Saving Grace

• TNT has renewed Saving Grace and Raising the Bar, while HBO has OK'd a second season of True Blood. — Zap2it
• Nicole Kidman may become an action star, now that she's in talks to be in the "character-driven, treasure-hunting" action-adventure The Eighth Wonder. — Hollywood Reporter
• Fred Wolf (director of The House Bunny) will write and direct the dude road trip movie Divorced Guys, which will star David Spade. — ComingSoon
• Metallica's new album is topping the Billboard 200 list, making it the band's fifth No. 1 album. — Billboard
• Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito and Jenna Fischer are in talks to join the movie Solitary Man, which follows "a car magnate with a runaway libido." — Variety
• Kirsten Dunst will produce and star in an adaptation of the book A Jealous Ghost. — ComingSoon
• Here's who won Big Brother 10. — AP
• Stephen Colbert will debut "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!" on Comedy Central on Nov. 23. — Billboard

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Saving Grace has already earned Holly Hunter a Golden Globe nomination, and few would be shocked to hear her name on Thursday when the Emmy nominations are announced. Hunter plays an Oklahoma City detective who lives large for better or for worse — throwing herself into her work but also drinking, smoking, and sleeping with the wrong people. She's also being visited by Earl, an unusual angel who encourages Grace to set her life straight.

The show's second season premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EDT and PDT on TNT, and last week, Hunter spoke with some reporters about her character, the show's second season, and her feelings about making the jump from movies to TV. Here are some highlights:

On whether Grace changes at all this season:
"I think she changes all the time, actually. I think there's give and take inside her. There's always movement. She's very kinetic. And I think she's also kinetic in a psychological way. . . . The most thrilling thing about her is how live she is. So many people are truly asleep for long periods in their days and their lives. I think Grace spends an extraordinary amount of her time really awake, awake to a real, true curiosity about why people do what they do. She also is a real tester of what people are capable of and what she herself is capable of."

On what opened the door for Saving Grace to exist:
"What preceded that was the success of The Shield and Rescue Me and The Sopranos — really started the wild, wild west in cable. FX and HBO kind of started this new idea, which was real character drama, and a character who does anti-heroic things, not just a character who's quirky but a character who straddles two worlds — one world being highly charged with questionable thoughts and behavior, such as Denis Leary and Tony Soprano and Vic Mackey. Those characters live in a more similar vein to how Grace lives, except that Grace is a woman. That's where cable is really kind of taking off. It's given women opportunities to play highly controversial characters, women who are doing things that maybe they wouldn't have been able to do on television 10 years ago, like Weeds on Showtime or Glenn Close in Damages or Minnie Driver in The Riches, women who were living lives of real, deep grayness."

To find out what Hunter thought was the toughest part of transitioning to TV, read more

A while ago, I speculated that TNT was becoming the official network of strong women. Tonight, two of the shows that have made it that way return for new seasons: The Closer begins its fourth season at 9 p.m. EDT and PDT, while Saving Grace starts its second immediately after.

The Closer has been a standout for several years now and spent last season shattering cable ratings records (many of which it already owned). The show has also earned wide acclaim for Kyra Sedwick as the no-holds-barred interrogator Brenda Leigh Johnson, who's practically a fixture in the Emmy and Golden Globe nominations these days. When this season begins, wildfires are tearing through Los Angeles, and Brenda is there to unleash her fury on anyone who seems to have done wrong.

Meanwhile, Saving Grace starts season two with Holly Hunter's Grace continuing to come to terms with her past — which seems to be darker and more haunted at every turn. Hunter spoke with reporters last week, including yours truly, and I'll be bringing you some of her comments later today. For now, though, you can get a sneak peek of the new episodes of The Closer and a quick recap of the first season of Saving Grace if you read more

I got a promotional e-mail today touting the Summer programming lineups on TNT and TBS. As I scrolled through looking for a return date for The Closer (July) and a start date for Raising the Bar (September), a banner at the bottom caught my eye:

"Kyra Sedgwick, Holly Hunter, Laura San Giacomo, Jordana Spiro, Nancy Travis, Jane Kaczmarek, and Gloria Reuben are just a few of the strong women coming to TNT and TBS this summer."

And they have good reason to spotlight that: Of the five series featured in the e-mail, only one (The Bill Engvall Show on TBS) has a male character in the lead. The rest are either female-led or have women in the majority of the starring roles: My Boys on TBS and all three of TNT's dramas, The Closer, Saving Grace, and the new series Raising the Bar. And, what's more, three of those four series have leading ladies over the age of 40 — a relative rarity in Hollywood.

