I’m transitioning from my old computer to my new one. This will be the last entertainment update created on the old computer. I’ve got my Feed Demon program loaded on the new machine but I need to clean out all the old articles from the old one first.

Since our last installment I’ve seen Hobbit 2 and Hunger Games 2. Both were every bit as good as I hoped they would be. Both ended on pretty big cliffhangers somewhere counting down the days already to the final installments of both franchises.

We’ve also had the Dr. who Christmas special featuring the end of Matt Smith as the doctor. Not quite as emotional as David Tennant’s last episode or Billy Piper’s still a fine sendoff.

To get your TV watching up-to-date for the new winter season we start off with a couple of links to printable PDF TV schedules updated for the new January shows.

In the links below read…

Printable winner 2014 broadcast TV schedule from TVaholic.com

Printable winner 2014 cable TV schedule from TVaholic.com

Interview with producers of Revenge about recent episode

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated December 17

Spoilers from Matt’s Inside Line dated December 19

NBC has announced Hannibal will return for 13 episodes starting February 28. I loved the first season.

Interview with producers of Nikita about series finale

Interview with show runner of Homeland about season finale

Interview with Damon Lewis about homeland season finale

Not in links below but also of interest

NBC has green lit the miniseries titled  “A.D.”which takes up where the History Channel series “The Bible” left off right after the crucifixion.

Lifetime will make a TV movie about Ann Curry getting fired from the today show

Fox has renewed Master Chef Junior for season 2

HBO’s Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV show of the year for the second  year running. Beat out breaking bad and walking dead

Demi Lovato has confirmed she is leaving X factor

Rumors say Jay Leno is in talks with CNN for a talk show

Judy Davis will play the bad guy in the new 24 TV show season

Katie Couric’s talkshow is ending after two seasons

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals finally did something I agreed with. They are calling for the end to “Duck Dynasty”. I don’t care about the ducks… I just think it’s a stupid show. And a stupid controversy surrounding it.

Nick Nolte is joining the cast of Fox networks remake of Broadchurch which has been renamed Gracepoint encase I didn’t already report that.

James Cameron will make his Avatar sequels in New Zealand to take advantage of tax breaks

President Obama has been offered a cameo in the upcoming season of House of Cards. He didn’t say no but he didn’t say yes.

Frank Darabont is suing AMC networks saying he is not yet received a penny of money for the profits for The Walking Dead.

Usher and Shakira will be back as judges for The voice on February 24

JK Rowling is going to coproduce a Harry Potter prequel play on London’s West End

Paul Rudd will play Ant-Man in an upcoming movie

Printable Winter 2014 TV Schedule v1.00 (PDF) – New as of 12.19.2013.

Printable Winter 2014 Cable TV Schedule v1.00 (PDF) – New as of 12.19.2013.

Post Mortem: Revenge Boss on Why [Spoiler] Shot Emily – Plus, Scoop on that Memory Twist, Victoria’s Upper Hand, Aiden’s Past and More

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Homeland, Once, Revenge, NCIS, Bones, Carrie, TVD and More

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Bones, Castle, NCIS, Once, Arrow, Supernatural, TVD and More!

Nikita Boss on That Shocking Twist and Amanda’s Fate – Plus, the ‘Mikita’ Ending You Didn’t See!

‘Homeland’ interview: Showrunner explains Brody’s fate, season 4 plan

‘Homeland’: Damian Lewis talks finale tragedy

Well after a week in the hospital, multiple bouts of computer problems, and the design and implementation of a computer-generated Christmas card I finally have a few free minutes to do and entertainment blog. My new computer is sitting in a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis scheduled for delivery tomorrow so this will be the last installment on my trusty old desktop. Some of the so-called “spoilers” may have already occurred because this is so late but perhaps you are far behind on your TV and movie watching as I am in the spoilers will still be spoilers. To get you caught up quickly be sure to check out the first three links in my list below. They are a calendar of Fall finales and January premieres, a series renewal scorecard for prime time TV, and a series renewal scorecard for cable shows. You might want to bookmark those renewal cards because they keep getting updated as new announcements are made.

