Tag Archives: Television Critics Association

TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside)

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When Smash returns for its second season this February, it won’t feel all that different but you should know that the musical drama has undergone significant behind-the-scenes changes in the interim. Right off the bat, Smash creator and Broadway vet Theresa Rebeck has stepped away as showrunner and taking her place is former Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran. Also, you will surely notice the absence of many season one characters including Raza Jaffrey (Karen’s boyfriend Dev), Jaime Cepero (Eileen’s annoying assistant Ellis), Brian d’Arcy James (Julia’s husband Frank), and Will Chase (Julia’s old-time crush Michael). But even with all of these players out of the picture, the show won’t deviate from its roots.

“I don’t think its changed that much,” said Safran. “It’s still the same Smash, just bigger with more music and younger in regard to some cast members.” New additions include Andy Mientus (from Broadway’s Carrie) who plays a poor kid from Brooklyn with dreams of writing for Broadway; Jeremy Jordan (from Broadway’s Newsies) plays a Brooklyn-born singer with a self-destructive streak, Krysta Rodriguez (from Broadway’s The Addams Family) plays Karen’s fun and spunky new roommate who is looking for her big break on Broadway; and Julian Ovenden (from TV’s Foyle’s War) will be Bombshell‘s John F. Kennedy. The season will also welcome many talented and musically-inclined stars including Jennifer Hudson (as Veronica Moore, a threat to Karen and Ivy), Liza Minnelli (as herself), Sean Hayes (can you say Will & Grace reunion!?), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order), and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me). Also, Bernadette Peters returns as Ivy’s mom.

“There’s more than one original song per episode: bigger [and] more is something we played with,” added Safran. “We have more original songs [per episode] and diverse musical styles. I kind of wanted to represent the bigger theatrical worldview on the show this season.”

Executive producer Neil Meron admitted that the first season had its ups and its downs. “First seasons of shows need time to find themselves, to lock into what they are, especially with a show like Smash,” he said. “There are so many moving parts to figure out the mechanism. It’s a fantastic machine. When certain moments worked in season one, I dare anybody to say what could be better.” Then: “There were certain story lines that were pinpointed that you’d say, ‘Yeah, they’re right it could be a little bit more impactful.” Confirmed at a previous junction: Debra Messing’s hideous scarf collection has been tossed in the garage (and the crowd went wild). Now only if they’d get rid of her depressing son… at least Ellis the terrible has made an exit stage right.

Will Smash‘s Broadway musical Bombshell actually inspire a real show in New York City? “When we watch Bombshell moments, we think wouldn’t that be great on Broadway? But that’s where we leave it,” Meron said. “Our first priority is to make the show. It will inspire more conversation, but have we done anything about it? No.” Take that as a maybe! Announced at TCA panel was a soundtrack featuring 22 cast-recorded songs from Bombshell that will release February 12.

Smash returns Tuesday, February 5 with a two-hour installment. The space after the break is home to a brand new season 2 preview and a behind-the-scenes clip. Continue reading TCA 13: ‘Smash’s new leader Josh Safran injects NBC’s musical with new life (season 2 preview inside) →

TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside)

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Revolution is on break until March and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke accept the extended with a positive attitude and they think viewers should as well. “When we were doing Lost, that [scheduling] helped us enormously,” Abrams said. “So when the idea came up for Revolution I was really relieved. I thought, and still think, that it will get us to a place where it will be the best possible way for the viewer to watch the show.” Added Kripke: “The little break has afforded us the ability to take a breath, look at what we’ve done, really analyze it, and make adjustments. It also supplied us a natural break point between the season’s first half and second half, and the second half sort of lives as its own continuous piece.” While Kripke maintained that “we learned that we did a lot of things right,” he also admitted that “the pace of the shocking surprises were a little too slow.” So what can viewers expect next?  The “second [half will be] bigger, better, more exciting and [with] more revelations–at the same time maintaining the format.” The shock factor will increase as well.

What else? When Revolution returns this spring, the action will continue “exactly” where we left off. “Giving [Monroe] power was more about making him an unstoppable force,” said Kripke. “We start to deliver on the promise of the title. The revolution begins.” Kripke fed the questions, “Can [the Matheson family] stick together in the face of these overwhelming odds and danger? And can you maintain your soul when you’re a warrior?”

Kripke went on to say that he’s definitely planning ahead for upcoming seasons of the show, but they’re at the “cocktail napkin sketches” state at the moment. “Because [the world is] so expansive, there’s no end to the stories we can tell,” he said.

