Category Archives: Television

Preview ‘The Walking Dead’ 4B

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The Walking Dead went out with quite the bang last Sunday (respectively rest in peace and burn in hell to those we lost). The back-half of season 4 (or as we TV types like to call “4B”) premieres February 9 on AMC and you can preview what’s to come in the short yet tantalizing teaser embedded above.

[Spoilers!] During last week’s Talking Dead, creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman teased, “Not only have these people lost Hershel, they lost the prison, but they also lost each other. They’re out on their own, they’re in different groups. There’s going to be a lot going on with these different people as they try to survive in the next half of the season.”

Star Andrew Lincoln describes the next batch of eight episodes as “the boldest, bravest, and most exciting this show has ever attempted.

Squee.

NBC renews ‘The Blacklist’ for second season

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Here’s some exciting news: NBC has granted the wildly addicting and action-packed procedural The Blacklist for a 22-episode second season. After airing only two episodes the Peacock ordered a full season of the show and it didn’t take the network much longer to decide The Blacklist is a keeper. It’s a ratings machine; it ranks as the #1 drama in the coveted 18-49 demo averaging a 4.9 rating/13 share, plus it gains even more viewers after factoring in DVR usage.

“The success of The Blacklist demonstrates that inspired storytelling is alive and well in broadcast television, and I’m impressed on a daily basis by this creative team’s imagination and the extent to which they will go to capture this grand vision on film,” NBC head Robert Greenblatt said in a statement. “With gratitude to both our partners at Sony Pictures Television and our NBC development executives who took a great script and shepherded it into a great series, I hope that Red Reddington never runs out of names to bring down on his list!”

The Blacklist aired its fall finale last Monday and it returns with new episodes January 13.

Elsewhere, The CW gave full season orders to its three new series The Originals, The Tomorrow People, and Reign.

TV reminder: Frank Darabont’s ‘Mob City’ premieres on TNT

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Frank Darabont, the man who adapted The Walking Dead for television and ran it for two seasons, has a new series that debuted on TNT. Mob City, formally known as L.A. Noir and Lost Angels, is an adaptation of John Buntin’s novel L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City that tells the story of an epic battle between a determined police chief and a dangerous mobster inflames set in 1940s Los Angeles. Darabont reached out to the Walking Dead dearly departed Jon Bernthal (Shane) and Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale) to star in his new show. Neal McDonough, Ed Burns, Jeremy Luke, Gregory Itzin, Robert Knepper, Milo Ventimiglia, Simon Pegg, and Alexa Davalos round out the cast.

The pilot, written and directed by Darabont, premiered Wednesday, December 4. The series’ first season is being called a “three week event” due to its unorthodox rollout; the season will play across three two-hour episodes airing from Dec. 4 to the 18th. Eye the masterful poster imagined by famed artist Drew Struzan above and tune into Mob City Wednesdays 9-11PM.

[Image via EW]

TV teasers: BBC’s ‘Orphan Black’, ‘Sherlock’ & HBO’s ‘Girls’

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Black is back. Orphan Black, that is. The Tatiana Maslany Show returns April 19 on BBC America and even though this teaser doesn’t feature new footage in does not fail in ramping up anticipation for what’s to come, not in the slightest. The latest season 2 logline hints at more clone mysteries and some long-anticipated answers

Season 2 hits the ground running with Sarah in a desperate race to find her missing daughter Kira. Her scorched earth tactics spark a war with pro-clone Rachel, dividing and imperiling all the clones. As Sarah discovers more about her past, mysterious newcomers appear, but can they be trusted?

Jump after the break to watch teasers for Sherlock and Girls. Continue reading TV teasers: BBC’s ‘Orphan Black’, ‘Sherlock’ & HBO’s ‘Girls’ →

‘Breaking Bad’ complete series comes in a barrel on November 26 (Alternate ending video inside!)

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On Tuesday, November 26 the complete box set of Breaking Bad releases on Blu-ray and DVD. Except it doesn’t come in a box but inside a collectible replica money barrel! In addition to all five seasons of the hit AMC drama, the set is packed with over 55 hours of bonus material including a two-hour documentary that chronicles the filming of the final eight episodes and, yes, an alternate ending.

Said ending has already leaked onto the Internet and you can watch it now after the break. However, don’t freak out just yet; the inspired bit is just that–it’s a parody that involves Bryan Cranston waking up next to his Malcolm in the Middle wife played by Jane Kaczmarek having experienced a nightmare that pretty much sums up the bulk of Bad. Cranston steps into Hal’s shoes and Kaczmarek doesn’t miss a beat as his former TV wife Lois. Leading up to the series finale many Breaking Bad fans imagined Vince Gilligan’s show to be a prequel to Malcolm whereby Walter White gets put into witness protection and lands on his feet in that sitcom’s household; or it was all a dream, Newhart style. Though that never came to fruition, this fun and quite funny “alternate ending” should do just the trick for fans with such wild imaginations.

The Breaking Bad barrel, which also includes a 16 page booklet with a letter from Vince Gilligan, a commemorative challenge coin designed by Gilligan, and a Los Pollos Hermanos apron, is up for preorder today at Amazon for $201.29. Jump after the break to view the full list of special features. Fill the stockings with the blue stuff this holiday season and get your Heisenberg-obsessed loved one a money barrel brimming with the best of Bad.