I'm not sure if TNT and TBS set out to become networks full of programming featuring women who are tough, quirky, and relatable (and succeeding in roles typically earmarked for men, at that), but regardless, I find it encouraging that it's happened. They aren't the only networks in this game; FX's Damages drew a ton of acclaim with Glenn Close in its leading role. I just like the fact that these networks see their roster of shows with older, female stars not as a risk but as something to be celebrated. What's your take?

The Closer is going home for the holidays. Tonight, TNT will air a special two-hour version of the show called "Next of Kin."

The special finds Krya Sedwick's Brenda heading home to Georgia over Christmas — but she's there on business, not family matters, at least at first. A gang robbery of armored cars leads Brenda back home in pursuit of a suspect. But once Brenda's parents learn she's nearby, they start lobbying her to spend Christmas with them as a family. TNT's description of the episode promises the story involves "the federal Do-Not-Fly list, a long trip in an RV, missing Perry Como CDs and some questionable tactics that could, potentially, lead to deadly consequences on Christmas Eve." Sounds like a jam-packed two hours, indeed.

The special leads into the first of four new episodes of Saving Grace, the Holly Hunter series that premiered on the network this summer. I wish I'd kept up with the show better this summer, because its reappearance on Monday nights could give me something to watch now that Chuck and Heroes are heading off the air. Did anyone else stick with it? If you're like me and need to catch up on the first season, check out this quick recap. Or, you can watch a preview of the Closer special over here.

Photo courtesy of TNT

• Stereogum tells us where to hear Green Day covering "The Simpsons" theme song for the big screen.
• MTV's Movie Blog has an interview with Julia Stiles regarding her upcoming adaptation of The Bell Jar which she doesn't consider depressing "at all." Um, what?
• Meanwhile, Cinematical has a pretty adorable interview with Gretchen Mol in which she talks 3:10 to Yuma and The Ten.
• Give Me My Remote is bummed that "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas has left his latest ABC project, "Miss/Guided."
• It is possible for the hit-tastic Rihanna to miss sometimes, as Idolator proves with this Bob Marley cover.
• Popwatch tries to figure out whether or not the Backstreet Boys' reunion album (minus Kevin Richardson), releasing October 30, is worth caring about.
• You can see some first images from Jessica Alba's thriller The Eye on BloodyDisgusting.com.
• TV Squad is very excited about the "30 Rock" DVD set.
• This interview with Holly Hunter about her new series "Saving Grace" (as posted by BestWeekEver) is the most awkward thing I've seen in a long, long time.
• Vulture brilliantly chooses to illustrate yesterday's ABC vs. NBC executive showdown with Simpsons characters.

When I named TNT's "Saving Grace" one of my top 10 reasons to keep watching TV this summer, it was mostly because of Holly Hunter. Granted, the premise of the show, which premieres tonight after "The Closer," sounded a little too "Touched by an Angel" for my liking — alcoholic, sex-fueled cop nearly kills someone and is sent a "last chance" angel to put her back on the straight and narrow. But I trusted that Hunter, whom I always find wonderfully watchable, could keep the show grounded.

Based on the first couple of episodes, at least, the show is a fine vehicle for the Oscar-winning actress to showcase the toughest, angriest and most acerbic end of her range. Hunter plays Det. Grace Hanadarko, a hard-living, tough-love cop who drinks too much and has too much sex with far too many of the wrong men. One night, in a moment of extreme weakness, she asks for help — and gets it in the form of a gruff, tobacco-chewing, invisible angel named Earl. But this is no easy story of redemption, so read more

Summer used to be a time of reruns, but no more. Now summer TV is its own event, with cable and broadcast networks pulling up a whole new crop of shows. And here's the bad news for those of you who planned to get off the couch this summer: A lot of the summer series look great. Here are 10 great reasons to keep the remote control close at hand:

No. 10: "Saving Grace" (starts July 18, TNT)
I could watch Holly Hunter in practically anything, so it's really just a bonus that her new TNT series looks good. Hunter plays a hard-charging detective who drinks too much, sleeps with too many guys and generally plays by her own rules. But then a tragedy drives her to break down and ask for help — which comes in the form of an unconventional angel named Earl.

No. 9: "State of Mind" (starts July 15, Lifetime)
I know what you're thinking: "Lifetime? As in the Original Pictures about victimized women?" But now that I've been pleasantly surprised by the compelling "Army Wives," Lifetime has earned a little more credibility in my eyes. And now this series about a psychotherapist with personal problems of her own has at least three good things going for it: 1) Lili Taylor (right), who always delivers the right combo of charm and angst; 2) the producing team that brought us "Nip/Tuck" and "The Closer"; and 3) Devon Gummersall, aka Brian Krackow from "My So-Called Life." Yeah, I'm so there.

To see the other 8, read more