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ABC's Fall Schedule: My Take (With Video!)

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:30:24 PDT

I just finished watching ABC's upfront presentation to advertisers, where the network's executives went over the schedule that was announced this morning and showed clips of the new shows - including Life on Mars, pictured above. The presentation gave me some insight into what ABC's thinking with its schedule, which only includes two new shows for the Fall:

Basically, Fall 2007 was so nice, ABC wants to do it twice. "By far, we had the best Fall in decades," entertainment president Stephen McPherson said, "and then came the lovely strike." So the network is mostly doing it over, bringing back the majority of the new shows from last year.
That doesn't mean ABC isn't actively developing shows for later in the year: They've picked up 20 pilots, split pretty evenly between comedy and drama.
McPherson promoted a few of those shows in his presentation, including Four Play, the new comedy from Will and Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick. If the show is as funny as those two were just talking about it, we'll be in for a treat.
Also funny: clips from ABC's remake of the Web series In the Motherhood. It reminded me a bit of Bravo's Significant Others if all the characters were moms battling bratty children.
On the downside, the presentation ended with clips from Wipeout, the game show with people falling and running into things. The voiceover dared me not to laugh. I didn't laugh.

To see what I thought of the new shows - Life on Mars, reality show Opportunity Knocks, and animated series The Goode Family - and see clips and pictures of them for yourself, just

read more. Life on Mars I was pleasantly surprised at how faithful the trailer for this BBC remake seemed to the original - and maybe I'm warming to Jason O'Mara as time-traveling detective Sam Tyler after all. Here's a video and pictures:

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Opportunity Knocks This traveling game show seems family-friendly almost to a fault. It definitely reminded me of the Saturday morning game shows of my childhood. I see it as more a companion to America's Funniest Home Videos, though, not necessarily anchoring Tuesday night. The Goode Family This animated series about a family of vegan, politically correct, recycle-happy folks from King of the Hill's Mike Judge could either be hilarious or unbearable. From the clip, I was actually leaning toward unbearable. What's your take?

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ABC's Fall Schedule: Like 2007 All Over Again

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:30:02 PDT

ABC revealed its Fall TV schedule at the 2008 upfronts this morning, and, well, it looks pretty familiar. The network is bringing back many of the new shows it introduced last Fall, plus renewing a large number of its other series.

Only two new shows will be on the schedule come Fall: The adaptation of British series Life on Mars and a reality show called Opportunity Knocks, a sort of mobile game show produced by Ashton Kutcher. Among last year's shows, Eli Stone is indeed returning, while Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Miss Guided, Cashmere Mafia, and Carpoolers said farewell.

ABC has a couple of other shows ready to go for midseason, including an animated series called The Goode Family from Mike Judge and yet another Kutcher-produced reality project, this one a beauty pageant that has Tyra Banks on board as well. And then there's Scrubs, relocated from NBC, which will also premiere at midseason.

Here's ABC's official press release, and to check out the full schedule and descriptions of the new shows, just