Revolution returns March 25. Get a glimpse of what’s to come in a new trailer after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke promise a bigger, better, more surprising ‘Revolution’ this spring (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside)

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Do No Harm is a high-concept show coming to NBC later this month that can be viewed as a modern take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In short, it follows protagonist Dr. Jason Cole (say it fast: “Doctor J. Cole”–get it?) who has a mysterious dual-personality. Every day at 8:25PM his dangerous, adventure seeking alter ego Ian Price consumes his body; 12 hours later he returns to his “normal” self. At the TCAs today, executive producer David Schulner talked about his new series which he originally pitched as “Dexter meets House.”

“I think ultimately you can only write the show that you want to watch, and this was a show that I wanted to see on TV,” Schulner said. “I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be thrilling. I wanted it to be a roller-coaster ride. And I wanted it to have stakes. I also wanted there to be a love story at the center of it. Hopefully those ingredients will make it different than what has come before.”

What has come before are NBC shows that ring similar to Do No Harm and they are last season’s fantastic but short lived Awake and before that there was My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater. “I took lessons from those shows, and this is a show you’re going to want to watch. It’s thrilling and fun. That’s the big difference.” I’d say that Awake was all of those things as well, so you’ll have to tune into Schulner’s take on the fractured personality theme to see how it really compares.

How will Steven Pasquale’s Jason Cole/Ian Price interact with one another? “Ian’s a little bit like a cat,” Schulner proposed. “The cat wants to play with the mouse. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse and chess match.”

Determine if Do No Harm is a show you want to watch when it premieres January 31. Click after the break to watch a new trailer.

Update (1/7): Today David Schulner announced that actor James Cromwell (who is coming off his stint as American Horror Story: Asylum‘s Dr. Arthur Adren) will be joining the cast of Do No Harm as “Jason’s mentor, who may or may not have his best interests at heart.” Just another reason to tune in. Continue reading TCA 13: Exec prod David Schulner hypes NBC’s ‘Do No Harm’ (new trailer inside) →

TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season

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The Television Critics Association is back for its winter tour. It’s the time of year when the major networks and their shows talk about their fall performance and preview what’s to come midseason and beyond. Of the big four networks, NBC was up first today and man-o-man was the Peacock’s chairman of entertainment Bob Greenblatt happy to see a sea of press because this marks the first time in a long time that his network has something positive to really talk about. NBC’s had a great fall as they currently find themselves the #1 network in the adults 18-49 demographic and #2 in total viewers (still trailing CBS). “What a difference a year makes, right?” he exclaimed toward the crowd packed with press and critics. “I’m going to bore you with statistics because I’m not sure when I’m going to have the chance to do this again.” The major stats are as follows: for the first half of the season, NBC is up 24 percent and 19 percent in the 18-49 demo and total viewers, respectively. The net can thank the ultimate Monday pairing of The Voice and Revolution for their recent success, as well as high ratings for Sunday Night Football and their surging sitcom Go On. In 2012 FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly accused the heads of the other major nets of having their heads up their asses. Greenblatt responded directly today with the most publicist quote to come out of his panel: “I can guarantee you, we don’t have our heads up our asses,” he said.

Greenblatt and NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke used the rest of their time to discuss specific shows, new ones and old. Jump after the break for the bullet-point breakdown. Continue reading TCA 13: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt pats own back for hugely successful fall season →

TCA 13: Carlton Cuse talks ‘Bates Motel’, series premiere date revealed

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If you aren’t amped for the Psycho prequel series Bates Motel from Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights), you should be. Today at the launch of the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, the showrunners and some of the cast talked about A&E’s upcoming psychological thriller.

First and foremost, Cuse made it a point to say that Bates Motel is inspired by but does not serve as an homage to Hitchcock’s classic film. “We did not want to do an homage to Psycho, we wanted to take these characters and setup as inspiration,” Cuse said specifically. “We don’t really view any of [the original movie] as canon,” he added. “The idea of an homage was just not going to be engaging to me. Making the fundamental decision to make it contemporary gave us the freedom to take these characters wherever we wanted. There’s a certain amount of baggage that comes with taking on ‘Psycho’ … making it contemporary made it become liberated from the original movie.”

