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Which New Show Are You Most Excited to Watch Tonight?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:30:33 -0700

Three new network TV series will make their premieres tonight: NBC has Parks and Recreation and Southland, while CBS has Harper's Island. So, what'll it be for you: the small-town political comedy, the big-city cop drama, or the island-based murder mystery?

Photos courtesy of NBC and CBS

First Look: Harper's Island

BuzzSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Harper's Island, which starts next week on CBS, is doing things a little differently than your standard TV series. Not only do we know its start date (April 9), but we also already know its end date (July 2). And it's best not to get too attached to any of the characters, as one by one, they're all getting killed.

The series finds a group of friends and family reuniting on an island off the coast of Seattle for what should be an idyllic wedding between Trish (Katie Cassidy) and Henry (Christopher Gorham, playing a character with an awfully familiar name). But there's just, y'know, one minor problem: The guests are all dying at the hands of an unseen murderer, revealed only in the final episode.

It's an interesting premise, but I have a feeling a lot will depend on this show's execution. Will it be creepy, haunting, and captivating to the point that I have to keep watching to know the identity of the killer? Or will it be cheesy and over-the-top? I'll be curious to find out next week, but for now, to check out a few of the promos CBS has been passing around and all the photos introducing us to the island's characters, just read more.

View 24 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of CBS

Which New Spring Show Are You Looking Forward to Most?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:30:37 -0700

This Spring is filled with lots of good, new, intriguing TV! Castle already got underway this week, and tons of other premieres are in the lineup for the coming weeks. So, what show are you making room for on your schedule?

Castle, Cupid, The Unusuals, Better Off Ted, and In the Motherhood photos copyright 2009 ABC, Inc.; Parks and Recreation photo courtesy of Flynet; Kings photo courtesy of NBC; Harper's Island photo courtesy of CBS; and Sit Down, Shut Up photo courtesy of Fox

TCA Tidbits: Nurse Jackie, Call Girls, Henry VIII, and More

BuzzSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:30:46 -0800

It's NBC's turn to present at the TCA press tour today, but before they take the stage, I wanted to pass along some of the remaining goodies from the CBS and Showtime presentations. I've got lots of good stuff - including an interview with United States of Tara and Rachel Getting Married star Rosemarie DeWitt -that I'll share in the coming days, but for now, some highlights from Wednesday's panels:

Showtime's Nurse Jackie, which stars Edie Falco, is about a woman who's the absolute best nurse imaginable but also has serious human flaws - namely a severe addiction to pharmaceuticals (and an affair with her pharmacist). The show will premiere later this year and be paired with Weeds. Two of the show's executive producers are recovering addicts, so that part of things should feel very real - but that doesn't make it somber. "We love addictions," cracked executive producer Linda Wallem. "We think they're hilarious and great."
The lovely Joss Stone came by to discuss her role as Anne of Cleves on The Tudors. It's her first real acting job and not an easy one to jump into, but she said that was OK: "I prefer to do that. I like to go headfirst into whatever it is." She said she also appreciated knowing that - unless the producers were seriously changing history - she wouldn't be leaving the show with her head cut off.
Speaking of which, if you're waiting for the part of the show where Jonathan Rhys Meyers gets ugly and fat to play King Henry, well, don't hold your breath.

To hear some funny revelations from the Secret Diary of a Call Girl panel, read more.

Where else at TCA besides the Secret Diary of a Call Girl panel would you hear someone say something like, "We had a dominatrix on set . . . we really needed her around"? Their session - with the lovely Billie Piper, who gave birth less than 12 weeks ago and was absolutely radiant - contained all kinds of fascinating revelations, including how producer Rebecca de Souza met the actual call girls who advise her on the show (she found them on the Internet, naturally).

Also interesting: People in London tended to be more prudish and taken aback by the show's sexual content, Piper said, while US audiences seemed more open-minded.
CBS has a 13-episode murder mystery show called Harper's Island premiering this Spring, and while story will end definitively after the 13 weeks with only one character left standing, the producers said they could imagine other shows following the same format airing on CBS in the future - which led to lots of jokes about "Harper's Spaceship" and, once the shows have killed off enough characters, "Harper's Zombies."
Moonlight fans, take note: CBS wants to do a deal with Alex O'Loughlin and is developing a show for him.
This American Life still has a place at Showtime and the executives are talking to Ira Glass about upcoming stories.

On to NBC - where we'll get some details about the still-untitled Amy Poehler show! Check back this afternoon for updates.

