TNT

Tonight Jada Pinkett Smith returns to the small screen for the first time in years. She stars in the new TNT drama, HawthoRNe. Like another new show, Showtime's Nurse Jackie, HawthoRNe follows the personal and professional tribulations of a nurse.

Christina Hawthorne (Smith) may be small, but when it comes to fighting for her patients and their families, she's a force to be reckoned with. By the looks of preview clips and the scene I've included below, this is one TV nurse who is bound to make a lasting impression.

In addition to fighting for her patients at work, Hawthorne fights to remain sane at home. The show takes place one year after her husband's death and we watch the tough nurse struggle to manage her own grief while also trying to be there for her rebellious daughter, Camille. The show also stars Michael Vartan as chief of surgery and Suleka Mathew, among others. Her personal life aside, Hawthorne seems like the kind of flawed but dedicated nurse people might look up to.

After the jump I have a preview clip from tonight's premiere, so read more

Tonight marks the beginning of Trust Me, TNT's new series about two friends working at a modern-day Chicago ad agency. There's Connor, the free-spirited wild guy played by Tom Cavanagh, and then there's Mason, the slightly more uptight and career-driven man who gets a big promotion in the first episode — to be Connor's boss. It's not a particularly deep show, but I greatly enjoyed the two episodes I saw; one even sent me into a giggle fit on an airplane. So, that alone gives it the Buzz stamp of approval.

A few weeks back, McCormack and Cavanagh chatted with reporters about the show, which premieres at 10 p.m. after a new episode of The Closer. Here are highlights:

• McCormack didn't want to be, say, the next CSI guy: Post-Will and Grace, "I didn’t want to be a cop, I didn’t want to say the word forensics, I didn’t want to be a lawyer or a doctor. I wanted a new, fresh setting. I wanted it to be real. I didn’t want to do a science fiction show. This setting, this script, these words, these characters and particularly this relationship, this friendship, just was just totally right up my alley," he said. "It’s written by guys that lived in this world and are very much living a friendship like this one."
• They always knew who'd be Mason and who'd be Connor. "I was like, 'I know Connor’s got funny lines,' but — in terms of bringing myself to a series day after day, week after week, I’m just more drawn to Mason," McCormack said of playing the more serious of the pair. As for Cavanagh, "You kind of feel that this is exactly how it was supposed to have played out," he said, "because you know I like playing the guy I’m playing."
• They both got their start in ads — and didn't hate it. Cavanagh said one of his first big jobs was starring in beer ads in Canada. "I think we shot something close to 11 spots, which was a blast because all I had to do was get the tag line out which was simply, 'If I wanted water I would ask for water,'" he said. "I got to improvise and I had a man's best friend — a dog that I riffed with." McCormack, too, did some beer commercials: "I did five spots with a girl and in every commercial I was trying to hit on her, but in every commercial we were different characters," he said.
• They're thrilled to be working on cable. "This is not a knock on the networks," Cavanagh said. "One of the reasons that we’re here right now is because of what we did at the networks. At the same time . . . some of the best comedy of my generation — you know Friends, Seinfeld, Cheers — these are shows that didn’t fare well early on and then became the blockbuster shows of our time. [Knowing that] you’re at a place where you’re going to get your say is extremely comforting."

To check out a preview from tonight's episode, just read more

Leverage, TNT's new heist show, starts Sunday night, and it's a pretty good time — there's some Ocean's Eleven flavor mixed with a little bit of The A-Team and some Robin Hood for good measure. Last month, TNT invited me to Los Angeles to interview the cast — including star Timothy Hutton, who plays Nathan Ford, the mastermind who helps a crew of thieves steal from the rich and greedy — and executive producer John Rogers. Here's some of what I learned:

Leverage isn't taking itself too seriously. "[Executive producer Chris Downey] and I were drinking in our garage, which is not as sad as it sounds, and were talking about how heist shows at the time had gotten really grim and gritty — you missed half an episode even and you were lost," Rogers said. "We talked about the shows we liked — Rockford Files, The A-Team, Mission Impossible — and why not do one of those?"

Keeping track of elaborate heists can be tricky. "In the writing room, that can get a little hairy," Rogers said. "We have different colored cards and everything . . . Everything gets spot-welded together, and there are times when we look at the board and are like, where the hell did the bad guy go?"

To see more of what I learned about the series, including what's coming up for Hutton's character, just read more

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Timothy Hutton (mostly thanks to Beautiful Girls). But while he's what initially attracted me to the new TNT series Leverage, which premieres in December, he might not be the only reason to stick around.

Leverage focuses on a group of criminals who are, essentially, the high-action version of Robin Hood: They use their schemes and skills to take revenge on those who use their power and wealth for evil. Hutton stars as Nate Ford, who once recovered millions of dollars in stolen goods for his corporate employer — and then finds himself wracked with grief and anger when his employer denies his son's insurance claims, allowing the boy to die. Ford assembles a team of henchmen who are experts at hacking, stealing, and lying and who can use their skills to fight against corporate greed and evil.

Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, and Aldis Hodge (who briefly played Voodoo on Friday Night Lights!) round out the cast. The show will kick off with a commercial-free premiere on Dec. 7 before moving to its regular timeslot, Tuesdays at 10 p.m., on Dec. 9. I'll be interviewing some of the cast and crew this weekend, so to check out some promos and pass along any questions you might have about Leverage, just read more

More proof that TNT is the official network of strong women: it's lured Jada Pinkett Smith back to television. She'll be starring in — and executive-producing — the network's new drama pilot called Time Heals.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show "centers on Nancy Hawthorne (Pinkett Smith), a strong but caring director of nursing at Charlotte Mercy Hospital in North Carolina, a single mother who always puts the pain of others first." That sounds like it could be a meaty role — and a show that will fit well on the network that also recruited Holly Hunter for Saving Grace and Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer.

Frankly, I'm happy anytime a TV network turns out a show with a powerful woman at its core, and it's about time we had another show with a woman of color in the lead. I'll be interested to hear more about this show as it moves forward. How about you?

Source

When I saw this press release on the Internet, it took me a few billion reads to understand the connection between TNT paying road tolls for the lovely people of Atlanta, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Chicago and the network's new legal drama Raising the Bar. That's right, over this Labor Day weekend TNT is going to spring for two hours of free tolls, and they're also premiering a new show. The connection eluded me, but finally, I found this helpful quote in the release:

"With so many people on the roads Labor Day weekend, it's a perfect time to get our message out about the premiere of this outstanding new drama series," said Tricia Melton, senior vice president of marketing for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "We are literally raising the bar by paying tolls on Labor Day weekend."

Get it? Toll booths have bars! They lift up when you pay! Yeah, I think it's a stretch too, but hey, they got me writing about it, I guess.

Anyway, I think TNT could have gotten a lot more creative with the the word "bar" and paying for stuff, so to see the other campaigns the network should have gone with, just read more