The first thing I have to share with you is my unending love for the NBC singing competition show “The Sing-Off”. In the competition between 10 a cappella singing groups. There is absolutely no musical accompaniment whatsoever. So the groups not only have two sing their songs, they are 100% responsible for their own arguments and they simulate not only beatbox drums but a variety of other instruments. The judges on the show are probably the most competent and entertaining judges in all reality competition. They are the medicine that cures all of the ills of shows like The Voice, X Factor, and American Idol. My beef with The Voice judges/coaches is that they were very very rarely say anything negative or critical about any of the acts. On X Factor the judges do more squabbling with one another and bad mouthing their mentoring choices than they do giving honest feedback about the acts. And in both X Factor and Dancing with the Stars if the judge does dare make any nonpositive comment, the audience boos so loud you can even hear them. Even constructive criticism is met with ridiculous levels of disdain from the studio audience. On The Sing-Off the judges are real judges they are not mentors assigned to particular groups. And they do give really honest and constructive criticism to the groups about how they can make the next performances better. The studio audience is small but is probably nothing but friends and family of the contestants themselves. The producers have apparently instructed the studio audience to let the judges do the judging because it is very rare that the audience goes off on a judge for giving constructive notes. When asked really does give an outstanding performance, it makes the praise of the judges much more credible because you know that they are not afraid to critique the acts.

The judges themselves however are still every bit as entertaining as any other judges in reality competition TV. Ben Folds is probably the most lovable nerd on television short of Big Bang Theory. He’s probably the most musically intellectual judge on television but still very funny. Sean Stockman has plenty of a cappella credits to his name as one of the original members of Boys 2 Men. And pop/country Jewel rounds out the judging trio replacing Sarah Baralles who judged in previous seasons. This season the show is being shown multiple episodes per week over a two-week period. You’ve already missed the first couple of episodes which should be available on demand. The next new episode is Monday night on NBC. I highly highly recommend this show. If you’re not a fan of a cappella music it can turn you into one very easily.

The other big news story that deserves comment is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who which was celebrated couple of weeks ago with a special episode featuring at least three different actors (spoilers I will tell you how many it really was) portraying the iconic trying traveler The Doctor. It was an action filled and touching dramatic episode sprinkled with great humor and plenty of inside jokes to please Whovians (Dr. Who fans). The episode was also shown in 3-D which was used to great effect in many places. It was the highest rated show ever to air on BBC America. After the Saturday premiere, the 3-D version was shown in theaters across the US and earned $4.2 million from a single showing even though presumably 99% of the attendees had already seen the episode on TV. It was the number two box office film of the day behind Hunger Games 2 .A slew of Doctor Who related specials were also shown on BBC and BBC America. There was also a two-hour dramatic movie about the people who created the TV series back in 1963. It was mostly about actor William Hartnell who was the first actor to portray the doctor. It was very entertaining, very touching and well done. Overall it was a great tribute to a great TV series. Matt Smith who is the 12th (or is it 13th) person to play the Doctor is leaving the show after this year’s Christmas special to be replaced by Peter Cappelli.

As I’m composing this email/blog I just received a news alert that iconic British actor Peter O’Toole has passed away at age 81. He had eight Oscar nominations for such iconic films as Lawrence of Arabia 1963, Beckett 1965, The Lion in Winter, 1969. He also received an honorary Oscar in 2003. Among my favorites of his films however are some of the lesser-known ones such as Venus 2006 and My Favorite Year 1983 both of which earned him an Oscar nominations. However I think my all-time favorite was Creator in 1985 in which he played Dr. Harry Wolper, an aging professor/doctor who is trying to create human life in a test tube in a sad yet touching attempt to clone his dead wife. Is a very funny yet at times melancholy performance that I have watched many times and could watch over and over again. Memorable performances by Vincent Spano and Mariel Hemingway as well. If you’re in a mood to remember the old boy and watch a Peter O’Toole movie, check this one out.

You’ve probably also covered that action star Paul Walker of the Fast and Furious franchise died in a car accident at age 40. He was not at the wheel.

Fans of Psych… Don’t forget the special two-hour musical episode tonight on USA Network.

Now on with the usual program… In the links below read

A must-see calendar of December finales, January premiere’s etc. don’t miss it exhalation point

Interview with Kurt Sutter, Maggie Siff and Katie Sagal about season finale of Sons of Anarchy

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated November 26 (geez I am behind!)