Photos courtesy of Showtime

Castle, Reaper, and Other Shows Coming to a TV Near You

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:30:09 -0800

CBS and ABC both released their midseason schedules this week, and the CW dribbled out a few little teases, giving us an almost complete picture of what we'll be watching on TV in 2009. It's good news for fans of Reaper and Nathan Fillion, and not such good news for those who love Pushing Daisies or Ashton Kutcher reality shows.

Some of the highlights:

Castle, Cupid, and The Unusuals all made ABC's midseason schedule. Castle will air Mondays at 10 p.m. starting March 9, Cupid will air at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays starting March 24, and The Unusuals will get the post-Lost time slot of 10 p.m. on Wednesdays starting April 8.
Harper's Island, which CBS is calling a "13-episode mystery event," will air on Thursdays at 10 p.m. after CSI from April 9 through July 2. It's actually one of the only changes to the CBS schedule; another is that Flashpoint, which aired last Summer, will start its second season Friday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m.

For a couple of others, including the premiere date for Reaper, just read more.

Poor Ashton Kutcher. Everyone wants him to make reality shows, but then they either get canceled (ABC's Opportunity Knocks this Fall) or dumped on Saturday night, which is what CBS is doing for his Game Show in My Head. Saturday night! And you thought Friday time slots were bad.
The CW's midseason plans are still coming together, but here's a definite bright spot: Reaper's second season is scheduled to premiere March 17 at 9 p.m. after 90210.

So, no Pushing Daisies or Dirty Sexy Money on the schedule - but hey, I suppose that if ABC's three new series tank, there's a chance those shows could get another look for next Fall. And hooray for the return of Reaper, which I hope will be just as delightful as it was toward the end of the first season.

What do you make of all this news? Are any of these shows on your radar?

Buzz News Roundup, 7/14

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:00:18 -0700

Army Wives will be back for a third season, with 18 episodes scheduled to air sometime in 2009, Zap2it reports.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms will star together in a "bachelor-party comedy" titled Hangover.
Jordana Brewster will guest-star on Chuck as Jill, the college girlfriend who legendarily broke Chuck's heart, reports Entertainment Weekly.
The success of Wall-E has apparently sparked new talk of a Hello, Dolly stage revival, Variety reports.
ABC and FX topped GLAAD's annual "responsibility index," Reuters reports, while NBC and Fox, among others, received failing grades.
ComingSoon has the news that Jon Heder will star in another Napoleon Dynamite-type oddball comedy, titled Loudermilk.
Gio wins? Ugly Betty's Christopher Gorham has been cast in the CBS midseason series Harper's Island - though ABC still insists we haven't seen the last of Henry, TV Guide reports.
ComingSoon writes that Fox has acquired the screen rights to the recent NYT bestseller One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War.

Photo courtesy of Lifetime

The CBS Fall Schedule: My Take (Plus Video!)

BuzzSugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:30:06 -0700

CBS revealed its plans for Fall at the upfronts this morning, including more comedy and a few high-profile drama series. Now that I've had the chance to mull the schedule over, here are some of my thoughts:

CBS' decision to expand into a second night of comedy has to be good news for fans of traditional sitcoms, which CBS already did more of - and arguably does better - than any other network at this point. While the descriptions for Project Gary (pictured above) and Worst Week didn't wow me on paper, I'm curious to check out the full shows for myself.
I wouldn't have pegged CBS as a network for remakes of shows from other countries (that tends to be more NBC's bag), but that's what three of their new series are: The Ex List is imported from Israel, Worst Week is based on a BBC comedy, and Eleventh Hour was originally a BBC miniseries starring Patrick Stewart.
Hooray for How I Met Your Mother! Looking back at my coverage of last year's upfronts, I realized the show followed exactly the same pattern then: Things looked bleak for a while, but then the show went on a big upswing and made the schedule without trouble.
Which of the canceled series will you miss most? Cane never got a lot of buzz, Moonlight had a big fan following but not big ratings, and Shark . . . well, I'm not really sure what the issues were with Shark, to be honest.
Speaking of which, I assume the failure of Jericho to gain an audience after the peanut campaign pretty much puts the kibbosh on any chance of Moonlight returning no matter what fans use to bombard the network, right?

I've got some clips and photos from all the new CBS shows, and you can check them out if you read more.

Eleventh Hour

The Ex List

Worst Week

Project Gary

The Mentalist

Harper's Island