Update: A couple more videos are now embedded after the break. Vince Gilligan sets up shop with a webcam to unbox the Breaking Bad barrel, and in another clip stars Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul get ready to read the series finale script for the first time. Also provided is a link to watch Cranston & Paul read the final moments of the last episode together for the first time at Cranston’s place; it’s all part of the aforementioned two-hour documentary included in the barrel. Enjoy! Continue reading ‘Breaking Bad’ complete series comes in a barrel on November 26 (Alternate ending video inside!) →

TV reminder: ‘Almost Human’ premieres Sunday (11/17) at 8PM on FOX

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J.H. Wyman’s next TV show following the phenomenal sci-fi drama Fringe is Almost Human and it premieres across two nights starting this Sunday. Executive produced by J.J. Abrams (yes, it’s from Bad Robot), Almost Human is an “action-packed police procedural set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids.” The series will follow Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban) and his android partner Dorian (Michael Ealy) as they investigate and attempt to solve crimes against a futuristic landscape. And don’t worry–a larger mythology is also at play here; Kennex survived a near-fatal attack and after waking from an 17-month coma he’s trying to put the pieces together.

Jump after the break to revisit the extended Almost Human trailer; down there you’ll also hear Wyman, Abrams, and the cast’s take on the sci-fi actioner. Look in the gallery below for a couple more cool posters.

With such a high pedigree supporting this series from the producers to the actors, it’s hard to imagine Almost Human not firing on all cylinders from the get-go. It premieres this Sunday, November 17 at 8PM on FOX; episode 2 follows the very next night on Monday the 18th at 8. With Bones relocating to Friday, Almost Human becomes the Monday @ 8PM anchor leading into Sleepy Hollow starting that night. I have a feeling Monday nights are about to get oh-so-sahweet.

Continue reading TV reminder: ‘Almost Human’ premieres Sunday (11/17) at 8PM on FOX →

TV reminder: ‘Raising Hope’ returns tonight (11/15) at 9PM on FOX

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The one and only Chance family returns to the airwaves tonight (11/15, disregard the incorrect date in the key art above) at 9PM on FOX with back-to-back new episodes titled “Déjà Vu Man” and “Burt Bucks.” Arrested Development‘s Jeffrey Tambor guest stars in the first half-hour. With Jimmy & Sabrina hitched and Hope getting older, I for one cannot wait to see what kind of weird stuff ensues in Raising Hope season 4. This show quickly gained a decent following thanks to its charm, wit, and most of all its quirkiness. From everybody at Howdy’s to Cloris Leachman’s senile Maw Maw, Raising Hope is the little sitcom that could and you should not forget it as it makes the transition to Fridays this fall.

The ‘Entourage’ movie is underway

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And with that tweet, creator Doug Ellin confirms that the long anticipated Entourage movie based on the hit HBO series is happening. According to Deadline, stars Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Connolly and producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson all have deals in place so that Warner Bros. can finally give the greenlit project life. And now we wait for one awesome trailer.

Disney & Netflix team up to produce four Marvel superhero series

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If ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t enough for Marvel fans, The Walt Disney Co. and Netflix are collaborating on four live-action series to air on the streaming service beginning in 2015. Each series will star a popular Marvel superhero: the first hero coming to the small screen is Daredevil, followed by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage; click those links to learn more about each of them. A statement promises these four series will take Netflix subscribers “deep into the gritty world of heroes and villains of Hell’s Kitchen, New York.” Now get this: after the four, thirteen episodes series have aired they will culminate in “Marvel’s “The Defenders” mini-series event that reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters.” It’s like what Marvel did in the movies with all those films leading up to The Avenges. This is neat stuff right here.

“This deal is unparalleled in its scope and size, and reinforces our commitment to deliver Marvel’s brand, content and characters across all platforms of storytelling. Netflix offers an incredible platform for the kind of rich storytelling that is Marvel’s specialty,” said Alan Fine, President of Marvel Entertainment. “This serialized epic expands the narrative possibilities of on-demand television and gives fans the flexibility to immerse themselves how and when they want in what’s sure to be a thrilling and engaging adventure.”

“Marvel’s movies, such as ‘Iron Man’ and Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’, are huge favorites on our service around the world. Like Disney, Marvel is a known and loved brand that travels,” said Netflix COO Ted Sarandos.  “With ‘House of Cards’ and our other original series, we have pioneered new approaches to storytelling and to global distribution and we’re thrilled to be working with Disney and Marvel to take our brand of television to new levels with a creative project of this magnitude.”

As Disney and Netflix begin work on this massive production, stick it here for the latest developments.

[Via Netflix]

FX renews ‘American Horror Story’ for a fourth season

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Ryan Murphy will continue to scare up viewers with a fourth installment of FX anthology series American Horror Story. The third season Coven is the most-watched season of AHS to date averaging 7.7 million viewers.

“Put simply, Ryan Murphy is a master television producer,” said FX head John Landgraf. “Time and time again he reinvents the form. What he, co-creator Brad Falchuk and their producers Dante Di Loreto, Tim Minear, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Brad Buecker, Jessica Sharzer, Douglas Petrie, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Alexis Martin Woodall and the entire production team and cast responsible for the American Horror Story franchise have done is nothing short of extraordinary. Every year, they create a riveting and brilliant new miniseries. AHS: Coven is the best yet, and I have no doubt that the next installment will be even better.”

The 13 episode fourth season is set to debut in 2014. Though the season’s theme and stars are still being kept under wraps, Jessica Lange has publicly confirmed that she will return to the show to step into a new character’s shoes.

AHS: Coven airs Wednesdays at 10PM on FX.