A look at The Mentalist now that the Red John story has wrapped

Interview with producers of The Good Wife after their 100th episode

Interview with Stephen Moyer about what happens to Bill in the final season of True Blood

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated December 3

Interview with Jimmy Smits about the second the last episode of Sons of Anarchy for this season

Interview with Jeff Perry (Cyrus from Scandal) about plot twists involving his character

Writers Guild nominations for TV

Spoilers from Matt’s Inside Line dated December 5

TVLine mixtape. Music from your favorite TV shows week of December 7

Screen Actors Guild nominations for TV only

Details about the upcoming Netflix only season 4 of The Killing

Interview with producer Robert Kirkman about the midseason finale of The Walking Dead

Not in the links below but also of interest

Fox animated series The Family Guy: big surprise by killing off the dog Brian Griffin. Rumors are he may get a surprise resurrection as a Christmas miracle

Forward today show and ABC news host Katie Couric is moving to Yahoo news. She will continue to host her syndicated talkshow Katie.

Andrew J West is joining the cast of The Walking Dead in the second half of the season in a character named Garth who does not appear in the original comics

Martin Sheen will start in The Whale for BBC/Animal Planet. A two-hour film based on the true story of whaling ship The Essex which was said to be the inspiration for Moby Dick

Amy Brenneman will guest star in CW networks Reign as princes Mary’s mother

CW network as renewed Reign, The Originals and The Tomorrow People all new series this year. I tried Reign and although I like these royal period pieces, this one didn’t work for me. Skipped The Originals. Tomorrow People is watchable if you are diehard sci-fi fan like me.

Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC talkshow has been canceled after just four episodes. He recently shouted anti-gay epithets at a paparazzi.

John Corbett will return to guest star on Parenthood as Drew and Amber’s dad

BBC America has renewed its new fantasy series Atlantis for a second season

Alex Kingston a.k.a. Doctor Who’s wife Dr. River Song is returning to CW’s Arrow as Dinah Lance

The Blacklist has been renewed for season 2

James Brolin will return to guest star Castle as Rick’s father

Season 2 of the Netflix series House of Cards will premiere February 14

SyFy Channel has ordered a series titled Dominion based on the 2010 supernatural film Legion

ABC is cutting season 3 of Scandal from 22 episodes to 18 episodes because Kerry Washington is pregnant and they are not writing the pregnancy into the storyline.

AMC has announced Low Winter Sun was too low rated to be renewed.

Fox has cut episodes of its new sitcom Dads from 22 episodes down to 19

Showtime has announced that season 7 will be the final four Californication which will return in April

This week’s “sure sign of the pending apocalypse award” goes to The Sportsman Channel for creating a new reality series for Sarah Palin

Megan Mullally will guest star on Sean Saves the World

Showtime series Episodes have been renewed for season 4

Favorite bad guy Robert Knepper a.k.a. Prison Break’s “T-bag” will join the cast of Arrow as Tockman a.k.a. “Clock King”. He will also star in the final two installments of Hunger Games as Antonius. He is currently appearing in Mob City on TNT.

Matthew Perry will reboot The Odd Couple for CBS.

Hawaii 50 has promoted Chi McBride plays Capt. Lou Grover to series regular

Christopher Gorham a.k.a. Augie on Covert Affairs will guest star very briefly on Once upon a Time

MBC is considering a werewolf series from the producers of its current Dracula series. Can Frankenstein be far behind?

ABC has acquired the rights to show Peanuts specials through the year 2020

HBO will tape performances of Billy Crystal’s one-man show “700 Sundays” for future airing

Sky Dance productions will reboot the Terminator series with a trilogy of movies beginning in 2015 and a possible TV show

The Amazing Spiderman 2 will get an IMAX 3-D release this spring

Showtime will air the Rolling Stones documentary Return to Hyde Park on December 20

Tom Cruise is developing another Jack Reacher film based on the novel “Never Go Back”

Star Wars VII, the first at the helm of producer JJ Abrams will premiere Christmas 2015. I’m disappointed they are breaking with the tradition of a month of May release

Save the Dates! Your Guide to 150+ December Finales, January Premieres and More

Cable Renewal Scorecard: What’s Cancelled? What’s Returning? What’s on the Bubble?

 2014 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Cancelled? What’s Returning? What’s on the Bubble?

