drop by CBS's The Crazy Ones for a couple episodes. The exact details of his role aren't yet known, but his character Lewis will be part of the ad firm that Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar's characters work for.

... LeVar Burton will be back on Community this season. Look out, Troy.

Sherlock , Season 3 New Images

2013-11-06T00:06:00.000+01:00

New images for Sherlock were released today by BBC One.

Its obvious that it takes place prior to Watson discovering that (spoiler alert) Sherlock faked his own death at the end of season two. Accompanying the image, BBC One’s press release explains, “It’s been a long time since Sherlock Holmes jumped off that roof – it’s time to reveal the truth about what happened between him and the pavement.” It goes on:

“The question on everyone’s lips will finally be answered when Sherlock returns with three brand-new action-packed adventures. How did he do it? And how will John take the news that his best friend faked his own death? What will Sherlock think when he finds out John has fallen in love with Mary Morstan? She’s sensible, quick-witted and not at all taken in by Sherlock’s posturing. Once again, the game is on for Sherlock and John in the first episode of the new series, The Empty Hearse written by Mark Gatiss.”

Sherlock returns January, 2014..

News Brief

2013-09-29T23:51:00.000+01:00

.. Mike & Molly is adding some star power via Academy Award-winner Susan Sarandon, who will guest-star as JC Small, a literary icon and an idol of Molly’s.

... Jere Burns, who has spent the last four years as recurring character Wynn Duffy on Justified, has finally been upped to a series regular on the FX drama. This is fantastic news for fans, but probably not-so-great news for Timothy Olyphant's Raylan Givens. An increased presence in Season 5 probably spells more trouble for Harlan County.

... Taye Diggs is visiting New Girl! He'll play Artie, a "self-assured ladies’ man" who Jess and Cece meet at a bar while Nick is preoccupied with guys' night. But it's not just any guys' night, because the episode also marks the return of Damon Wayans Jr.'s character, Coach.

... Adam Pally of the groundbreaking series Happy Endings has been upped to a series regular on The Mindy Project. His character, Peter, is the newest ob-gyn in Mindy's practice.

... Beth Riesgraf (Leverage) has landed a role on ABC's Tricia Helfer-fronted midseason drama Killer Women. She'll appear in the second episode as Jennifer Jennings (that's unfortunate), an interior decorator who has a secret side-business that may or may not involve murdering people.

... Janina Gavankar (all the TV shows) and Khary Payton (General Hospital) have signed on to star opposite Ben Rappaport in USA's new comedy pilot Love Is Dead, about a romance in reverse, starting with the break-up. [Deadline]

... Enlisted, which was recently moved to midseason, has cast Stacy Keach (Prison Break), Dean Stockwell (Battlestar Galactica), and Barry Bostwick (Spin City) as a trio of army veterans who return to the base for a funeral. It eventually becomes clear they're the older versions of the Hill brothers, played by Geoff Stults, Chris Lowell, and Parker Young.

... TNT has ordered 10 episodes of the Steven Bochco-created drama series Murder in the First. It stars Taye Diggs (who recently landed a guest spot on New Girl) and Kathleen Robertson as homicide detectives investigating the murder of an apparent drug addict. Much like The Killing, The Bridge, and Broadchurch, the series will take on one case per season. Because that really seems to be working out so well for the majority of the series that attempt it.

... Fox has given a pilot order to The Middle Man, Ben Affleck is set to direct and executive producer the pilot so absolutely no one should be surprised when I tell you that it is set in Boston in the 1960s and explores the relationship between FBI Agent Rudy MacAteer and Mickey Flood, an Irish-American gangster and confidential informant. Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting, Medium) wrote the pilot and will also executive produce.

... ABC wants to know what life would be like for Americans had they lost the Revolutionary War back in the 1700s. They've put a project into development titled The Thirteen that will explore a contemporary world in which Americans are still at war with the British over their freedom. This brings to light several questions: If we lost the war, how did World War I end? Why did we stop at 13 colonies? Do we drive on the left side of the road? And more importantly, would we be forced to pay for a TV license, too?

... Casey Wilson, Jonathan Groff and June Diane Raphael (Happy Endings ceators) have sold DINKS to ABC. DINKS, which is an acronym for “Double Income, No Kids,” is about a pair of thirtysomethings who find themselves struggling between life with kids and life without them.

ABC is developing an event series based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's being written by Evan Daugherty, who's also to blame for Snow White and the Huntsman. The project is titled Esmerelda and will tell the story from the Gypsy Esmerelda's point of view.

... Netflix was ready to swoop in on Better Call Saul, the Saul Goodman-focused Breaking Bad spin-off, if AMC and Sony had been unable to come to a licensing agreement.

News Brief : A lotta number(s) news for shows aired last week

2013-09-29T23:35:00.000+01:00

Its numbers time, The Big Bang Theory shows its still the numbers-king, NCIS is still the most watched crime drama procedural. After all the media hype and buzz in the summer, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had an impressive series premiere. The Emmys also had an impressive night on sunday night with increase in viewership from last year's event. Cable shows also continues to draw in big numbers, as Dexter goes out with a bang, Ray Donovan and Devious Maids end their first season on a high.

.. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the most talked-about new series of the fall, premiered last night to 12.1 million viewers, coming in with a 4.7 rating in the 18-49 demo. That's ABC's largest premiere in three years,and Joss Whedon's largest premiere in the history of the universe. The show premiered last week to impressive ratings, scoring the best debut of a new drama in all of television since 2009’s V.

... In another numbers news, NCIS pulled in 20.02 million viewers and had its third largest season-opening audience ever. What kind of voodoo magic are those kids practicing that they get that many viewers?

... The Big Bang Theory also returned last week to its biggest ratings ever. 20.44 million viewers tuned in for the Season 7 premiere.

... Congratulations, Emmys! had the biggest audience for the awards show since 2005. Sunday's broadcast on CBS averaged 17.63 million viewers, up a third from last years telecast on ABC.

... More ratings! Dexter's apparently disappointing final episode reached the series' biggest audience yet, with 2.8 million viewers tuning in for the initial airing. Ray Donovan's Season 1 finale also did well, with 2.1 million viewers. That's a Showtime best for a freshman series' season finale. As for Breaking Bad, it continued to be awesome and rise in the ratings even with a lot of competition from Dexter and the Emmys, and hit a series high with 6.6 million viewers. Remember when you had to convince people to try to watch this show? While we're at it, let's just mention that Lifetime's Devious Maids wrapped up its first season on Sunday, and 3 million viewers watched that for a season high.

... FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads both premiered to okay numbers last night (6 million viewers and a 2.5 demo rating, and 5.6 million viewers and a 2.1 demo rating, respectively). This is sort of disappointing for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I've heard called the best new comedy of the fall

... FX has concluded that the Season 6 premiere of Sons of Anarchy has become the most-watched FX broadcast of all time. So far, it's accumulated 8.32 million viewers.

Back to other news apart from viewership ratings and numbers

... Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The most anticipated new show of the season debuted to big numbers for ABC, but very mixed reviews. Some people loved it, some people thought it was only mediocre, some people were very confused (and in some cases angered) by the lack of superheroes (which means they didn't read anything that came out before the series premiered). But regardless of what The People thought, it was a strong start for ABC, Marvel, and the Joss Whedon himself.

... James Spade is back on TV and carrying most of NBC's new—and largely mediocre—FBI thriller The Blacklist on his shoulders. But the series is worth a look to just to see the actor (who plays a most-wanted criminal who suddenly surrenders himself to the FBI) chew scenery, cling to every pregnant pause, and let lines like "Well I think you're special," slide out of his mouth.

... Another edition of NCIS again! So another spin-off is in the works. The new series would be set in and around New Orleans, with a backdoor pilot planned for a super-sized spring episode of the original series. NCIS star Mark Harmon would produce, with fall 2014 a likely debut date for what can only be called NCIS: NO.

... A Walking Dead spinoff, AMC announced that it's developing a "companion series" (a.k.a. a fancy term for spin-off) of its zombie mega-hit The Walking Dead. The new series will focus on "an entirely new story and cast of characters," and Robert Kirkman, who created the comics, will serve as a co-executive producer along with Walking Dead EPs Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert. The series, which doesn't currently have a title, is expected to premiere in 2015.

