Category Archives: Television

‘Smash’s fictional Broadway show ‘Hit List’ coming to NYC

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NBC’s Broadway musical drama Smash is getting a new lease on life, but not in the way you might expect. No, NBC is not bringing the show back from the dead (it was cancelled after two seasons); season 2 showrunner Joshua Safran, along with Julia Brownell, Jennifer Ashley Tepper, and musical director Benjamin Rauhala are bringing the show’s fictional Broadway show Hit List to New York’s club 54 Below.

In December many of Smash‘s stars will bring Hit List to life, namely Jeremy Jordan (he played Jimmy Collins), Andy Mientus (Kyle Bishop), and Krysta Rodriguez (Ana Vargas); additional performers will be announced at a later date and here’s to hoping the show’s main star Karen Cartwright (aka Katharine McPhee) will be one of them. Watching Jordan and McPhee truly bring Hit List to life will be a boon for fans.

And here we have an actual logline for the seven time Tony-winning Broadway show within a show: “HIT LIST, a modern fable about identity and the price of fame, tells the tragic love story of a wannabe pop singer who transforms herself to become a star and the hidden songwriter she uses to get there – but at what cost?”

NYC’s 54 Below is hosting two performances on December 9 and the shows will include original songs made popular in Smash as well as additional songs from the drama’s composers (Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, Andrew McMahon, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman, and Lucie Silvas) that were intended for Hit List but never made it to air. Tickets for the show were on sale at the venue’s website but unfortunately they sold out in minutes. I don’t know about you, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled for added performances.

[Via NYT]

Fill in Brody’s gap with ‘Homeland’ audiobook

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Brody was finally reintroduced into Homeland last Sunday after being absent from the first two hours of the new season. Viewers found him nearly fatally shot in the abdomen but he was saved by international colleagues of Carrie Matheson in Caracas, Venezuela. How did he get that gunshot wound? What happened between the time he left Carrie in the woods at the end of season 2 and his stay at the Tower of David? Executive producer Alex Gansa says the show won’t tell that story in flashbacks but there is a way for fans to be filled in.

Enter Homeland: Phantom Pain, a 30 minute audio book narrated by Brody’s portrayer Damian Lewis that reveals Brody’s untold story of crossing the border.

Emmy Award-winner Damian Lewis, who stars as Former Congressman and U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the hit series Homeland, narrates this original Homeland story of Brody’s journey into exile. Picking up at the end of Season 2 after he has parted from Carrie at the border, Brody relates, in the form of a letter to Carrie, his desperate escape by sea and land as the world’s most-hunted fugitive. Guided off the grid by a former CIA analyst and a battle-scarred French mercenary, he stays in the shadows…both physically and emotionally. But wherever he goes and whoever he meets, he cannot stop thinking about Carrie.

“The audible book is specifically designed to tell that interstitial story,” Gansa told the New York Post. “There’s also a bit of interstitial information on the Season Two DVD, in which you see Brody at the border in the scene where he’s wounded.”

But why not include this backstory in the show itself?  “Our feeling was that it’s a fairly straight narrative line between Brody being dropped off [at the Canadian border] and how he got to Venezuela,” Gansa explained. “He’s been on Carrie’s underground railroad…and ran into some difficulty at a border crossing. Maybe people feel differently, but our goal was to reveal Brody in an interesting way, rather than showing him being shot. He’s carried into the [camera] frame and there he is with his head lolling about and blood spilling from his gut. That was the most impactful and narrative way [to show Brody] after not seeing him in the first couple of episodes. One of the men [guarding Brody] does allude to ‘those Colombians’ and the fact that Brody didn’t have a pleasant border crossing. I don’t know if it had to be explicated beyond that.”

Though it may not be key to Homeland‘s season 3 arc, fans are gobbling up this bonus material rating the audiobook 4.3/5 stars on Audible.com. Click here to download the book for free and shine a light on Brody’s backstory.

Homeland airs Sundays at 9PM on Showtime.