Mystery and intrigue line the modernized story of Norman Bates (Freddy Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga). “The mythology that you think is what dictates the relationship between Norma and Norman is not what it’s going to turn out to be,” tantalized Cuse. The former Lost showrunner mentioned that his new series will not feature out-of-this-world characters or scenarios. “No polar bears, no smoke monsters — just say no right off the top. There’s no supernatural elements in play. We view this as a psychological thriller.” He confirmed that the show is in fact of the serialized sort, and it will tell a contained story with a defined beginning, middle, and end. “There is an endpoint to this narrative, absolutely. … In some general form we are going to catch up with a version of [Norman] from the movie.” Additionally: “Like all the best serialized shows, whether Breaking Bad or Homeland, it’s a kind of a story that takes ten episodes to unfold. And there’s some hooks that will hopefully carry us into a second season. We’re not just solving one particular crime. There’s a number of mysteries.” Continue reading TCA 13: Carlton Cuse talks ‘Bates Motel’, series premiere date revealed →

2012 Winter TCAs: Tim Kring & Kiefer Sutherland on the upcoming “profound” FOX drama ‘Touch’

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At the center of Touch is Martin Bohm (Kiefer Sutherland), a widower and single father, haunted by an inability to connect to his mute 11-year-old son, Jake (David Mazouz). After multiple failed attempts at keeping Jake in school, Martin is visited by Clea Hopkins (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a social worker sent to evaluate Jake’s well-being. Everything changes when Martin discovers that Jake possesses the gift of staggering genius – the ability to see things that no one else can and the patterns that connect seemingly unrelated events. Jake is indeed communicating. But it’s not with words, it’s with numbers. Martin meets Arthur Dewitt (Danny Glover), a professor and an expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers. Now, it’s up to Martin to decipher the meaning and connect the numbers to the cast of characters whose lives they affect.

At the TCA winter press tour, Heroes creator Tim Kring shared his enthusiasm about his upcoming FOX drama Touch. “I can’t say enough about [FOX entertainment president] Kevin [Reilly]’s support. It was a script that I thought was a challenging one for a network to want to do to, I frankly didn’t think it would be done at a network. And Kevin read it and believed in it instantly and has absolutely been its tireless champion within the company. So I’m hugely indebted.”

Series star Kiefer Sutherland was also on hand to shed some light on how he landed the lead role and what exactly drew him to a show involving “global unity” and interconnectedness among human lives. Kring admits that he did not write the Martin Bohm character with Sutherland in mind. Additionally, Sutherland wasn’t so much interested in returning to TV after his long run on 24 which only concluded two years ago. But when he read the pilot script he was going to make an exception here. “I remember getting to Page 35 and thinking, ‘Shit. I’m in real trouble here,’ ” Sutherland shared. “The character is so vastly different [from that of 24‘s Jack Bauer], the tone of the piece is so vastly different. And that’s part of its appeal.” He continued, “I had to read the script twice to make sure that all the things that were affecting me were affecting me on a personal level as opposed to trying to manage a career. Does it happen to be a nice diversion from 24? Yes. I just couldn’t turn this down because it spoke to me on a really profound level.” He added, “My choice to do this had nothing to do with trying to get away from 24. It was because I want to spend hopefully the next seven or eight years sinking my teeth into something interesting.”

Sutherland made a comparison between his iconic 24 role and the new shoes he’s about to fill. “The one parallel between the two characters is Jack Bauer was asked to save the day, and there was always going to be casualties. Martin will never have an idyllic relationship with his son. With both characters, they’ll never completely win, and that’s something I’m drawn to as an actor.” At one point he described the father/son relationship between Martin and Jake as “really beautiful.”

After discussing how and why he positioned himself in the lead role, Sutherland described the logistics of Touch. “Some characters will be woven over [multi-episode] arcs, but Tim and I both learned – he from Heroes and me from 24 — that there is great value in a procedural drama. So every week there will be a set of circumstances set about by Jake that will put Martin in a situation to deal with someone new, and that situation will be resolved. There will be a beginning, a middle and an end, in theory, to every episode.”

Later, it was revealed that Kring’s son is autistic and that he is an inspiration for the show. Touch will explore the facets of autism and “Tim feels very responsible to stay true to [autism] in that regard,” says Sutherland. “So we’re not go to be making stuff up to explain stuff. We’re going to deal with the medicine and what doctors know.”

Before the panel could conclude, critics asked Sutherland about the current status of the 24 movie. He confirmed rumors that shooting will begin “at the end of April, beginning of May.” He teased that the movie is “relatively a direct continuation” of the series finale that aired on FOX in May 2010. We’re talking maybe six months from the end of that episode.” As previously reported, the movie will cover a 24-hour period in about two hours, so obviously it will not be told in real-time like the show was. Last, it was recently announced that Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Chloe will factor into the movie.