... Ken Jeong, better known as Chang from Community ( The Hangover triologies), is set to star and produce in a medical multi-camera comedy on NBC. Dr. Ken will loosely be based on Jeong's own experience as a real physician (he was a doctor before he turned to acting). Can't wait for this.

... TNT has canceled its drama King & Maxwell after one season. The series starred Rebecca Romijn and Jon Tenney as secret-service agents who became private eyes.

News Brief : Renewals and Cancellations

2013-09-29T23:27:00.000+01:00

.... Lifetime cancels Army Wives after 7 seasons
Lifetime has decided to divorce Army Wives—its longest-running original series—after several mostly happy years together. The show concluded its seventh and now final season this past June.

continue reading.....

.... FX Renews The Bridge for Season 2
I get the feeling that FX wasn't too sure about this one, but the network has gone ahead and ordered a second season of The Bridge anyway. Season 2 will run for another 13 episodes and reclaim the show's status as a summer series in 2014. The renewal comes late in The Bridge's first season.

... ABC Renews Mistresses for Season 2
Mistresses, the trashy summer series will be back for a second season. That's right, Mistresses, the ABC soap starring Alyssa Milano, will be back next year. Apparently, the show was the number-two scripted network drama of the summer behind Under the Dome.
Mistresses left literally dozens of viewers hanging by a thread with a Season 1 finale that was bloated with awesome and full of insane, unresolved cliffhangers. Now we'll finally find out whether Milano's character Savi survived her terrible merge onto the freeway in her sweet ride, we'll see how her white husband reacts to her half-black baby (oopsie!), and we'll learn whether Yunjin Kim's character was shot by a crazy Penelope Ann Miller.

.... HBO renews Boardwalk Empire for Season 5
HBO has put some extra cash in the pockets of organized crime and re-upped Boardwalk Empire for a fifth season, just three episodes into Season 4. The move continues HBO's tradition of quick renewals, and was likely nudged along by Boardwalk's performance at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards: In addition to Bobby Cannavale's surprising win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama on Sunday, the series also bagged trophies for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. HBO hasn't announced an episode count or target air date for Season 5, but if history is any indication (and shouldn't it be, for a period piece like this one?) "12" and "fall 2014" would be pretty safe bets.
Boardwalk Empire's still-young fourth season is averaging 7.5 million viewers per episode, according to HBO, and the show is almost certainly hoping that it will continue to earn critical recognition now that it's introduced even more potentially award-winning characters in Ron Livingston's Roy Philips and Patricia Arquette's Sally Wheet. Jeffrey Wright's Dr. Valentin Narcisse may even be an Emmy lock. Only three episodes in, the guy is quite an intriguing villain, and a perfect foil to Michael Kenneth Williams' criminally underutilized Chalky White.

... BBC America cancels Copper
I regret to inform you that BBC America has decided to pull the plug on its period drama Copper after only two seasons. The series followed Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) in post-Civil War era New York City as he struggled with his own personal demons and the demons that plagued the slums of Five Points New York. The Season 2 finale on September 22 will now serve as a series finale.

News Briefs : FOX and NBC join the comic craze

2013-09-29T22:59:00.000+01:00

In the news; FOX does Gotham with no Batman, while NBC enters the world of magic. The growing trend of American stations and networks of remaking foreign TV shows instead of coming up with new ideas continues;

... Not wanting to be left out of the superhero genre now that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken over the airwaves, FOX has decided to get in on the genre action with a Batman-adjacent project titled Gotham that will explore Commissioner James Gordon and the bad guys who made the fake city famous.

.. NBC is also jumping on the Comic Book trend with a Constantine series. Based on the DC comics which was adapted some years ago into a Keanu Reeves starrer.

... A&E has secured the rights to the French supernatural drama Les Revenants (which translates to The Returned). The series is set in a small town where people start coming back from the dead without having aged at all, and with no recollection of actually dying. There's a rumor that Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) is in talks to adapt the project. But Sundance Channel recently acquired the rights to broadcast the original series, which will air in the U.S. beginning October 31.

... Damon Wayans Jr. (Second Generation Wayans) is teaming up with FOX for his next project. Man/Child is about two single dads who move in together and struggle to strike a balance being a responsible adult and living a life of debauchery.

... Spartacus vets Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are developing a new series for Starz about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent who infiltrates a Mexican drug cartel. The project, titled Gringo, was inspired by the nonfiction book "The Shadow Catcher" by Hipolito Acosta.

... Bones creator Hart Hanson, along with The Secret Circle creator Andrew Miller, will adapt Chris Ewan's book series "The Good Thief’s Guide" for ABC. The story follows Charlie Howard, a charming fellow who travels the world while blogging about his adventures. Oh yeah, and he steals stuff for funsies (and sometimes profit). Each season will be set in a new exotic location and focus on one particular heist

CASTING NEWS

... Scott Wolf (Perception) is heading to NBC's midseason drama The Night Shift as a day shift trauma surgeon engaged to Jill Flint's doctor character.

... Laura Benanti (Go On), who can next be seen on NBC's upcoming live Sound of Music special, is dropping by Elementary! She'll play a nanny who quickly becomes the main suspect in her employer's death

... Hey, Game of Thrones book fans, the role of Hizdahr zo Loraq has finally been cast for the upcoming fourth season of the TV show. This means nothing to those of us who are still trying to finish Book 1, but the role has gone to British actor Joel Fry (10,000 BC). Hizdahr plays a role in Daenerys Targaryen's story.

... David Milch's new project, The Money, has scored another big-name actor in Nathan Lane. He'll join Brendan Gleeson in the series about an American media mogul's dynastic family, playing Gordon McCarren, a reporter for the New York Herald who hasn't had a byline in weeks and is desperate for a good story to come along.

... Jack Coleman (remember Heroes?, Castle, Burn Notice), has landed a recurring role on ABC's Scandal. The details of his character, however, are being safely guarded by Shonda Rhimes' minions. But we can tell you that his first appearance will happen sometime in October.

... The casting for Syfy's new pilot Dominion has really gotten under way. Anthony Stewart Head, who played Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been cast as David Weel, the power-hungry president of the Senate of Vega. Also new to the project are Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones) as Claire Rysen, the closest thing Vega has to a princess; Luke Allen-Gale (Ripper Street), who'll play William Weel, the son of David and the Head of the Church of the Savior; and Shivani Ghai (Bride & Prejudice) as Arika, a lead diplomat sent from Helena, a mysterious and militant matriarchal society. They join the previously announced Christopher Egan and Tom Wisdom.

... Lucy, the socially awkward lady friend of Raj's who dumped him in The Big Bang Theory's May finale, might be experiencing a change of heart with regard to Koothrappali. Actress Kate Micucci will reprise her role in the November 14 episode.

... Warehouse 13 vet Joanne Kelly has booked a major recurring role on CBS's thriller Hostages. She'll play Vanessa, an ambassador and the sister of the first lady.

News Brief : Post 'Breaking Bad' era or Creator and actor

2013-09-29T17:13:00.001+01:00

Breaking Bad Creator and actor move on to other projects, E! has started their own scripted series,Robert De Niro replaces the late James Gandolfini , more people join The Mindy Project and more......

... Breaking Bad may not be over until Walt says it's over—or at least until this Sunday—but series creator Vince Gilligan has lined up his next TV gig. CBS has ordered Battle Creek, a drama about two detectives with differing views and attitudes in Battle Creek, Michigan, to series for the 2014-2015 TV season. Along for the ride are House creator David Shore, who will serve as showrunner, and Breaking Bad alum Mark Johnson, who'll executive-produce alongside Gilligan.

... The CW is developing Red, a sci-fi Western drama from The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller and executive producer Tom Szentgyorgyi. The project is about the first human settlement on Mars and centers on the relationships between the town’s female sheriff, a doctor, and a criminal.

... Robert Zemeckis has partnered with Clifton Campbell (The Glades) for Billy Ray, which has a put pilot commitment from FOX, is about a family whose world is turned upside-down when their child who was kidnapped as a baby returns home to them at the age of 16 after being raised by a wackadoodle.