[Via NYP]

First look: John Noble joins the cast of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ in two weeks

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After last Monday’s episode of Sleepy Hollow came to a close, fans of the new supernatural drama were treated to an extended look at what’s coming next. After only five episodes the show has proven to be a wild, engaging ride and things are about to get even better. As previously reported, Fringe‘s John Noble joins the cast as Henry Parrish, a kind and reclusive man who possesses supernatural powers that have the potential to help Crane. The sneak peek embedded above is our first look at a newly coiffed Noble in action. His recurring character enters the fray when Sleepy Hollow returns to FOX with new episodes–starting with “The Sin Eater”–on November 4.

‘South Park’ misses episode deadline for the first time

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Here’s some fascinating news. Today, for the first time in its 17 season run, South Park has missed its deadline and will not air a scheduled episode on Comedy Central in its designated time slot.

As die-hard SP fans know well, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone take six days to produce an episode of the show; they come up with the story and the script and the animation and everything in-between in under a week leading up to the episode’s airing so that they can be as culturally current as possible. Parker and Stone gave fans an inside look at their fast-paced, time-crunched process in the 2011 documentary 6 Days to Air: the making of South Park.

So what happened? Two words: power outage. A press release tells the tale: “On Tuesday night, South Park Studios lost power. From animation to rendering to editing and sound, all of our computers were down for hours and we were unable to finish episode 1704 “Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers” in time for air tonight. Trey Parker said, “It sucks to miss an air date but after all these years of tempting fate by delivering the show last minute, I guess it was bound to happen.” Methinks it is time to install a generator, eh? Click here to view images from the dark studios taken last night.

“Goth Kids 3” will be way ready for air next Wednesday, October 23. Tonight Comedy Central will fill the void with a repeat of the classic installment “Scott Tenorman Must Die.”

TV reminder: ‘The Walking Dead’ premieres tonight (10/13) at 9PM on AMC [Update: record ratings]

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The highly anticipated season 4 premiere of The Walking Dead airs tonight, Sunday, October 13 at 9PM on AMC. When we last saw our band of survivors they let into the prison the straggling strangers from the defeated Woodbury. Trailers tease a mysterious danger from within that’s “not really walkers and it’s not other people.” Whatever it is, will it drive Rick and company out of their safe haven as alluded to in the prison break-out poster pictured above?

The premiere is called “30 Days Without An Accident” and its written by new showrunner Scott M. Gimple and directed by special effects specialist and executive producer Greg Nicotero. Following the episode is the return of Chris Hardwick’s after-show Talking Dead with special guests Gimple and Castle‘s Nathan Fillion.

Update (10/14): Another Walking Dead premiere, another series high ratings record. 16.1 million viewers tuned into the season 4 premiere last night; 10.4 million of them fall into the coveted adults aged 18-49 demographic. TWD reigns as the #1 show on TV in that demo. AMC proposes that after factoring in time-shifted playback (DVR, etc.), last night’s premiere should exceed 20 million viewers. The previously most-watched episode was the season 3 finale which attracted 12.4 million viewers, 8.1 million of which fell into the 18-49 demo. In other words, the Dead continue to rise…exponentially. Talking Dead also saw big gains; it too debuted to its biggest numbers with 5.1 million viewers, including 3.3 million in the 18-49 demo.

AMC President Charlie Collier commented on the expected yet still exciting news, as he does. “Sincere thanks to the fans, who have welcomed The Walking Dead back for its fourth season with the highest-rated episode in the show’s history. We could not be more proud of this show and everyone on both sides of the camera who work so hard to give life to this story of character, leadership and survival. It starts with series creator, writer and executive producer Robert Kirkman, show runner and executive producer Scott Gimple and the director of last night’s episode (and the man behind the make-up) executive producer Greg Nicotero, their fellow executive producers and an extraordinary cast and crew who are giving their all every day. So clearly, thanks to them, the dead have never been more alive.”

Update 2: The Walking Dead season 4 premiere is now being hailed as “the most watched non-sports telecast in cable history” after factoring in Live+3 data; an additional 4.1 million viewers watched the episode in the three days following the live Sunday airdate bringing its total viewership to a whopping 20.2 million.