Touch premieres March 19. FOX will be airing a preview later this month on January 25 at 9PM.

[Via Deadline; TVLine 1, 2]

2012 Winter TCAs: FOX’s Kevin Reilly on future of ‘House’, ‘Glee’, ‘Terra Nova’ & ‘Fringe’

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Today at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, FOX became the second big network to address its current status. Network president Kevin Reilly spent most of his time on stage addressing the future of FOX’s staple shows like House and Glee. He also made sure to feed critics with status updates on newbie Terra Nova and cult-hit Fringe. While NBC’s Greenblatt made it his mission to address head-on the ratings woes at his panel, Deadline reports that FOX’s Reilly barely had time to discuss his network’s 14 percent year-to-year ratings increase because so many of his shows are on the bubble. Let’s dive in.

Reilly on House: “It’s hard to imagine the network without House. This is not going to be the pink slip goes out and this is the end of House. We haven’t had the big meeting [with the producers] about what we want to do. It is no secret that it will be a close call, we said in May that it would probably be the show’s last year, but we just haven’t made the decision. Should it be the last season, this is not going to be an unceremonious finish, I can tell you that…It will absolutely have a satisfying conclusion on FOX. There’s no way [series creator] David Shore isn’t going to let fans feel it wasn’t properly capped off.” Though there was a period when Reilly and Shore discussed a potential House spinoff, Reilly confirms “that time has come and gone.”

On Glee: Reilly confirms that there will not be a Glee spinoff following Rachel and Kurt to New York City. In a nutshell he explained, “We’re graduating the characters that are arcing toward graduation. What’s come out of it is [series co-creator] Ryan Murphy has come up with a really cool idea. There will not be a Glee spinoff. But those characters will graduate and that’s led to a really interesting idea that I think will give us something to dig into next season, and it [starts with] the spring batch of episodes. That’s all I can say about it now.” He added that Lea Michele is definitely back next season (should Glee be renewed and it will), but he wouldn’t confirm the return of Chris Colfer and some other actors. “What I said before is creatively, we’d want everybody back,” he explained. “I’ve got to look at the contractual situation for all of those. And we will…I’m just trying to whet your appetite. But I think [what’s planned] is going to be a good thing for the show…It’s cool. It’s different.”

On Terra Nova: “It was an exciting bet to take, and it’s proven it was worthwhile. It is the second highest-rated new drama, one of the highest-rated new shows of the season. It has a distinct audience [and they] enjoyed it; they had amble opportunity to reject it and they didn’t. There’s a show there to bring back, there’s an audience to access. There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen. The show was hunting for itself creatively through the season. Creatively it was hunting. I loved some of the episodes. If this is all we make [of Terra Nova], we made money on it, the studio made money on it, and it seems to have resonated with the family audience. If we had more holes in our network, we’d be thrilled to lock that right in.” He admitted that “we won’t be able to drag our feet for much longer because it does need to get back into production in the next month” if it’s granted season 2 renewal.

On Fringe: You take the good and take the bad. First, the good: “Fringe has been a point of pride for me, I share the fans’ passion for the show. I love the fact that with it FOX put genre back on the network. I’m grateful to the fans who followed the show to Fridays, and with Fringe there, we have a real Friday night for the first time.” And now, the bad: “We lose a lot of money on the show. At that rating on that night it’s almost impossible for us to make money. We are not in the business of losing money, so we’re trying to figure out if there is a number at which we can continue with the series. He added, “I do not want to drop the ball on the end and let the fans down. Please don’t start the letter writing campaign now. I can’t take it. We haven’t even sat down with the producers and the studio yet. I hope we get some credit with the fans for seeing through a great show.”

Series co-creator J.J. Abrams even through in his two cents on the matter. “For some sick reason I’m hopeful,” Abrams said. “There’s some stuff coming up this season that’s so great. Maybe it’s dumb optimism that the good work [of the Fringe showrunners] will be rewarded. “And if not on FOX, maybe somewhere else,” he teased. Executive producer Jeff Pinkner addressed fans of the show as well. “Worst case scenario, if this were the last aired season of Fringe — and as we’ve said before, there are other outlets where we could continue our stories, be they graphic novels or webisodes — we know what the end of this season is going to be, and it can function as a series finale.” He matter-of-factly shared that even last season’s finale could have rightfully served as a proper series finale. “Had Peter, the lynchpin for the reason the show existed, been the one to sacrifice himself heroically to save the two universes and the woman he loved, it would have been a very authentic end.” And it seems like things will go the same way this time around, too. Reilly says that Pinkner and fellow exec producer J.H. Wyman will not know if the show is coming back as they come up with the season 4 finale. The episode will be written before FOX and Warner Bros. talk about a potential renewal. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from the Fringe creators thus far, it is that we can trust them.