CASTING NEWS

... Bryan Cranston, much like Vince Gilligan, is keeping busy. He'll be reprising his role as Ted's former boss on How I Met Your Mother for one episode in the final season.

... HBO has finally given the go-ahead to Criminal Justice, a miniseries that James Gandolfini had been set to star in prior to his death. Robert De Niro will take over Gandolfini's role. Criminal Justice is about a New York attorney who's just a bit too ambitious in taking on a case involving a Pakistani accused of murder.

... The legendary Vanessa Redgrave has joined ABC's The Black Box, a new drama about a world-renowned neuroscientist played by Kelly Reilly who appears to have her crap together on the surface, but is struggling with a mental illness. Redgrave will play her psychiatrist.

... Martin Freeman, who you may recognize from the hit BBC series Sherlock, or from his roles in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and something called The Hobbit, has landed the lead role in FX's limited event series Fargo. He'll play Lester Nygaard, William H. Macy's character in the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name. The series will feature an all new "true crime" case.

... Comedian and all-around awesome guy Patton Oswalt is following up appearances on Justified and Parks and Recreation with a guest-starring tole on FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He'll play a fire marshall who butts heads with Andy Samberg's Detective Peralta.

... Revenge has hired current Devious Maids star Ana Ortiz. She'll guest-star as Bizzy Preston, a public relations specialist hired by Conrad. This role should come as no surprise considering all the crap the Graysons have gone through in the public eye over the course of two seasons.

... Alanna Masterson is joining the cast of The Walking Dead for Season 4. Right now we don't know much about her character, but she'll recur this season, with an option to become a series regular in the future. She'll play a new survivor who first appears midway through the season.

... Loretta Devine has joined USA's new series Sirens. The series follows "three Chicago EMTs whose self-righteous and self-destructive personalities make them unfit for long-term relationships and most occupations. Devine will play the no-nonsense church-hugging mother of one of the characters, and will appear in two episodes.

... Bethany Joy Lenz of One Tree Hill (she played Haley) has landed the lead role in E!'s scripted series pilot Songbyrd. The drama follows a songwriter named Lauren Byrd (Lenz), who has a small group of employees who help her with her unusual songwriting process. And then there's love problems and all that, of course. Rumer Willis has joined as the sister of Lauren.

... Kendra Wilkinson will appear on FOX's The Mindy Project this season because every single celebrity is legally required to guest-star on this show at some point. The former Playmate and Girls Next Door star won't be playing herself.

... Army Wives' Sally Pressman is dropping by Scandal for a few episodes this season. Her role is being kept under wraps because this is a Shona Rhime's show (that woman is so secretive), Look for her in November.

... D.B. Sweeney will appear on Two and a Half Men this season as the boyfriend of Courtney Thorne-Smith's character Lyndsey. He's only due on one episode as of now.

The Michael J. Fox Show : Michael J. Fox's new comedy show is a heartwarming family show

2013-09-28T02:13:00.000+01:00

The Michael J. Fox Show Series Premiere Review: It's Okay to Laugh

Michael J Fox has Parkinson's disease, he has been battling it for years while still making appearances on different shows (Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Rescue Me). So when news came out about him headlining his own comedy show, and the show not shying away about the disease, my opinion was that the show might focus too much on the disease and not his talents.

But as seen in the pilot, this isn't a show about a man's struggle with Parkinson's disease. It's a show about a man who's trying to balance family, work, and the quirky cast of characters in his life, and that man just happens to have Parkinson's disease. And while it's certainly a decision-maker for him—the fear of his tremors on live television is what initially encouraged him to retire from being a news anchor—you can't really say that the show is about Parkinson's and its effect on a family. It's just about the family.

The storyworld surrounding Mike Henry is one of warmth and good intentions. People stop Mike on the street because they miss his presence on TV. They try to commune with him by recounting their tales of family members with degenerative disorders (even if they're not remotely related to Parkinson's). When his family sneakily convinced him to go back to work—because his idleness in retirement was driving them crazy, no less—the news stories were about things like budget misappropriation (and a fire). Thankfully, and this has to be by design, there is such a lack of pity from those closest to Mike that you start to not even notice it. Generally, people are behaving themselves and treating him like the person he is and not the disease he exhibits.

Beyond the unconventional lead character, the rest of the cast is basic sitcom fare. Betsy Brandt sheds the purple anxiety of (Marie Schrader in Breaking Bad) for Annie, a more self-assured and sarcastic better half to Mike. There's the college-aged son who's living at home (and trying to start his own search engine), a high-school age daughter blossoming into womanhood, and a precocious youngest son. Annie's best friend and aunt to the Henry children (Katie Finneran from Wonderfalls!) is your typical trainwreck type. And Mike's work family is just as warm (and typical of the family comedy genre), with Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Treme, Suits)as its centerpiece in the role of Harris, Mike's best friend and boss. The plot is standard sitcom fare. There's potential for growth in all these areas, but there are currently no surprises here. Although the story of Mike Henry making a comeback after taking a break from the spotlight is fitting.

And I don't say any of that in an effort to turn you off. Just because the show isn't an innovation doesn't mean it won't be sharply written or heartwarming or entertaining. Michael J. Fox is fun to watch, tremors and all. I'm glad to have him on my TV screen and, even if the plot doesn't focus on Mike Henry's Parkinson's, the show does offer a different perspective from the rest of TV. I'm looking forward to more.

Masters of Sex : new time piece drama about human sexuality

2013-09-28T01:29:00.001+01:00

Masters of Sex, Showtime's new drama.

Set in the mid-1950s, Masters of Sex focuses on the work of Dr. William Masters, a regionally famous OB/GYN at Washington University in St. Louis who wants to research human sexuality. Masters meets quite a bit of resistance from the higher-ups at the hospital and university, leading to a whole lot of time spent in brothels, but he finds a willing assistant in former lounge singer and single mom Virginia Johnson. The two take on the project in secret, drumming up various personal frustrations along the way.

Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, Twilight, 30 Rock, and a slew of other things) plays the brilliant and kinda curmudgeonly Masters, and the even lovelier Lizzy Caplan (Party Down, New Girl, True Blood) is the curious and sexually open Johnson. Beau Bridges toplines a recurring cast full of somewhat-recognizable people including Caitlin Fitzgerald, Nicholas D'Agosto, Teddy Sears, and Annaleigh Ashford. The show was created by Michelle Ashford, who previously worked on The Pacific and John Adams. It's based on Thomas Maier's biography of the lead characters, Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson.

The show debuts this Sunday, September 29 at 10pm on Showtime, right after the Season 3 premiere of Homeland, and at just about the same time as the final act of Breaking Bad.

Masters of Sex is mostly unlike the pay-cable, gritty, anti-hero stuff we've all grown accustomed to over the last decade-plus. You might think of making a Mad Men comparison because of the historical period, but Masters of Sex isn't as internal, or as bleak. And although it's from two character (Male and Female) points of view like many other shows we've seen recently (The Killing, The Americans, The Bridge, Broadchurch), there's no murder investigation. Masters of Sex won't feel unfamiliar to you, but it's not your typical cable drama.

The show isn't quite as interested in the meticulous period details that drive Mad Men, but it makes great use of the time period as far as cultural perceptions of sex and sexuality go. This is a premium-cable series about sex and sex research, so sure, there's a whole lot of nudity and plenty of amusing asides about the general prudishness of the time, but it never feels like those things are used egregiously. Because of their roles as researchers, Masters and Johnson often talk while other people are having sex, which is a fun spin on sexposition. But in general, Masters of Sex plays everything straight, from Masters' professional challenges to Johnson's personal ones, and to great effect.

It helps that the two leads are fantastic. Michael Sheen could've easily turned in an over-the-top, showy performance, but it's so much better to see him really dig into Masters' psyche to create a character that's taking on this big research project at least partially because he's as personally frustrated with sex as he is professionally confused. Lizzy Caplan more than holds her own as Virginia Johnson, a woman who has desires and dreams and who isn't really afraid to do whatever to achieve them. Together, she and Sheen have the type of great unresolved sexual tension that makes audiences go nuts.