‘Hawaii Five-0’ lets fans design episode this season

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Last season on Hawaii Five-0, fans had the chance to vote on the ending of an episode by submitting who they thought was the installment’s culprit after all the evidence was given. This season viewer participation reaches an entirely new level of interactivity; the show is allowing fans to shape an entire episode. Through October 31, fans can vote on key story elements like Scene of the Crime, The Victim, The Murder Weapon, The Evidence, The Suspect, and The Takedown; each category contains seven options to choose from. For example, the murder weapon can be flame thrower, a spear gun, or even a poisonous toad; a five inch stiletto, however, is currently the frontrunner. And this is only Phase 1. In January fans can vote on props and wardrobe, in February music, and in March the episode title will be chosen. Production on the episode begins in February 2014 in Oahu, Hawaii and it will air sometime later this season.

“Viewers loved helping figure out the ‘whodunit’ episode last season,” said exec prod Peter Lenkov. “Now, we want to up the ante by having viewers’ input on the production of a show. From story to props, viewers will help call the shots. And yes, this is fun for me when I get to see just how creative our writers can be when the key elements are chosen.”

“We are always looking for ways to engage with our viewers and reward fan loyalty,” added Glenn Geller, exec VP at CBS. “A Fan-Built Five-0 is another great example of how Peter Lenkov thinks outside the box in order to deliver exciting and original stories to the viewers.”

Click here to vote on the story elements today.

Hawaii Five-0 airs Fridays at 9PM on CBS.

Fall TV updates: ‘Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ picked up for full season, ‘We Are Men’ cancelled

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After axing one Tuesday drama in Lucky 7, ABC has commissioned a full season order for their hugely successful superhero drama Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. In typical fashion, the alphabet network is tacking on “the back nine” increasing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s season one episode count from 13 to 22. Joss Whedon’s latest foray into television premiered to a whopping 12.1 million total viewers and a 4.7 rating in the 18-49 demo making the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot TV’s highest-rated drama debut in almost four years. Though the show slipped in the ratings in week 2, numbers still remain solid and it sees significant DVR gains; in short, Whedon has finally concocted a TV show that will likely remain on the air for years to come (Buffy & Angel join good company).

Over at CBS We Are Men, the comedy starring Jerry O’Connell, Tony Shalhoub, Christopher Nicholas Smith, and Kal Penn, has been cancelled after only two episodes aired. It premiered poorly to 6.4 million total viewers and a 2.0 18-49 demo rating; things went from bad to worse in week 2 when those numbers dropped majorly to 5.4 million and a 1.8, respectively. These ratings simply don’t live up to the Eye’s sitcom standards and so We Are Men is gone for good. Starting next week, Monday’s 2 Broke Girls moves from 9PM to take over Men‘s 8:30PM slot; repeats of The Big Bang Theory will air at 9PM for three weeks and then Mike & Molly comes off the bench to take over the vacant time slot.

FOX is showing support for its new sitcoms by ordering more scripts for a couple of them. As previously reported, the network ordered an undisclosed amount of additional scripts for Brooklyn Nine-Nine and now the same is being done for Seth MacFarlane’s Dads. FOX ordered 6 more scripts for the Seth Green/Giovanni Ribisi comedy, even as its most recent episode amounted to a paltry 1.3 demo rating and 3.1 million total viewers. Though to be fair, FOX’s Tuesday night comedy lineup isn’t performing so well ratings-wise in general. We’ll see where this goes.

In sum, ABC’s Lucky 7 and CBS’ We Are Men are the first two cancellations of the 2013-14 TV season; NBC’s The Blacklist and ABC‘s Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. are the first to get full season orders, and FOX’s Sleepy Hollow is the first to be renewed for a second season. The fate of FOX’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads hang in the balance leaning towards getting the back nine since additional scripts have been ordered for each.