Reilly wrapped up the panel by touching on failed animated series Allen Gregory, the fate of Ryan Seacrest on American Idol, and changes to The X Factor. On Allen Gregory: “We will not be making more Allen Gregory. Our goal was to keep as many as possible of our the legacy shows intact but continue to take shots with the next-generation (animated) shows. It turned out Allen Gregory wasn’t one of them.” On a related note, Reilly sees Bob’s Burgers joining FOX’s next generation of animated shows. On Ryan Seacrest: “As we know it is a much harder job than meets the eye. I think everyone has come to realize the value of Ryan Seacrest. It’s very hard to imagine American Idol without Ryan. We certainly want to keep him.” Seacrest’s contract is up after this upcoming season of American Idol and the network is working hard to land a new deal with him. On The X Factor, Reilly teases that “there will be some changes” and one of them might be replacing host Steve Jones with someone new. Says Reilly, “Whether Steve is the guy or not, it comes under the heading of growth in general.”

All in all, many of FOX’s shows are up in the air concerning their renewal status. With Alcatraz, Touch, The Finder, and Napoleon Dynamite still waiting to be thrown into the midseason schedule, Reilly has many things to take into consideration before making final decisions to bring back the aging House, the potential hit Terra Nova, and the genre darling Fringe.

[Via Deadline; EW 1, 2; TVLine 1, 2]

2012 Winter TCAs: Kyle Killen & Howard Gordon talk trippy NBC drama ‘Awake’

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After Detective Michael Britten wakes up from a car accident with his wife and teenage son, he learns the devastating news that his wife died in the crash. Trying to put the pieces of his life back together, he wakes up a few days later to realize that his wife is very much alive and his son died in the accident! Did he lose his wife or his son? Or neither of them?? What if your life split in two in the face of a situation like this, and you could actually have everything you wanted, just not all at the same time? Michael goes back to work solving crimes while trying to put things back on a “normal” track, alternating between realities.”

At the TCA winter press tour, creator of the ill-fated FOX series Lone Star Kyle Killen talked up his latest project Awake. After reading the summary above above, do you feel confused? The creative team behind the sci-fi crime drama assures once you see the pilot and fall into the groove of the show confusion will not be one of the feelings you’re left with each week. “It is a fairly gettable concept once you sit down and actually pay attention to it,” executive producer Howard Gordon (24) said. “And whatever learning curve there might be, we hope it’s a shallow one.” Gordon went on to give his even briefer summary of the show. “He’s a guy who goes to sleep, wakes up, he’s with his wife, goes to sleep, wakes up, and he’s with his son.  And he’s a cop who sees clues and details that crossover from one world to the next, and he uses that insight to solve crimes.” Not that doesn’t sound so confusing, now does it?

Killen compared the writing process for this show to “putting together a Rubik’s Cube every eight days.” Intriguing. “It’s a dramatic procedural. On a week‑to‑week basis, there is a self‑contained question and answer. There’s a puzzle every week. At its heart, it’s a unique twist on the procedural dramas that you are actually very used to.”

He doesn’t make it a secret that he’s learning from his past mistakes, too. “I think there were aspects of Lone Star that were more difficult to get a wider, broader audience interested in. [The main character] was somebody that you couldn’t decide if you liked or hated, and I think that [Detective] Britten’s dilemma is something that we’re not only sympathetic for, but somehow we want him to win.”

The series creator concluded the panel by saying that the show will not end like this: “It was all a dream.” He went on, “There are 100 ways out, but 99 of them are probably unsatisfying to most of the population. I personally believe ‘It was all a dream’ is not particularly satisfying. We will work hard to avoid frustrating ourselves and you if we have the opportunity to wrap it all up 8 or 9 years from now.” Awake star Jason Isaacs confirmed that they do know how things will end. “We have a plan, and we’re never going to tell anyone, so stop asking us.”

Awake is set to premiere this midseason on NBC; a specific date and timeslot still haven’t been confirmed.