Although the supporting cast is pretty strong, once the show starts following various characters outside of the study, it's simply not as compelling. Upcoming episodes suggest some lame stuff with Masters' family history, but the larger world is still solid. Other than that? Not a whole lot. I mean, unless you don't like watching people have simulated sex, or dildos with cameras on them. If that's the case, maybe this show isn't for you.

Masters of Sex is, without question, the best new series of the fall; it's not even close (sorry, Marvel fans). The show is smart, straightforward, well-acted, and very well-produced. And perhaps best of all, at least at this early stage, it has the confidence to just tell the stories it wants to tell, without piling on some of the more familiar ( tired) cable drama tropes.

Hello ladies : a charming new comedy about a man's desperation for a relationship

2013-09-28T01:04:00.000+01:00

Hello Ladies! Wait, what's Hello Ladies?

Stephen Merchant, known to many as Ricky Gervais' tall sidekick, stars as Stuart in a role he was born to play. Nate Torrence (Mr. Sunshine) and Kevin Weisman (Alias) play Stuart's pals Wade and Kives, and Christine Woods (Go On) plays Stuart's friend/tenant Jessica. New SNL cast member Kyle Mooney makes a great appearance as Stuart's coworker. Merchant created the show with his buddies Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, but this series is really Merchant's baby. Really, it's everything you'd expect a show that stars Merchant as a horny single guy in Los Angeles to be.

Merchant is great, and he's not shy about playing the sorry sap and putting his character Stuart through all kinds of hilarious misadventures that only a desperate man can experience. However, his struggles are endearing, his desires feel real, and the short glimpses you'll see of him being alone will make you root for him. Also, it's really funny!

Here's Merchant opposite Halle Berry in the movie, Movie 43; in one of the films numerous short stories.

It's the best new comedy of the season, and it's bound to be one of those sleeper HBO series that will make you super cool when you recommend it to your friends.

Revolution, Season 2 Premiere : this Show didn't evolve and move forward, it revolved on itself.

2013-09-28T00:21:00.003+01:00

Revolution S02E01: "Born in the U.S.A."

One of this season's most exciting new fall shows is Revolution, NBC's new drama about a world that's 15-and-a-half years removed from a worldwide blackout and six months removed from a domestic nuclear attack. Wait, what? Revolution is in its second season? Are you sure? Season 1 of the NBC sci-fi series was dissed by creator Eric Kripke himself, and by May, the show had lost a large portion of its initial audience.

That's the mental approach show creator Eric Kripke hopes viewers will take going into Season 2, and really, it's the only way Revolution stands a chance at ever fulfilling the potential it had when it was but a wee logline gestating in Kripke's brain. At Comic-Con this past July, Kripke said that Season 1 was full of mistakes and crashed several times, rendering it barely able to crawl across the finish line. Electricity was too common in a world that wasn't supposed to have any, there were guns everywhere, and the light switch that powered everything was the only thing people talked about, which meant people talked about it way too much.

So what did Kripke do to kick off Season 2? He blew up the whole damn show. He nuked it—literally—by letting the bombs that were launched in the Season 1 finale fall on Atlanta and Philadelphia in the opening moments of Season 2. Season 1, you are dust. Let's pretend you never happened. Not only was it the right choice to make for this one-time hit, it helped the series experience its own... Revolution. Bam!

All that's left in the ruins of Season 1 is probably what the show should have been in the first place: bleak, filthy, and chaotic. Gone are the Disney overtones, the terrible dialogue, and the useless characters ; in their place are a new team of writers (Supernatural's Ben Edlund, Defiance's Rockne S. O'Bannon) and a new attitude. Revolution felt like a completely different show in "Born in the U.S.A." Maybe the episode should've been called "Reborn in the U.S.A.," because aside from the familiar faces, it was almost unrecognizable. And dammit, it was good. Well, compared to what we were used to.

We can see the effect of the destruction on all of the show's core characters, too. They all played a role in the obliteration of millions, and it's weighing them heavily, particularly with Rachel. And the nuclear hangover has carried over into the most important aspect of the show: its tone.

Let's briefly talk about what actually happened in the premiere. Miles, Rachel and Aaron were all hanging out in the fake town of Willoughby, Texas, feeling mostly miserable about vaporizing the East Coast. Rachel's dad was there, and he's a good addition to the group as a man who can lend more insight into the pre-blackout romantic entanglement of Miles and Rachel. The threat of well-organized militia armies has been replaced by the threat of savage, independently run war clans, bringing a Mad Max feel to the show, these guys aren't dopes like the hapless fools of the Monroe Militia. They hang people! They're actually scary! And they scooped up Miles (who goes by Stu now, btw) and friendly Sheriff Mason.

Aaron now has an interest in entomology because he witnessed a massive firefly fireworks show. He also talked about other critters acting odd, as though nature was ready to reclaim the planet from the human vermin that destroyed it. I seriously thought Aaron was a goner when he took a sabre to the chest and actually died at the end of the episode, but the final frame showed Aaron gasping and springing back to life. You got me, Revolution. But what does it mean? I guess that's what next week is for.

And how about the new Charlie? I'm kind of liking this version of her. She's sluttier, more driven, and badass than she was in Season 1. Based on the limited time we spent with her, she's already looking like a much more improved Charlie. Charlie stalked Monroe to New Vegas (helllllo, Fallout), where the latter was engaging in some bare-chested boxing for sport. The citizens of Under the Dome took an unbelievable eight days to start punching each other over resources, but here on Revolution it's been six months since the bombs dropped (plus an extra 15 years of no electricity before that), and all hope was lost five months and 30 days ago. What else is there to do? Charlie tried to kill Monroe to take him off her list, but before she could put an arrow through his skull, Monroe was whisked away by some unknowns.

Over in the Great Plains Nation, the Nevilles roamed around what looked like a campground for Bonnaroo in search of Tom's wife, but things were looking bleak. Tom was a broken man without a purpose until Secretary Justine Allerford, a representative of the U.S. government who was displaced by savages like President Kelly of the Georgia Federation and Monroe of the Monroe Militia showed up. They're back to reclaim the country and supposedly make it great again, but all I got from them was a nutjob Tea Party vibe. Tom did too, because he stopped trying to kill himself and figured that Randall was working with them, therefore they're responsible for his wife's death. "I am going to rip them apart from the inside until they are begging me to die."

The world is different, the characters are different, the writing is different. And that's the best news I have about Revolution. I'm not foolish enough to say that the show is back on track. One better episode doesn't erase the 22 hours of disappointment we trudged through last season. But given the circumstances, Revolution returned in the best way possible. We'll see if it can keep moving in the right direction.

Culled from TV.Com

Person of Interest Season 3 Premiere ......... Interest not piqued

2013-09-27T23:35:00.003+01:00

Reese and Finch are back! And they're back rather... unspectacularly. Person of Interest returned for its third season with an episode that was as plain as can be, an odd way to kick off what should be a very important season for a series that last season propelled itself toward becoming one of TV's most-watched shows. As opposed to its transition from Season 1 to Season 2, the Season 3 premiere didn't have a big cliffhanger to work with, and seemed more resigned to just get right back to business rather than work on all that mythology that Season 2 had built up.

Perhaps Person of Interest wanted to ease viewers into the new partnership that's sure to irk some viewers, . Samantha Shaw is now a regular member of the crew, even though she's technically still a free agent. In fact, when the episode began, she was running her own assignment with Finch while Reese managed his own operation. From a pure adrenaline standpoint, this was cool stuff: Reese shot up the inside of a van full of kidnappers in Person of Interest's typical "show less and let our imaginations take care of the rest" fashion and Shaw rose up from a horse-and-buggy above an alarmed and undercover Fusco to lay waste to some mystery thugs in Central Park. All in a night's work of littering the streets of New York with dead or crippled bad guys! You'd think the authorities would be concerned about so much ongoing mayhem and carnage, but hey, that wouldn't be as fun.

