TV
OK, the news is coming out about which TV shows will be returning in the fall ( "Reaper," hooray!) and which will not ( "Jericho," and it sounds like peanuts won't save it this time).
I'll post more info about various shows here, and of course we'll cover them in the TV news section of MSNBC.com.
But let's use the comments section to discuss...which shows are you happy to hear are coming back? Did any of your favorites get canceled? And are there any shows out there that you'd secretly love to see canceled? (Am I the only one who's shocked that "The Bachelor" keeps on keeping on? At least this next season will be "The Bachelorette.")
Is it just me, or are some of the best programs on TV running on The Discovery and History Channels?
I've always liked those channels, but while I was on my leave, I started to really get into the extreme job/freezing in Alaska/wow-I-could-never-do THAT genre of programming.
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A few weeks ago, while I was attending the TV critics' summer press tour, a friend and I decided we were tired of being surrounded by today's stars. So we headed off just a few miles from our hotel to visit the final resting places of some of yesterday's stars.
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The TV critics usually make time for a couple of set visits on press tour. Last year we hung out in the operating rooms of Seattle Grace Hospital via our "Grey's Anatomy" visit, and walked the hallowed halls of The Barn in Farmington on "The Shield." This year, set-touring day was jam-packed with a half-dozen visits, but I was easily most excited about our trip to the "Heroes" set.
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TV critics often hear from viewers who are angry that there are so many reality shows on TV, and since the number of sitcoms is dwindling, they blame the reality shows for pushing out the comedies. That may be true in part, but if the sitcoms being pushed out are anything like ABC's new "Carpoolers," I'm not crying too many tears for them.
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It's my experience that those who read James Patterson books really, really
love James Patterson books. When I read crime books, I tend more towards Jonathan Kellerman myself, but Patterson's fans are legion. And his works are no strangers to the screen, whether big or small: "Kiss the Girls" and "Along Came a Spider" have become films, while various other books have been turned into TV movies. Now, though, an entire ABC series "Women's Murder Club," is based on Patterson's books.
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At the summer press tour, it's surprising how little personal time critics actually spend talking about the new fall shows. We're so buried in factoids about them all day long that when we get a chance, we want to discuss something -- anything -- else. But when shows are discussed, the question we ask each other most is "Which shows have you liked?" The same five or so shows almost always come up, and ABC's "Pushing Daisies" is almost always among them.
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We've discussed the Geico cavemen commercials in our Test Pattern TV commercial contest -- most viewers find the ads funny and sharp. But they're 30-second ads! When it was announced this spring that ABC was turning the "Cavemen" into a 30-minute sitcom, I think even the biggest fans of the commercials had some Brontosaurus-sized doubts. And from the horrible pilot episode, and the frantic scrambling to rewrite the show, it looks like those doubts were justified.
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I reported on the Harold Perrineau news the other day, but should catch you up on other ABC tidbits from network president Stephen McPherson's executive session.
--Expect the cast of the next "Dancing With the Stars" to be announced in August, though McPherson wouldn't reveal any dancers yet. But there is going to be a spinoff, he said. "Dance X" is currently airing in the U.K., and the American version will feature two of the judges from "Dancing With the Stars." (I'd make a bet that Bruno Tonioli is one of them.) CONTINUED >>
In the season finale, "House" looked like it was divided against itself. Three major members of Dr. House's team -- Foreman, Chase and Cameron -- had moved on. But the three actors who play them (Omar Epps, Jesse Spencer, and Jennifer Morrison) all joined star Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard and executive producer Katie Jacobs for a press tour panel. If that didn't soothe worries that they'd all eventually rejoin the show, the panelists' discussion went on to do just that.
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