[Via Deadline; EW]

2012 Winter TCAs: NBC’s Bob Greenblatt on ‘really bad fall’, hope for success with ‘Smash’, the return of ‘Community’

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Last week at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour NBC was the first big network to publicly shed light on its fall TV season performance and hint at where they’re headed in 2012. NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt didn’t waste anyone’s time with these opening words. “We had a really bad fall, worse than I’d hoped for but about as I expected,” he said. “People say the only way to go is up which I believe is true, but there is a long way to get there.” He continued, “We had few strong lead-ins — our most recent scripted hit is six years old [30 Rock]. Some of our older hits lost cast members [Law & Order: SVU and The Office].” He also blames the network’s overall ratings decline on “the fact that we have few strong lead-ins.” He added, “There was no great revelation or shocking epiphany about fall expect it just [reinforced] how hard it is to break through.” Later he spun things positively acknowledging the recent NBCUniversal/Comcast merger. “But the good news is we now have new owners, they’re investing in our business, not only with financial resources, but with their patience.”

NBC’s major disappoints this fall were Prime Suspect, The Playboy Club, and the Hank Azaria comedy Free Agents. Greenblatt made sure to share his thoughts on each failed project. On Prime Suspect: “[It] was probably the biggest disappointment. Was it too cable, was [Maria Bello’s character] too abrasive? Maybe I should say it was the hat and move on…the audience wanted to be entertained with comedy and fairytales [this fall], and there wasn’t appetite in the country for a hard-hitting cop show.” On The Playboy Club: ” “Was Playboy Club too dark? I don’t know. I think it was a just a rejected concept…I know everybody thinks we sat in a room and said, ‘Oh, we have a show like Mad Men, let’s put that on.’ We thought going into the period would interest people, but I don’t think people were that fascinated by that milieu and place.” And finally on Free Agents:  “I’ll go on record stating I liked it. Am I surprised that it went down? I’m really not surprised about anything going down today.” Though comedies Whitney and Up All Night haven’t become ratings hits yet, Greenblatt is confident that in time they will find bigger audiences.

The NBC chairmen went on to share his excitement about upcoming drama Smash, and at the same time he made sure to keep expectations at a realistic level. “I think that Smash is going to be very important to us,” said Greenblatt. “I don’t believe it’s a make or break show for us. I think we’re all proud of it and we’re excited to see what it can do. If I had a dime for every time someone said to me, ‘You just need one hit…’ I think in this day and age you need four or five shows to start to turn things around. Smash could be one of those. If it isn’t, it’s not like we’re going to go into receivership. But we do think it’s special and it can break through the clutter.” He noted that the musical will have a ratings advantage since it will be attached to one of the network’s “few and far between” lead-ins in The Voice.

He also discussed the future of cult-favorite Community. “When I announced our midseason changes last fall and took Community off the schedule, I failed to explicitly say that it would be back,” he said. “I want to expel any notion that it is just disappearing off the schedule.” It has been confirmed that season 3 will resume this spring. He continued, “Community was moved to 8PM a couple years ago and that’s an incredibly competitive time slot now on Thursday and I’m really curious to see what something else [30 Rock] would do there. I don’t know if it makes sense to ask it to start off the night again. We’ve tried to migrate some comedies to Wednesday this year. It’s a matter of looking at what happens with the six comedies we’ve got at midseason, to figure out where Community makes the most sense.” And when can viewers expect to hear news of possible renewal? “We’re just going to look at the success of what pilots yield, what the scheduling needs are and make that decision closer to the upfront [in May],” Greenblatt explained.

Greenblatt went on to share his thoughts about other NBC programming. Here are some choice quotes. On Howard Stern joining America’s Got Talent: “I have headaches about a lot of other things but that’s not one of them. I think he’s going to be a great judge and take it seriously. I don’t think his plan is to usurp the show and make it the Howard Stern Circus.” On the status of Fear Factor: “People like to see the snake cage and the swallowing of the bees. What can I say? We’re always happy to have those ratings. It’s [a show] that will probably come and go [on the schedule] as needed.”

The former head of programming at Showtime ended the panel like this. “The beauty of cable is the ratings for a program really don’t correlate to the bottom line. At Showtime, Prime Suspect would have been picked up in the third episode, it would have been declared a hit and it would have been in production for four or five years.” With broadcast TV, “You can’t be as cavalier about, ‘Oh we love the show. We’re just going to keep it on as long as we want.’ That’s the big dilemma that I’m in.” He concluded, “We have to figure out how to cease up on that and not end up in a narrow place.”