The question heading into Season 2 wasn't whether seeing Shaw and Reese shoot up gangs of baddies would be awesome, because it always will be; it was whether adding Shaw to the team would disrupt Reese and Finch's chemistry and partnership, the backbone of Person of Interest. Yes, it's going shake things up a little. Too bad, because I adore Shaw. Who doesn't love a hottie who gets a boner over heavy-duty sniper rifles and eats steak that's impaled on a knife like it's cotton candy? Shaw's presence overshadowed Finch's during the episode's main mission, which isn't what we're used to, and it undermined the great brains-and-brawn and eye-in-the-sky-and-beef-on-the-groud dynamics that worked so well in Person of Interest's first two seasons.

I don't think this is a permanent problem. Person of Interest just needs to figure out how to use her better, and that starts with not taking responsibility and importance away from Finch. However, from the writers' point of view, they have a tall task ahead of them and establishing Shaw as a big part of the team is a number-one priority. I love Shaw and her personality, but her presence pushed Finch out of the way a bit, which also meant that The Machine slid back a bit more, too. Aside from compiling that video loop of Reese to fool some bad guys, Finch mostly played dispatcher. At least he got a Boilermaker at the end. But the less Finch we see, the worse off Person of Interest will be. That's a fact.

The biggest change for any character came with (Detective) Carter, who's been demoted all the way down to beat cop (she does look good in the NYPD blues, though!). Aesthetically it's a big change, but right now it appears that her new situation won't affect her relationship with Reese and Finch very much. In fact, if anything, she's more of a man on the inside who can move quietly behind the scenes. You know, like making information boards with the strings and pictures of criminals and old newspaper clippings in her closet so that she can take down HR. I'm cool with this; It also looks like Carter will be the big liaison between Elias and the group this season, as Reese and Finch are too busy to pay their old friend a visit in person.

The only element of the episode that touched on Person of Interest's fascinating mythology was the update on Root. She and her crazy eyes were locked in a loony bin because she says stuff like, "The truth is God is 11 years old and she was born in Manhattan. And she chose me." You and I know she's talking about The Machine, but to everyone else? Cuckoo! But unlike the other crazies in the psycho ward, her line of communication with God is getting her cold, hard facts. Like details exposing her psychiatrist as a pervert who frequents rub-and-tugs.

Culled from Tv.Com

Five Promising New Fall TV Shows

2013-09-21T03:02:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year. The time when there are a whole bunch of new TV series debuting within just a few weeks of each other - far more than most people could possibly keep up with.

So what sticks out as being worth your time? I've listed five of the most promising new series below, based on what we've seen, heard and what we know so far. There are some shows that nearly made this list -- Sleepy Hollow, Trophy Wife and The Blacklist among them -- that show signs they could soon turn into something strong as well. And it's very possible a couple of shows with outright poor pilots could quickly turn themselves around, as has happened in the past; just as it's possible a show with a promising start could quickly falter. But right now, as the TV season begins, here's five to keep your eye on...

.... Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Premiered September 17th, Tuesday on FOX.

Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur and his fellow Parks alum Dan Goor have a simple but highly effective scenario here, imprinting the style of comedy Schur honed on Parks and The Office onto a cop show. Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher are a great wacky guy/serious guy pairing, surrounded by a strong group of supporting characters. It's important to remember that neither The Office or Parks and Recreation started all that strong, taking several episodes to really find themselves. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is all the more impressive for feeling very solid in its premiere, indicating the show could quickly find itself among the best comedies on TV these days.
Available in Nigeria early Wednesday mornings.

.... Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Premieres September 24th, Tuesdays on ABC.

Look, everyone is going to at least give this one a shot. But the good news is, it's worth your time. Joss Whedon and Marvel already hit pay dirt (to say the least) with The Avengers, so the anticipation for this series -- the first show to tie into the Marvel cinematic universe -- is sky high. But take away the Marvel connection and you'd still have plenty of interest in this show simply because it's Whedon returning to the medium he's kicked so much ass in. The pilot is very fun and exciting, setting a great tone for what's to come.
Available in Nigeria early Wednesday mornings.

.... Masters of Sex

Premieres September 29th, Sundays on Showtime.

Showtime takes a look at the real life story of Masters and Johnson, the research duo who would become pioneers in the field of sexual response and how the human body responds during intercourse. The eyebrow-raising scenario is added to by the period setting, as William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson face considerable obstacles looking into a subject matter that wasn't exactly widely discussed in the 1950s. Masters of Sex is clever, funny, and, yes, provocative, with Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan expertly portraying the way ahead of their time duo at the center of the story.
Available in Nigeria early Monday mornings.

.... Almost Human

Premieres November 4th, Monday on FOX.

The pilot to this one is good, but not great, yet still, there's a lot to be hopeful about here, especially given Almost Human's pedigree. For those of us who loved Fringe, getting a new sci-fi show from J.J. Abrams and J.H. Wyman so soon after that show ended is something to be excited about, as is seeing Karl Urban (Star Trek, Dredd) take the lead in the series. Urban and Michael Ealy are a good pairing as a cop 35 years in the future and his android partner. And keep in mind, Fringe started out just okay too. All of which is to say, let's see where Almost Human takes us...
Available in Nigeria early Tuesday mornings.

.... Mob City

Premieres December 4th, Wednesday on TNT.

This is the one show on this list that is listed completely due to expectations, since it hasn't been sent out to press yet. Frank Darabont returns to TV following his unceremonious departure from The Walking Dead, with the Shawshank Redemption/Green Mile director tackling cops and mobsters in 1940s-50s Los Angeles. A couple of The Walking Dead cast alum are along for the ride, including Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn, plus folks like Neal McDonough (Justified), Robert Knepper (Prison Break) and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes). It all sounds pretty damn cool, no? We'll have to wait until late this year to see for ourselves, but there's certainly a lot to have us intrigued...
Available in Nigeria early Thursdays mornings.

AMC, HBO and Showtime .......... Troubling times at Cable powerhouses

2013-09-15T17:24:00.000+01:00

AMC vesus Showtime versus HBO

.... AMC

This week, AMC canceled The Killing—again—after what many people considered to be an improved third season. Also, the network announced that it's moving forward with a previously proposed, Saul Goodman-centric Breaking Bad spin-off (which is apparently being set up as a prequel). And yet, all I keep wondering is, what in the heck is actually going on at AMC right now?
After the debuts of Mad Men (2007) and Breaking Bad (2008), AMC was quickly labeled a new power player in cable TV, but it seems clear by now that either A.) AMC executives have a different vision for what they want the channel to be, or B.) those execs really don't know what they're doing. In case you've forgotten, here's what AMC's been up to in last few years:
– Engaging in prolonged and oftentimes public contract negotiations with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan
– Dragging its feet on a Season 3 renewal for Hell on Wheels because of various production issues
– Canceling The Killing after Season 2, then reviving it, only to now kill it again.
– More or less firing yet another The Walking Dead showrunner by parting ways with Glen Mazzara, the guy who righted the series' ship after the very public ousting of Frank Darabont in 2011, seemingly over budget issues.

For a channel that once appeared to be positioning itself as the next HBO and the latest cable channel to dominate annual awards shows, that's a weird chain of events. And looking forward isn't such a promising exercise. The ratings for Low Winter Sun are not good, even with the monster Breaking Bad lead-in; they're sub-Killing level. Pretend that Low Winter Sun gets canceled, joining The Killing on the scrap heap. Breaking Bad will be over forever in three weeks, and Mad Men is set to wrap things up for good in less than a year. That means, come September 2014, four of the shows AMC aired on Sunday nights just one calendar year earlier will all be gone.

If you're keeping score at home, that leaves AMC with a handful of reality programs, Hell on Wheels, the now-in-development Better Call Saul, a few interesting upcoming series Turn and Halt & Catch Fire, and zombie king The Walking Dead. The reality programs do well enough to survive, partially because AMC needs the content. Hell on Wheels is a steady performer and it's doing well on Saturdays. Better Call Saul is not going to be Breaking Bad 2.0. And the new shows seem interesting on paper—Halt & Catch Fire stars Lee Pace and examines the 1980s tech boom; Turn is about the American Revolution—but AMC's decision-making and development in the years since Breaking Bad's debut don't instill me with much confidence.