read more. All caps = new show ** = new timeslot MONDAY 8 p.m. Dancing with the Stars 9:30 p.m. Samantha Who? 10 p.m. Boston Legal** TUESDAY 8 p.m. OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS 9 p.m. Dancing with the Stars results show 10 p.m. Eli Stone** WEDNESDAY 8 p.m. Pushing Daisies 9 p.m. Private Practice 10 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money THURSDAY 8 p.m. Ugly Betty 9 p.m. Grey's Anatomy 10 p.m. LIFE ON MARS FRIDAY 8 p.m. Wife Swap** 9 p.m. Supernanny** 10 p.m. 20/20 SATURDAY 8 p.m. College football coverage SUNDAY 7 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos 8 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 9 p.m. Desperate Housewives 10 p.m. Brothers and Sisters Midseason: Lost, Scrubs, The Goode Family, According to Jim, The Bachelor, Primetime: What Would You Do? and the Kutcher/Banks reality project. Here's how ABC describes the new shows: Life on Mars Life on Mars is based on the BBC series created by Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharoah. The series revolves around Sam Tyler, a modern-day police detective who, after a car crash, mysteriously finds himself transported back to 1973 and still working as a detective. Life on Mars stars Jason O' Mara as Sam Tyler, Rachelle LeFevre as Annie Cartwright, Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt, Stephanie Jacobsen as Maya, Lenny Clarke as George Randall, Patrick Wenk-Wolff as Colin Raimes and Richard Benjamin as Milton Kornboll. Opportunity Knocks Opportunity Knocks is a new show that breaks the mold of typical game and reality shows. We will be showing up on America's doorstep and testing how well they know their family. Our mobile team will arrive at "Anywhere, America" in a semi-truck that is full of flat screen TVs, new furniture and big cash prizes that the family can win right there. We will take the action of a game show directly into our contestants' homes, setting up shop in a family's front lawn. The instant our host, JD Roth, knocks on the front door, the game will begin. Hollywood will invade a suburban neighborhood, and each week one lucky family will play the game of a lifetime in front of all their friends and neighbors. The host poses trivia questions to family members based directly on their lives, each other and articles found in and around their home. If they're able to prove they know their family inside and out, they'll win the prizes of their dreams. The Goode Family A new animated series from Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill. The Goode Family is obsessed with doing the "right" thing, whether it's environmentally, politically or socially. Unfortunately their efforts often have unintended comic consequences. "The Goode Family" is voiced by Mike Judge as Gerald, Nancy Carell as Helen, Dave Herman as Ubuntu and Abby Elliot as Bliss. Untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks Reality Project A beauty pageant unlike any you've ever seen, from executive producers Ashton Kutcher and Tyra Banks.

10 Money Moves to Make Before You Freelance

Bundle — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:15:41 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Bundle story here on Savvy!

Freelancing can be an exciting and rewarding path for many people. You get to call the shots - accept or decline assignments, enjoy greater degree of flexibility in your schedule, and develop diversified streams of income. But there are also many things that freelancers have to worry about: health insurance, invoicing, saving for retirement, etc. Here are 10 money moves you can make to ensure that your freelance career is well-positioned for success.

Have an emergency fund

Most personal finance experts recommend 3-6 months worth of living expenses stashed away, but for freelancers, it might be more prudent to aim for a bigger, 6-9 months emergency fund. Jamie Beckman, New York-based freelance writer and author of The Frisky 30-Day Breakup Guide, saved about seven months' worth of money in an emergency fund before she took the freelance leap. "In retrospect, I'd probably recommend saving more than that just in case," said Jamie, "I was able to get a good amount of work right off the bat, so I haven't been dependent on my savings (knock on wood!), but having a healthy financial cushion buys me peace of mind. I also have a few mutual funds that I can cash out in an emergency, but I'd rather not dip into those unless my situation is dire."

Read on for more tips for freelancers.

Jason Segel Talks Muppets, Amy Adams, and His Next Hollywood Dream

Allie Merriam — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:48:00 PDT

We were able to pay a visit to the LA set of The Muppets earlier this year, and the movie's mastermind, lifelong Jim Henson fan Jason Segel, stopped by to chat about life on the set with Kermit. The project was written by Jason and his partner Nick Stoller, and was brought to life with director James Bobin, leading lady Amy Adams, and a roster of talented puppeteers. Jason spoke about how he and Nick tried to make the film fun for both kids and adults, and revealed how happy he was to land Amy Adams as a costar. Jason, who at the time was finishing the Five Year script with Nick between scenes while logging an almost-regular workweek on the set of How I Met Your Mother, also touched on new Muppets, operating Fozzie himself, and what his next big Hollywood dream is. Jason said:

On people's perceptions of a Jason Segel Muppets movie: "I think maybe there was a moment of wariness that I was doing this with a sense of irony. Like there was a wink-wink about it - 'Oh, cute. R-rated Jason Segel is going to do the Muppets and make fun of it.' But as soon as we arrived on set and everyone saw that that wasn't the case, that this was coming from a very genuine and true place, we were all on the same team very very quickly."
On making a movie for kids and adults: "We're trying to harken back to the original three Muppet movies, The Muppet Movie, Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. I think one of the things the original Muppet movies did amazingly well is that they don't condescend to children by feeling like they have to dumb things down to the lowest common denominator. And when you don't do that, you get a family film in its truest sense. An entire family can sit and watch and enjoy it. The worst equivalent is Barney the dinosaur where parents are having to sit there while their kids watch this and the parents want to blow their brains out. This I think is going to be the exact opposite. I think parents are going to be laughing as hard as kids are going to be laughing. We have jokes geared toward children and we have jokes that are geared specifically toward adults that go right over a kid's head. It's something that The Simpsons does as well. There's something very special about a family sitting down to enjoy something together - that was our goal."
On why Amy Adams is the perfect leading lady: "I wrote it for her. She was in my mind from the beginning, ever since I saw Enchanted. The role is very different, but first of all, she's like the best actress alive. To go from Enchanted to Doubt, and The Fighter, this woman can do anything. She's able to do this wide-eyed naiveté that is not part of her personality in real life - she's one of the most smart, on-top-of-it women I've ever met. But she can do this kind of thing - my character and her character and Walter are true innocents. She's able to do that. She channels it through her eyes, and she can sing. She's totally game. She's up for it. She also really gets the jokes, so she was the perfect choice from the start. I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't gotten her."
On writing, filming TV, and filming movies at the same time: "I spent [ages] 21-25 totally out of work. And so now that I have a chance to do stuff, there's a part of me that thinks I'm not letting this opportunity pass by. You see it go away so quickly. It's so fickle. I like writing, I genuinely do. I get tired and all that stuff, but when you think about it, it's like the alien is going to burst out of your chest. When I get an idea it's kind of hard not to do something because it feels like the alien is going to burst out of my chest. I'm not good at setting it aside and saying I'll get to it eventually. I want to start writing it, even if it means staying up all night. It's tough to complain . . . I bought a house! What do I have to complain about, a little lack of sleep?"

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Photos courtesy Disney To read what Jason says about the new Muppet, more on the movie, and his one remaining Hollywood dream, just read more.

On creating a new Muppet: "Nick Stoller and I did. We wrote the script together, he's my writing partner. We invented Walter! We did not get to design him physically because then they would owe us a lot of money. So we came up with him on paper and then they were very clear that we could not be involved in any aspect in the physical design of Walter. But it is pretty crazy when I saw him and I knew he was born in our brains. It's like Nick and I had a little baby - with our brains."
On whether or not this movie would be a musical: "We knew it was going to be a musical from the start. All the Muppets movies are musicals. When you look back at the great lineage of the Muppet music, like "The Rainbow Connection." I mean that is not a joke of a song. That is a serious song. If a legitimate musician put out that song they'd win a Grammy. We really wanted the music to be great and James (director) was the perfect choice for this movie and it seems like he's been training for this."
On what Muppets we'll see again: "We're bringing out a lot of the Muppets from the archives. A lot of guys from the old Muppet shows, some of the kind of obscure performances make appearances. I can't give too many away, but there's some old favorites of mine . . . there's some really cool weird ones."
On improv from the Muppeteers: "There is! I did not expect that for a minute! These guys know the characters so much better than I could hope to. I could imagine what the character might say, but these guys have been playing them for 20, 30 years."
On operating a Muppet himself: "Yeah I just operated Fozzie a minute ago! I've done Fozzie, Dr. Teeh, and I've done Beeker so far. It's been amazing. That is what knocks your socks off. This is going to sound different from how I mean it - but my hand is inside Fozzie? That's amazing. I never thought that would happen!"
On taking pieces from the set home: "I really want a lot of stuff that I see around here. They're very protective certainly over the puppets, but I've gotten a few bits of paraphernalia that I'll save and treasure forever. Some really special photographs. Me with Kermit, shooting the . . . breeze? What's the the PG version of that? That's the greatest picture I've ever seen. I love it."
On Muppets not being puppets: "In the original script, I was a ventriloquist and Walter was my puppet. But one of the things you find out is that you really don't want to cross the line into mentioning puppet. It becomes very, very complicated because the Muppets and not puppets. Muppets are living creatures in this world, you know what I mean? So as soon as I realized that that made things really complicated to have a puppet vs. the Muppets . . . it became complicated, so we cut that aspect of the story and it actually really simplified the story."
On Walter's personality: "Walter is the sweetest little guy you'll ever meet. He's like Kermit. He's like a very young Kermit. He's naive and he's sweet. Walter's thing is he's never met anyone like him. Like I said you don't use the word puppet, but he's my best friend and we grew up in Smalltown, USA - that's literally the name of the town - and he's never seen anything else like him. Except for the Muppets on television. So his dream is to go meet the Muppets and maybe have a family. It really does have tones of young Kermit."
On the movie's bad guys: "There are some other new Muppets. Villainous characters - they're not specifically Muppets. They're not very nice, so they're not Muppets. But they're adorable. I love them. They're another great creation. I can't give too much away about them, but they're really cool."
On the movie being a lifelong dream: "Once [the studio] said they were going to make it, everyone in my life was like, 'All right! Whatever you need. Let's get this thing made.' Because I've had puppets and Muppet figurines in my house, in my bedroom, since I was a kid."
On making Muppets history: "I'm not an arrogant dude, but to be even the tiniest footnote in the Muppets lineage is nuts to me. That is insane! So I feel very honored."
On Hollywood stars requesting cameos: "I got a lot of calls, especially my contemporaries who have kids all wanted to be a part of it for their kids. The idea of bringing their kids to meet the Muppets, or even to be able to show them the movie eventually. People love the Muppets. There's a lot of Muppet love out there."
On the music: "Bret McKenzie wrote most of the songs, and we have a couple reprises of some of the old songs. I wrote one of the songs, but it's a jokier version. Bret really took the songs and ran with them, and they're awesome . . . but some of the lyrics are definitely adult-based."
On where we find the Muppets: "We've got them in varying states of success and disarray. Some are famous, some are . . . destitute is the wrong word, you're not going to see any destitute moments . . . but some aren't doing what they wish they were doing. Everyone is doing their own thing, and it's a bit of a struggle for all of them to come back and do the Muppet show again."
On his next big Hollywood dream: "I'd like to be president of the United States. No. I've like to play a villain in a superhero movie. I think I'd be really good at it. I'm like 20 percent creepy. I'm really am. I am 20 percent creepy, I exclude it from this movie. But when you watch Sarah Marshall, the Dracula musical is funny but it's 20 percent creepy. I really want to play a villain in a superhero movie."