TV reminder: ‘American Horror Story: Coven’ premieres tonight (10/9) at 10PM on FX [Update: record ratings]

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The third season of Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology series American Horror Story is upon us. This year is called Coven and it involves witches and voodoo and New Orleans. The cast is largely female this season featuring heavy hitters like series vet Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Taissa Farmiga, Angela Bassett, Patti Lupone, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Jamie Brewer, Evan Peters, and Denis O’Hare. The show’s official site offers up a brief glimpse of what’s in store:

American Horror Story: Coven tells the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America. Over three hundred years have passed since the turbulent days of Salem and those who managed to escape are now facing extinction. Mysterious attacks have been escalating against their kind and young girls are being sent away to a special school in New Orleans to learn how to protect themselves. Wrapped up in the turmoil is new arrival, Zoe, who is harboring a terrifying secret of her own. Alarmed by the recent aggression, Fiona, the long-absent Supreme, sweeps back into town, determined to protect the Coven and hell-bent on decimating anyone who gets in her way.

I was fortunate enough to screen the premiere titled “Bitchcraft” (heh) early and I can tell you without any qualms that it’s quite fun and still scary. This season Murphy is aiming for a lighter, more palatable ride. Last season’s Asylum was fantastic–don’t get me wrong–but you must admit it was, at times, difficult to watch in terms of its heavy, dark tones and overly disturbing situations. The Coven premiere starts off disturbing enough and yet it doesn’t hold back jolts of humor–a pleasant surprise. If the first ep is any indication, Coven is going to be a wild, scary, sexy, fun time.

Below, check out character portraits and posters in the galleries. (How do you like the provocative key art hanging above, hm?) After the break, watch the one minute main title sequence filled with (to put it mildly) tantalizing imagery and that score you know and love. Click here to watch the many Coven promos.

American Horror Story: Coven premieres tonight, Wednesday, October 9, at 10PM on FX.

Update (10/10): “Bitchcraft” attracted 5.54 million total viewers making it the most-watched episode of the series spanning all three seasons. The Murder House series premiere in 2011 was the previous record-holding episode which garnered 3.85 million total viewers. The Coven premiere also attracted a solid 3.87 million viewers in the coveted 18-49 demo, another new record for the anthology series.

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Bryan Fuller teases ‘Hannibal’ season 2 in stag-tastic new poster

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As we wait ever-so-patiently for the next chapter in Bryan Fuller’s Red Dragon reimagining Hannibal, the show’s creator has released this poster hyping the second season of the thrilling psychological drama. Fuller designed it himself with help from the show’s F/X team. Here Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter embodies the Man-Stag that Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham kept seeing at the end of last season; at the bottom the year 2014 is spelled out with various lethal instruments things you’d find around a well-stocked kitchen.

Along with the stark image he released this statement to EW: “After a horrifying descent into madness in season 1, this image ironically represents the perspective of a scrappier, clearer-minded Will Graham in season 2.  The scales have fallen from his eyes and he finally sees Hannibal Lecter for the monster he is.”

Hannibal returns to NBC early next year in the season two premiere titled “Kaiseki;” Wikipedia defines it as “a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner…[that] also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals.” Looks like Fuller hasn’t run out of non-English terms to describe meal preparation, a long-running theme of Hannibal season one.

[Via EW]

’24: Live Another Day’ to shoot in London, trio of veterans rejoin the cast

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The new season of 24 is being billed as a “thrilling international adventure” as it will take place and shoot on-location in London. Star and executive producer Kiefer Sutherland and EPs Evan Katz and Manny Coto commented on the exciting news and at the same time dropped some intel on the upcoming 12-episode event series.

“24 has always had such a global sensibility,” said Sutherland. “But to be able to tell this intense 24-style story with the beauty of Europe’s history and architecture as the backdrop is going to be fascinating. Hopefully, by the time you’re finished watching an episode, you’ll feel like you’ve been there…on the edge of your seat.”

“We wanted the show’s return to be an event, and part of that was putting Jack in a very different context,” added Katz. “Four years ago, we left Jack a fugitive from justice and we’re going to pick him up four years later in London.”