So really and truly, that leaves the network with The Walking Dead, which is literally the best property to be left with in this kind of situation. It's a ratings behemoth, a social media powerhouse, and a show where the "quality" doesn't matter to a large chunk of the audience. Theoretically, AMC can ride out the post-Mad Men and post-Breaking Bad era almost exclusively on the decaying shoulders of The Walking Dead. But immediately jumping into a Breaking Bad spin-off is only going to bring on the unfair comparisons, possibly further damaging the network's brand in the future. Not every situation is the same, but it's telling that we haven't seen HBO try to spin off its big properties, nor have we seen such a tactic at FX. The worst part of this is knowing that, if Better Call Saul or the other new shows also fail, AMC could possibly even shuffle toward a The Walking Dead spin-off. Walking Dead: Miami?

AMC should try their hand at a proper comedy, or at least dramedy. There seems to be too big of a focus on stylized character pieces, period pieces, and other serious things. That, combined with their weird reality output, (and I like Comic Book Men) puts out an inconsistent tone with no middle ground.

Another thing they could try is focusing a bit more on genre shows, The Walking Dead is their biggest commercial success, so why not build a block or two around aliens, time travel, and all that good stuff?
I have no idea what AMC can do, but I know staying off the bad press for a while would be a good change. Stop firing showrunners. It just makes the network seem unstable.

While not at the same level as AMC, it's interesting to note that both Showtime and HBO aren't thriving as much as they once were either, particularly when it comes to critical acclaim.

.... SHOWTIME

There's not a single drama on Showtime at the moment, perhaps other than Shameless, that looks like it will go on for another three plus years (which is ironic since that's there longest running drama. Dexter's final season has left a lot of people cold. I quite enjoy Homeland, and am eagerly anticipating season three, but the backlash from viewers about season two was quite strong, don't know how long it can last if it continues to slide down in quality from a critical perspective (although Dexter did, so who knows?). I like Ray Donovan too, but I was surprised by its early renewal. Are the ratings that great for this? I know its reception has been mixed so this one is up in the air, but unless it does something amazing next season and generates a lot more buzz I can't see it lasting.

As for the comedy side of things on Showtime, while I enjoy Californication, it hasn't aged well. Nurse Jackie seems to be a bit of a sleeper hit, I don't watch it, but I think it has gained a little more praise as its continued, but again, there's not much buzz there. One good think about Showtime though (if you see it as a goof thing) is that its obvious that shows that get the ratings for them, stay on the air, seemingly regardless of declining quality if you look at past shows like Weeds. I know about Episodes (which i watch), Web Therapy ( don't watch) or House of Lies ( i watch), but other then Episodes which at least gets buzz around Emmy time, there's little discussion or critical praise for these shows.

Coming up, Masters of Sex looks like a potential hit for the network, but I'm worried about its content and how it will be perceived by the media. Cable's already considered television with boobies, and I'd want Masters of Sex to be something more than that, but I'm not sure if it can. Penny Dreadful looks good, but seems off-brand for Showtime. The Affair and Trending Now looked average from their loglines, but big names have been drawn to these projects so hopefully it means there's some substance to them. While I know The Vatican is based in modern times, I thought Showtime would have learnt from The Tudors and The Borgias that interest in those sorts of institutions and societies isn't all that big, and it looks like it'll be expensive to make...

What does everyone else think about the future of Showtime?

.... HBO

As for HBO, other than Game of Thrones (it's own The Walking Dead) it hasn't got all that much doing great things for the network.

True Blood and Treme's next seasons will be their last, leaving The Newsroom as its only other drama. It's gets a fait bit of buzz sure, but not for the right reasons. Boardwalk Empire also recently started its new season but based on the lukewarm attention its receiving, that in itself goes to show that its losing steam too.

On the comedy side of thing Eastbound & Down is also finishing up, and who knows when (or if) Curb Your Enthusiasm will be back. Veep gets good buzz around Emmy time too, much like Showtime's Episodes, but other then that, when do people hear about it? And then there's GIrls, which gets a fair amount of buzz too, but like The Newsroom, for all the wrong seasons.

HBO at least has a lot in development. The drama front seems a little scarce though, True Detective seems like the only potential hit and the only one going to series at this point in time. Ryan Murphy's Open may get some buzz, much like Masters of Sex, it'll be for the wrong reasons. There's little info on The Money and The Missionary but their loglines don't inspire. The Leftovers could be a big hit too, in the vain of The Walking Dead but minus the zombies, but it'll have to be good.
Westworld is intriguing, but I'm not sure how it'll work on HBO.

There are a lot of comedies in development too. Hello Ladies is the only one going to air thus far, and it doesn't look that that exciting to me. Getting On looks like HBO trying to copy Nurse Jackie. Silicon Valley looks a lot like the Amazon pilot Betas. Togetherness could be okay, but the premise is basic, so it'll have to be well written. Looking will garner similar attention to Open, and may be HBO's attempt as a funny Queer As Folk.

What does everyone else think about the future of HBO?

News Briefs fot the week : True Blood to end with next year's 7th season, LeBron James now delving into TV show productions..

2013-09-08T15:29:00.000+01:00

....Well, guys, it's official. HBO has confirmed recent rumors that True Blood's seventh season, set to air next summer, will mark the show's True Death. The news shouldn't really come as a shock; the clock has been ticking on Bon Temps for quite some time.

BUSINESS TIME
NBA superstar LeBron James will executive-produce Survivor's Remorse, a scripted half-hour comedy series he's developing with Starz about two men from the streets of Philadelphia who rise to fame and then must deal with the consequences and hardships of being famous.

... Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are responsible for fifty percent of television created today, and that figure might increase now that ABC has purchased First Timers, a comedy from The Neighbors producers Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker. The series would follow a guy and a gal who form a business partnership.

... Fox officially announced today that "Grammy- and Emmy Award-winning multi-platinum singer, musician, songwriter, composer and film/television and Broadway actor" Harry Connick Jr. will join Season 13 of American Idol as the third and final judge alongside Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban.

CASTING NEWS

... Justified's Walton Goggins will guest-star on Community. He'll play Mr. Stone, a mysterious man who tempts the study group with an interesting offer. Could it be... the opportunity to erase Season 4 from memory? Community still doesn't have a return date, but now it has Goggins, making the wait even more painful.

... The likable Jason O'Mara has time-traveled for three of his biggest gigs, warping back to prehistoric days and fighting dinosaurs (and viruses and birds) on Terra Nova, zapping back to the 1970s in the occasionally outstanding U.S. remake of Life on Mars, and whooshing over to the 1960s in CBS's Vegas, but his next role will see him journey all the way to 2013! O'Mara has landed an important recurring role on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife, playing an Irish lawyer looking to join the corporate ranks.

... Starz has added a pair of Scottish actors to its upcoming series Outlander, a drama about a WWII nurse who time-travels back to the days of highland warriors in Scotland. Graham McTavish (The Hobbit) and Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot) will play nephew and uncle in Clan MacKenzie.

... Elizabeth Hurley will next be seen on E!'s pilot The Royals. The drama is a rare foray for E! into scripted television, and follows a fictional royal family. Hurley will play the Queen. She last appeared on Gossip Girl. Am guessing this is also produced by Ryan Seacrest.

... Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale will guest-star in the third season of ABC Family's comedy series Baby Daddy, airing sometime in 2014. There's no word yet on who she'll play. Baby Daddy will air its summer finale on September 4.

... Gil McKinney, most recently seen as Sam and Dean's grandfather on Supernatural, has been cast in the recurring role of Prince Eric on Once Upon a Time. He and Ariel (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) will both first appear in Episode 6, aptly titled "Ariel."

... Jason Priestley has now joined the ever-growing cast of CSI's 300th episode. He'll play a casino mogul whose reputation was ruined so badly that he became a crazy recluse. Bethany Joy Lenz of One Tree Hill signed on last week, not long after it was announced that Marg Helgenberger would be reprising her role as Catherine Willows in honor of the milestone event.

... Broadway vet Will Chase (Smash) is joining Nashville as Luke, a country music star and potential love interest for Connie Britton's Rayna Jaymes, because that girl apparently doesn't already have enough men in her life.