Can new midseason shows like Smash, Awake, The Firm, and Are You There, Chelsea? help lift the Peacock out of the ratings rubble and into a better place? Like many things in life, time will tell.

[Via Deadline; THR; EW; TVLine]

FOX prez Kevin Reilly on the future of ‘Fringe’, ‘House’, ‘Breaking In’, ‘Glee’, ‘Touch’

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This month at the Television Critics Association press tour, FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly shared his thoughts on some of the network’s most popular shows.

Fortunately Reilly is an outspoken fan of the genre series Fringe. Thanks to his support and fan encouragement, he made the final decision to renew the show for another season. At the TCAs he shared his outlook for the upcoming season: “I don’t expect Fringe to grow. It’s a pretty complex show. If Fringe can do exactly what Fringe did last year, we’re going to be very happy. They’re right in the pocket creatively once again.” He understands going into season 4 that the ratings probably won’t grow past the stabilization that took place last year when the show moved Friday nights. As long as the cult following remains true to the series, I trust that Reilly will let Fringe run its course until the creators decide it’s time to end the story on their terms. He describes Fringe as “a creative show that deserve[s] to be on the air.”

Many expect that the upcoming season of House will be its last. Reilly commented on the speculation: “I can’t confirm that it’s the last season [though] we’ve talked pretty publicly about the potential for that. I’ve spoken to [the producers] and they want to go out strong, so we’re going to revisit that later in the fall.” In a recent interview with TVLine, House creator David Shore admitted that he’s not approaching this season as if it’s the last. He said, “Fox wants another season. I think enough of our fans want another season. [Universal Media Studios] wants another season. It may well be [the final season]. And we will know earlier rather then later because I want to do [the ending] right.” Reilly mentioned that if FOX were to drop the show before Shore has properly concluded the series, Universal Media Studios (the production house behind the show) might opt to shop it to other networks. But don’t bet on that happening. Either FOX will say they’re willing to renew the show later this fall, or they’ll advise Shore to start wrapping things up and mark season eight as the last.

After cancelling the breakout comedy Breaking In last season, FOX quickly extended the cast options so that if they were to figure out a way to bring it back from the dead in a timely manner the cast (consisting of Christian Slater, Brett Harrison and Odette Annable) would remain attached to the program. Reilly confirms that Breaking In will be a contender for the network’s two-hour midseason comedy block. It will battle returning series Raising Hope and newcomers I Hate My Teenage Daughter, New Girl, Little In Common, and Family Album for a spot. “We will revisit what makes that two-hour block later in the fall and make a decision [on Breaking In],” said Reilly.

Reilly also took time to comment on the recent Glee controversy involving graduating stars Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, and Cory Monteith. “I think it has taken on a little more heat and momentum than it in fact is. This show is a big management undertaking. There are many successful shows on the air that have genuine controversy and fighting. That has really not been the case. It is a good group of people with [different] personalities.” He confirmed that Rachel, Kurt, and Finn will be graduating at the end of the season 3 and that a spinoff series starring these characters might be developed. “We collectively decided to revisit [the spinoff] in the back half of the [season] when it should be visited. It got out [in the media early] and then got a little bit crazy.” These comments support what Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy told Deadline this month. Reilly also visited the rumored fractured relationship between Murphy and other co-creator Brad Falchuk. “Those guys get along really well. Brad is the most even-keeled, mild-mannered guy in the world. And Ryan is who he is. And that’s why we love him. He is a creative force… When that spinoff came around, I think his wheels started turning… and this got out. And I think the second it did, I think all of us were really surprised at how it took on a life of its own. This is something that was probably a two-day issue, that somehow it has taken on a bigger life.” Reilly went on to describe how the upcoming season will be “focused” and “back to basics.” He maintained, “There aren’t going to be any big guest stars, there aren’t going to be any tribute [episodes]. We’re focused on our core characters and relationships. [There will be] an incredibly clean arc. There will be a graduation at the end [of the season]. We know the three characters who will be graduating. How that’s going to play out I’m not going to say. There are some surprises; it’s not going to be predictable.”

Last, Reilly also made sure to share his excitement over the Tim Kring (Heroes) pilot starring Kiefer Sutherland (24) called Touch. He describes the pilot as “extraordinary” and says Sutherland’s role is “a new character but it does have some dose of Jack Bauer in it.” The show has yet to be scheduled and Reilly held that he “can’t confirm [the series order] yet, but [they’re] staffed on Touch and they’re writing scripts now.” He added, “Look, to be honest with you, if the pilot was lousy, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. But I think the pilot is potentially great.” In case you forget, the show will focus on a father (Sutherland) who discovers that his autistic, mute son (David Mazouz) can predict events before they happen. Danny Glover costars as “a professor and expert on children who possess special gifts,” reports TVLine. Lookout for Touch to premiere in midseason.