“Jack is soon back on the run and it takes us into the streets of London and in places that break new ground for the show,” continued Coto. “We’ve shot in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Cape Town — but now we’re in London and Jack’s loose on the streets of Europe, hunted by and hunting bad guys.”

And who will be joining Jack in London when 24 returns next year? Of course Mary Lynn Rajskub will reprise her role as Jack’s CTU confidante Chloe O’Brien and in some surprise casting news Kim Raver and William Devane are also coming back. Raver played Audrey Raines, a former love interest for Jack, and Devane was Audrey’s father and once United States Secretary of Defense. These two were last seen at the end of season six; Raines was in a catatonic state after her captivity with the Chinese and Heller threatens Jack that he cannot see his daughter ever again. Well, things are about to get interesting.

24: Live Another Day premieres in Spring 2014 on FOX. As previously reported, the new season will still take place over a 24-hour period but it will skip hours to make for a shorter but even more exciting ride.

Fall TV updates: Good news for ‘Sleepy Hollow’ & ‘The Blacklist,’ ‘Lucky 7’ not so lucky

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We are more than a few weeks into the new fall season of television and this is the time when networks typically announce “back nine” pickups and cancellations. This year, however, marks a unique occasion. Instead of increasing Sleepy Hollow‘s 13-episode count by nine for a “full season pickup,” FOX is limiting its run to 13 installments and renewing it for a second season already. The supernatural drama scored big the ratings when its pilot aired days before official premiere week; 10.1 million tuned in and it landed a solid 3.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demo. And if you include DVR gains following the three days after the pilot aired, 13.6 million viewers ended up watching the series premiere and the 18-49 rating jumped to a 5.0. These impressive numbers make Sleepy Hollow FOX’s most successful fall drama premiere since the debut of 24 in November 2001. “The show has proven to be a risk well worth taking – it’s a conceptual blast unlike anything else on television and it all holds together with inventive writing and a fantastic cast,” said FOX head Kevin Reilly in a statement. “I can’t wait for fans to experience what else is in store for this fall and even more of this wild ride into Season Two.” Sleepy Hollow airs Mondays at 9PM on FOX.

This week FOX also renewed The Simpsons for a remarkable 26th season. “For more than a quarter of a century, The Simpsons has captured the hearts and minds of fans in a way that transcends ages, languages and cultures,” said Reilly. “This groundbreaking series is not only the longest-running scripted show in television history, it’s one of the greatest sitcoms of our time, and I’m looking forward to yet another landmark season.” The Simpsons airs Sundays at 8PM on FOX.

Though FOX’s critically-adored cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn’t faring so well in the ratings (it debuted to 6 million total viewers and a 2.5 demo rating before falling to 1.4 million viewers and a 1.4 in its most recent episode), TVLine reports that the network has ordered an undisclosed amount of additional scripts. A full-season pickup might be around the corner.

Elsewhere, NBC decided to go the traditional route with its breakout new drama The Blacklist by giving the James Spader vehicle a full season pickup increasing its season one episode count to 22. Across its first two episodes the series averages 12 million total viewers with a 3.6 demo rating in adults 18-49. It’s the fall’s most-watched new drama in terms of total viewers. “The many layers of Red Reddington and his mysterious reasons for getting into bed with the FBI seem to be fascinating to fans of this show,” said NBC exec Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “With great talent like James Spader and Megan Boone on board, as well our stellar executive producers and the whole cast and crew, we believe this outstanding series will continue to make NBC a big destination on Monday nights.” The Blacklist airs Mondays at 10PM on NBC.

I hope you didn’t invest too much into ABC’s lotto drama Lucky 7 because that show just became the first to get axed this fall. After airing only two episodes the alphabet net has cancelled Lucky 7 and pulled it from the schedule effective immediately (repeats of Scandal will fill the Tuesday at 10PM void for now). The show debuted to 4.4 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating and dropped significantly in week two which stuck a 0.7 rating; oh, the irony. Who will join the not-so Lucky 7 in the cancellation bucket next? My money’s on another ABC drama Betrayal. Keep it here to find out.