... Gregor Clegane, a.k.a. the Mountain a.k.a. the Super Mean Older Brother of the Hound, has been recast on Game of Thrones. Again. After a brief portrayal by Conan Stevens in Season 1, and by Ian Whyte in a few episodes of Season 2, the latest iteration of the character will be played by Hafthor Julius Bjornsson in Season 4.

... Ben and Kate's Dakota Johnson and Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim) have landed the coveted roles of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. Not long after the announcement was made, the internet did what the internet does and now a bunch of crazy people have signed a petition to recast the leads because they're not the actors the fans wanted. Internet, you so crazy.

News briefs : HBO sets premiere date for new detective murder miniseries

2013-09-08T14:50:00.000+01:00

NEWS THIS WEEK

... With Burn Notice nearing the end of its seven-season run on USA (the series finale airs Thursday, September 12), creator Matt Nix is turning his attention to a new drama. His next project, Complications — about an ER doctor who is changed after being involved in a gang shooting—is nearing a pilot order at USA.

... HBO has slapped a premiere near-date on True Detective, January 2014." True Detective stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as detectives who track a serial killer over a 17-year period, and their story will be told through time jumps between 1995 and 2012.

... Cinemax is dipping into the past and will air Strike Back: Origins, the British series that kicked off the Strike Back franchise. All six episodes will air starting October 25 in the same time slot Strike Back currently shows, once the third season concludes. Richard Armitage (The Hobbit) and a younger Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) star.

... HBO's The Newsroom, which is currently seven episodes into its nine-episode second season, has been renewed for Season 3, at least according to series star Jeff Daniels. No official word yet from HBO or series creator Aaron Sorkin.

CASTING NEWS

... Syfy's Defiance has added a pair of actors to its Season 2 cast, but neither will spend much time in the makeup chair because they're both playing humans. William Atherton (Ghostbusters) takes on the role of Earth Republic official Viceroy Mercado, an old-school hardass who's fond of dated Earth references. Canadian actress Anna Hopkins will play an Earth Republic soldier named Jessica Rai, and she'll quickly get mixed up in a love triangle. Defiance's second season is scheduled for a June 2014 launch.

... Keith "The Voice" David will lend his larynx to ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. He'll meow as the Cheshire Cat.

... Cynthia Nixon is joining Bryan Fuller's Hannibal in Season 2. She'll play Kade Prurnell, who works in the Office of the Inspector General in FBI Oversight. She'll be investigating the events of Season 1.
....

... True Blood's Carrie Preston is joining Season 2 of The Following as Judy, one of Joe Carroll's (James Purefoy) groupies. Preston will also return to The Good Wife this season as Elsbeth Tascioni, a role that recently earned her a guest actress Emmy nomination.

... We already knew that Samantha Gort has signed on for Season 2 of The Carrie Diaries as Carrie's future BFF Samantha Jones. What we didn't know was that Samantha is the cousin of Carrie's enemy, Donna LaDonna.

... Zeljko Ivanek, who will soon appear on Revolution, is continuing his quest to hit as many TV shows as possible in hopes of nabbing the Emmy for Most Guest-Starring Roles Ever, a category in which he'll face off against Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, and Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural sure does know how to pick 'em, yeah?). His next move is to join White Collar as Brett Forsythe, a businessman specializing in corporate takeovers.

... Syfy has cast three roles in its new pilot Dominion, based on the 2010 film Legion. It's set 25 years after the events of the movie and picks up in the aftermath of a catastrophic war between an army of angels and mankind. Christopher Egan, who starred in NBC's ill-fated Kings with Ian McShane, will play Alex Lannen, an orphan who's a grunt soldier in Michael’s Archangel Corp. Much like his character on Kings, he is destined for far more. Joining Egan is Tom Wisdom, who'll play Michael himself, while Alan Dale (Lost, Once Upon a Time), plays Rysen, the general who led the humans to victory against the angels.

Broadchurch : A murder mystery drama that puts aside the mystery and gives you drama which pulls you in

2013-09-02T00:22:00.003+01:00

I want to talk about a new show i just watched, only 8 episodes in the first season, just watched all episodes in 2 days, and it is riveting! It is one murder and it stirres up a whole town, in which everyone seems to have secrets and problems... welcome to Broadchurch.

Broadchurch : Show synopsis
David Tennant ( The 10th Doctor Who) and Olivia Colman lead the cast in this powerful new detective series. A small community in Dorset is rocked by the death of local boy Danny Latimer. D.I. Alec Hardy (Tennant) a weird out-of-town detective with a checkered past, is drafted in to head up the investigation instead of local officer DS Ellie Miller (Colman).
As the investigation proceeds, the lives of the locals - from the Latimer family, to priest Paul Coates and mysterious Susan Wright are explored as they deal with the life changing events.

However, what was great about Broadchurch's initial first episode was that it didn't glorify—or even really focus on—the death of Danny Latimer. Instead it immediately dug into the way his death disrupted the supposedly idyllic beach community.

However, one of the show's biggest strengths is the way its story expands to various corners of this smallish town, giving us perspectives from the police, the family, the media, and creepy townsfolk. Although most small-town murder mysteries claim to treat their settings as full-fledged characters, this one really does feel like a show where the town is a lead player; the Broadchurch title fits.

Broadchurch benefits so much from its location shooting, particularly that cliff and beach. We've been bombarded by shows that try to match their grimy and ugly subject matter with similarly depressing scenery, but this one smartly goes the other way, giving us beautiful shots of a warm, inviting place that immediately contradict the ugly things happening below the surface. All the scenes and shots on the beach worked wonders for Broadchurch's tone; slow-motion helped make the discovery of Danny's body seem almost like a surreal dream for his mother, Beth, and even for D.S. Miller. The contrast between the light and dark isn't new, but it kind of feels that way in the shadow of the grays and rainy days of a series like The Killing.

Although Danny's death is the show's big, driving mystery, this first episode didn't exploit it with any gratuitous, violent imagery, and the mystery part of the story didn't suffocate the rest of the proceedings. Hardy and Miller bickered about the typical things—he took her job, she's too close to the community to truly work the case—but those moments were both few and far between and very well-performed by the awesome David Tennant and Olivia Colman. There wasn't a ton of focus on lingering, "Look how creepy this guy is!" shots, or an obnoxious cliffhanger.

A dozen characters, played by the inevitably glorious assortment of British actors, crisscross in an astonishingly fluid game of cat's cradle, bringing this small town miraculously to life but never straying too far, or too absurdly, from the narrative through line.

The young and uncertain vicar (Arthur Darvill, also late of Doctor Who), the gruff news agent ("Harry Potter's" David Bradley), the editor of the local paper (Carolyn Pickles) and her cub reporter (Jonathan Bailey), the owner of the town's nice hotel (Simone McAullay) and the odd angry beachcomber (Pauline Quirke) all have powerful back stories that relate, in one way or another, to Danny's death.

Post-pilot, Broadchurch feels confident, but not showy. There are a lot of characters and elements in play, but the series knows where it's going. There's no reason to rely on shocking moments or graphic images. This was an introduction to a community that's about to be torn apart, and a darn good one at that.

The writers of the series were excellent both in plot and delivery. I found the story line compelling with an excellent delivery at the end. not too many obvious clues were thrown at us, potential suspects were reduced to the minimum. In terms of the actual mystery at the center of the show, I still had no real idea who did it after watching five episodes. And I'll say that the show doesn't rely too much on big fake-outs throughout those episodes. Like the first season of AMC's The Killing, Broadchurch is less interested in the the mystery of the crime, and more in the emotional and psychological fallout of the crime. Unlike The Killing, Broadchurch resolves the mystery definitively and satisfyingly. No spoilers!

Broadchurch (which Fox has already planned an American adaption of) probably benefits from the fact that it doesn’t have to play out its mystery for 13 or 22 episodes–or beyond, to another season. But what's great about Broadchurch is not that, in the end, it lets you know everything. It's that it makes you feel everything.

Some problems will be understanding the dialogue through the thick accents of the shows characters? David Tennant is almost incomprehensible. But, the fact that the mystery ends this season is good enough to overlook that.

Laughs : Even bookmakers offered odds on who killed Latimer during the shows initial airing in Bitain.