[Via Deadline; TVLine 1, 2, 3]

FOX renews ‘Raising Hope’ early, comments on cancelled shows & Fringe’s move [Update: J.J. Abrams addresses the move, too]

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One day after ABC granted early renewals to six of its series, competitor FOX decided to show its muscle by renewing its freshman series Raising Hope.  The Greg Garcia comedy was actually the first freshman series of the year to receive a back-nine episode order, so it’s certainly fitting that today it became the first freshman program to be renewed for a second season.  Go Hope!  The laugh-out-loud family comedy is FOX’s highest-rated new series; having that Glee lead-in doesn’t hurt.  The show’s creator Garcia said, “I’m happy that the show is getting another year. But the fact that I’ve been trying to think of a funny quote for the last two hours and this is the best I could come up with makes me a little nervous about season two.”  FOX prez Kevin Reilly also shared his excitement about the continuation of Hope: “Raising Hope has emerged as a comedic standout: wickedly smart, hilarious and full of heart. Greg Garcia and his great cast have established an appointment show on Tuesday nights this season and we’re confident it’s just the beginning of great things to come.”  Raising Hope returns with new episodes Tuesday February 8 at 9PM.  If you’re not watching this show, it’s never too late to start.

Update 3: Click here to watch Hope‘s Golden Globes plea.  Greg Garcia and the cast put together this “For Your Consideration” video and sent it to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hoping it would help their chances at landing a nomination.  It didn’t, but it’s still well worth a watch.  Let’s just say Cloris Leachman brings down the house with her wildly NSFW language. Continue reading FOX renews ‘Raising Hope’ early, comments on cancelled shows & Fringe’s move [Update: J.J. Abrams addresses the move, too] →

‘Terra Nova’ preview night lands a date, producers talk about its promise

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Mark your calendars, people.  The Steven Spielberg/Peter Chernin sci-fi drama Terra Nova will air its preview event across two nights: May 23 and May 24 at 9PM.  Just like FOX did with Glee, the network is going to preview the new show before its fall 2011 debut in attempt to generate buzz.

Refresher: Terra Nova follows Jim Shannon (played by Jason O’Mara), a man who is sent back in time to prehistoric Earth with his family in an attempt to save the human race.  At the Television Critics Association press event, the producers screened an action-packed trailer; unfortunately it did not reveal the dinosaur design since production on the pilot episode recently wrapped and the special FX have yet to be finalized.  However, many people connected to the show shared their thoughts on what to expect.  Executive producer Brannon Braga (24, FlashForward) explained, “Earth is essentially dying – most animal life is extinct. They’re hoping to re-start humanity through this time fracture they’ve discovered.”  The plan for the Shannons and over 1,000 time-travelling colonists is to re-colonize the planet in the past.  “What effect that will have on the future, they hope it’s a positive one,” said Braga.  “The characters are hoping for a second chance.”  The show will have “continuing elements of suspense…[but] at the core of this show is the Shannon family.”  Director Alex Graves (Fringe) says that Terra Nova is “not a scary show. It’s an adventure show. My kids have seen some of it and they love it.”  He continued, “You’re going to see dinosaurs you haven’t seen before.”  When asked to compare this show to groundbreaking series Lost Graves said, “It’s so made for a massively broad audience, I cannot tell you.”  Insinuating that Lost catered to a very specific audience he then noted, “Terra Nova, more than anything I’ve ever done in my life, is for everybody.”

Then Braga shared some concluding remarks about the promise of this show. “It’s just a great concept. Philosophically, it’s the closest thing to Star Trek I’ve worked on since I read that show years ago. I wanted to gravitate back to a science-fiction premise with big, humanistic ideas. ” He is compelled about the focus on “people from the distant future coming to the distant past.”

The show is being shot in Australia, so you can expect a beautiful backdrop.  After watching the teaser trailer, IGN described certain aspects of the show as having a Jurassic Park meets Aliens vibe.

Today FOX released some stills from the two-part pilot episode slated to air this May; check ’em out after the break along with some character profiles.  And if you’re interested in reading about the trailer shown at the TCAs today click the source link.

[Via IGN] Continue reading ‘Terra Nova’ preview night lands a date, producers talk about its promise →