Jason Segel and Leslie Mann Whoop It Up During a Silly On-Set Workout

Lindsay Miller — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:23:00 PDT

Jason Segel and Leslie Mann were hard at work filming scenes for the new Judd Apatow movie yesterday in LA. The costars didn't exactly keep straight faces, as Jason, who plays a personal trainer, coached Leslie through a few ridiculous ab workouts. The film, which was briefly titled This Is Forty, also stars Megan Fox and Bridesmaids actress Melissa McCarthy. The picture revisits the characters that Leslie and Paul Rudd initially played in Knocked Up. Jason Segel has talked about losing weight recently, and took the opportunity to flex his newly revealed biceps in front of Leslie on the set. Jason, who has a cameo in Friends With Benefits, is back to work with the Apatow gang again after shooting The Five Year Engagement in Michigan with costars including Emily Blunt and Mindy Kaling.

10 Chic Steps to a Standout Front Entry

Julia Walsh — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:59:29 PDT

The experience guests have walking up to your home and knocking on your front door is the first impression they have about your decorating style. Having a messy front yard and chipping exterior paint will, of course, leave a poor impression, but having a so-so entry that's neat but not memorable is a lost opportunity. So take a few of my tips for creating a standout front entry at your house!

A Reader's Advice: 5 Ways to De-Stress

Fit Community — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:00:34 PDT

Here is some advice from FitSugar reader sagebliss on how to de-stress; she shared these thoughts in the SageBliss Sugar community group.

We all feel stressed out from time to time. Financial, work pressures, family pressures - so much to do, with so little time to do it all. Try these five tips to help ease the pressure and relieve stress

Schedule time every day to disconnect from the daily grind and relax, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Shut off your cell phone, take a break from email and do something you enjoy. Reading, playing a musical instrument, listening to music, exercising, meditating, and taking a relaxing bath are all great ways to unwind and will be beneficial to your health.
Get some distance from a stressful situation so that you can better gather your thoughts. If possible, take a day, or even a weekend, away from your usual surroundings - somewhere peaceful - and relax. Take a journal along so you can jot down any ideas. Distance away from problems can bring clarity. Solutions will come more easily when you are calm and relaxed than when you’re in the heat of battle.

See more tips when you