Series News : A&E renews Longmire but cancels The Glades, Joshua Jackson returns to TV drama

2013-09-01T02:59:00.000+01:00

... A&E to renew Longmire. A&E has not confirmed the renewal, but Longmire the network's most-watched show has supposedly been renewed, and it's only a matter of time until the A&E makes it official. Following strong Season 2 finale, word is out that the network liked what it saw and wants the drama to come back for more.

The drama stars Robert Taylor as Sheriff Walt Longmire, a Montana lawman who returns to work after the death of his wife. Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase, and Lou Diamond Phillips also star in the series. Longmire is a good procedural show about a redneck sheriff in a small town, who rather than use technology to solve his cases, uses his wits and old school and sometimes cowboy tricks to solve cases.

... A&E Cancels The Glades. A&E canceled the series after four seasons, less than a week after the Season 4 finale notched a season-high audience with 3.4 million viewers. Cruel! The Glades was an initial success for the network and was the first A&E scripted series to get a second season.

Created by Clifton Campbell, The Glades was about a detective from The Windy City who took a job with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement looking for a paid vacation in the sun. But little did he know that people get murdered in Florida, too. Matt Passmore and Kieli Sanchez starred in the drama.

... Joshua Jackson has signed on to co-star in Showtime's new drama pilot The Affair as Cole, a hard-edged cowboy (!!!). The project, from Sarah Treem (House of Cards) and co-creator Hagai Levi (In Treatment), is an exploration of two marriages and an affair that disrupts them. In the project, Jackson's wife Allison, played by Luther's Ruth Wilson, has an affair with Dominic West's Noah, whose family is vacationing on Long Island. Maura Tierney plays Helen, Noah's long-time wife and the mother of his children.

BUSINESS TIME

... Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, has sold a pilot to Amazon. Titled The After, the project picks up immediately after the apocalypse. Not a lot is known about the project, but Carter is set to write and direct the pilot.

... Syfy has given a cast-contingent pilot order to 12 Monkeys, a drama series about a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic future who returns to present day to eliminate the source of a plague that will eventually destroy the human race. It's based on the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.

TODAY IN BREAKING BAD NEWS

... Gennifer Hutchison, the writer of episode 11 of Season 5 of Breaking Bad, was interviewed about how the episode came to be. And trust me, if you're a Breaking Bad fan and you're not still talking about the episode, you might want to revisit it and then read her interview, because damn. http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/breaking-bad-gennifer-hutchinson-confessions.html

Series News : 'Phoebe' joining Scandal, more love interest for Mindy and John Noble returns from the dead in The Good Wife, again!

2013-09-01T02:29:00.000+01:00

... Lisa Kudrow has joined ABC's Scandal in a recurring capacity for Season 3. The Friends star will play ... well, we don't know because Shonda Rhimes doesn't want us to know. But we can tell you that she's going to be a politician.

... J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan (the executive producers of Person of Interest) are developing Michael Crichton’s cult film Westworld for HBO. Westworld was a 1973 film about an android in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park.

... Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars is now bringing a present-day version of Les Misérables to television. The project, which has landed at Fox, revolves around a lawyer who runs an exoneration program, all the while fighting to evade the consequences of his own wrongful conviction from a long time ago. He is, of course, constantly trying to remain one step ahead of a US Attorney who just refuses to let anything go.

BUSINESS TIME

... FX has ordered a drama pilot starring Paul Giamatti. Hoke, written and produced by Justified's Scott Frank, is based on Charles Willeford's Hoke Moseley novels. It's set in Miami in the '80s and Giamatti plays the titular homicide detective who might just be a tiny bit off his rocker. Looks like it fits the FX Equation for Success: At Least One Recognizable Face + Dark Comedy + Some Sort of Crime Being Committed By Someone Who May or May Not Be the Lead = Success!

... There's going to be a prequel Luther movie! Idris Elba is going to reprise his luther role quicker than we thought, shortly after season 3 finished airing in the UK, a movie version of the series has been commissioned.

... Former Chuck executive producer Matt Miller is re-teaming with Zev Borow, a former writer for the NBC series, for a new cop drama. Bad Guys is about an NYPD detective named Lea Morris who is also a single mother, and her father, a recently paroled ex-con who wants back in to her life. The project just landed at Fox.

... Robin Wright has directed an episode of Season 2 of Netflix's hit show, House of Cards.

CASTING NEWS

... Ben Feldman (Mad Men) is, much like every other good-looking male these days, heading to The Mindy Project. He'll appear in multiple episodes as an arts and culture writer who thinks Mindy's tastes are kind of terrible. But because this is The Mindy Project, he's also a love interest for Mindy.

... Josh Groban will guest-star in an upcoming episode of The Crazy Ones, CBS' new comedy starring Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and James Wolk. Groban will not be playing himself like Kelly Clarkson does in the pilot. He'll be playing a character from Sydney's (Gellar) past named Richie.

... Russell Tovey (UK's Being Human) has been cast in Looking, HBO's new half-hour comedy about a group of gay men living in San Francisco. He'll play the recurring role of Kevin, a kind of video-games wunderkind who achieved financial success at a young age.

... Casting for Ron Moore's new series Outlander is also making headway. Stephen Walters (Layer Cake) and Annette Badland (Doctor Who) have each booked recurring roles on the series, adapted from the book series of the same name by Diana Gabaldon. Walters will play Angus Mhor, who drinks heavily and is always ready for a fight. Badland will play Mrs. Fitzgibbons, an intelligent woman who holds Castle Leoch together.

... Suits is in the middle of its summer half-season, but when the series returns this winter, you might recognize a familiar face in the mid-season premiere. Michael Phelps, bazillion-time Olympic medal winner, is guest-starring as himself when Scottie (Abigail Spencer) tries to land him as a client.

... Mekhi Phifer has joined Showtime's House of Lies as Dre, a successful business mogul, that employs Don Cheadle's character.

... Walter Bishop is in the house! Ahem, sorry. John Noble is returning to The Good Wife in Season 5. But how? Isn't he dead? Yep! Noble's Matthew Ashbaugh was murdered in Season 4 and he appeared mostly through flashbacks in his episode, so how exactly does he return? Is he a ghost? Is this an entire flashback episode? All good questions. None of which I have the answer to. Sorry!

... There's about to be one less good-looking brunette for Rayna to make out with in Nashville, and one more person to keep track of in Westeros. Michiel Huisman has joined HBO's Game of Thrones for Season 4.

Orange Is The New Black : A New Women prison Series

2013-09-01T02:08:00.000+01:00

Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy-drama series,created by Jenji Kohan, which is based on "Orange Is the New Black" by Piper Kerman, a memoir about her own experiences in prison. Orange Is the New Black stars Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, a woman in her thirties who is sentenced to 15 months in prison after she is convicted of a decade old crime of transporting money for her drug dealing girlfriend (Laura Prepon). The series also stars Laura Prepon as Alex Vause, a drug dealer and Piper's former lover; Michael J. Harney as prison counselor Sam Healy; Michelle Hurst as Miss Claudette, a fellow inmate; Kate Mulgrew as the inmate cook "Red," and Jason Biggs as Piper's fiancé Larry Bloom.

Netflix aired the show as a 13-episode straight-to-web series, it first aired on Netflix on July 11, 2013, On June 27, 2013, Netflix renewed Orange Is the New Black for a second season.

Orange Is the New Black generated more viewers and hours viewed in its first week than either of the other high profile Netflix original series, House of Cards and Arrested Development.

Orange is the New Black is from Jenji Cohan, executive producer of Weeds. This show covers the life of an innocent minded girl going through the troubles of fitting in to one of the worst places to be, prison. Throughout her sentence she learns the do's and don't's. She finds living her suburban lifestyle wont work. just like our favorite drug dealing mom, Nancy Botwin in Weeds, she learns quickly and not always efficiently. It does a great job of entertaining through laughs and a few cries. Great casting and writing.

The best part is that all 13 episodes are available to watch right now, so no air-dates to watch out for in America and subsequently Nigeria, since it follows the Netflix formula of releasing all episodes of a show at the same time. I can almost guarantee you will fall in love with Piper Chapman. You will laugh and cry with her as she tries to make it through her sentence.