Sons of Anarchy Post Mortem: Maggie Siff, Katey Sagal, Kurt Sutter on Deadly Finale, Plus Scoop on Season 7 — ‘Jax Is Completely Untethered’

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Good Wife, Scandal, HIMYM, Sleepy Hollow, Following, Once and More

The Mentalist 2.0: 10 Things to Know About Señor Jane, Chief Lisbon and Life ‘In the Future’

Good Wife Post Mortem: EPs Robert and Michelle King Talk Episode 100′s Mother of a Twist, Will and Alicia’s Future, Kalinda’s New [Spoiler]

Stephen Moyer on True Blood’s ‘Sad’ Series Finale, Possible Happy Ending for Bill and Sookie

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Arrow, HIMYM, Once, Good Wife, Hannibal, Scandal, Sleepy and More

Sons of Anarchy Post Mortem: Jimmy Smits on Nero’s Shocking Discovery and Next Week’s ‘Brilliant’ Finale — ‘It Leaves You Breathless’

Scandal’s Jeff Perry Talks Blindsided Cyrus, Fitz/ Olivia Roadblocks and the ‘Exquisite Hell’ Ahead

Breaking Bad, Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards Lead 2014 WGA Nominations

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Once, New Girl, H50, Haven, Arrow, S.H.I.E.L.D, Mentalist, Reign & More

TVLine Mixtape: Your Favorite Songs from The Walking Dead, Grey’s, Sons of Anarchy and More

SAG Award Nominations: Breaking Bad, Big Bang, 30 Rock Lead the Pack, Kerry Washington, Mayim Bialik Sneak In; Orange, Mad Men Shut Out

The Killing: Season 4 Promises Military-School Mystery, Plus Linden’s… Mother?

‘The Walking Dead’: Creator Robert Kirkman on the killer midseason finale and what’s next

Here’s the latest entertainment news…

I have to say I’m once again hooked on American Horror Story. It took me quite a while to get into the first season but I stuck with it and in the end it paid off. The second season had lots of memorable moments but overall I enjoyed it. This latest one grabbed me from the opening. Of course I’ve always been a big fan of Kathy Bates. And seeing Jessica Lange suck the life out of a guy to the sounds of Inna-Godda-Diva (or however it’s spelled) was just way too cool. AHS isn’t for everyone. It is definitely an acquired taste but overall I love it.

Next week looking forward to Enders Game. I read the original short story in Analog Science Fiction Magazine and the normalized version later as well as numerous sequels which were of lesser quality. Seeing it in IMAX 3-D is going to be totally awesome. And what’s not to like about Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley?

However the biggest news is that the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special is going to be shown in theaters in 3-D with additional behind-the-scenes footage on November 25 which is 2 days after it will show on TV. It will be simulcast on Saturday in several major cities and then we’ll go nationwide to 300 theaters on Monday the 25th. Three Indianapolis theaters will show the event. The article is linked below. You can click on the links to find the theaters listed.

We are introducing a new recurring link this week. You’re already familiar with 2 recurring links from the site TV Line which are spoilers from Michael Aussiello and Matt’s Inside Line. The site now has a recurring feature called “Mixtape”. They link to music videos of songs which have appeared as background music in the past weeks TV shows. Especially liked Cyndi Lauper’s version of “At Last” during the Bones wedding. And while still not like about Stevie Nick’s “Edge of 17” which appeared in American Horror Story this week? While not every song is a winner and some of the shows I don’t even watch and neither do you, I’m going to include the link whenever available for those times when you just have to hear that cool song one more time.

Finally… I don’t usually post trailers on this blog but this one is worth sharing. Fox showed an extended trailer for its reboot of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos this time starring Neil Degrasse Tyson and written by Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan. The trailer was shown during the World Series but in case you missed it here is on YouTube.

In the links below read

Doctor Who 50th anniversary special to show in theaters in 3-D November 25

Mix Tape dated October 26

Interview with producers of Bones about the wedding

Spoilers from Michael Aussiello dated October 22

Inside Line spoilers dated October 24

Fox network reveals midseason schedule and start dates. Note Idol results show will only be 30 minutes.

Interview with Dylan McDermott about his role on Hostages and possible return to AHS

Cinemax has renewed Strike Back for a fourth and final season

Interview with Person of Interest Sarah Shahi

Spoilers from Michael Aussiello dated October 29

Interview with Elizabeth Mitchell about her role on Revolution

Not in the links below but also of interest

The Walking Dead has been renewed for season 5. Current Showrunner Scott Gimpel will return.

Showtime has renewed Homeland and Masters of Sex for an initial season each

ABC is considering resurrecting canceled series Body of Proof

Sherlock (British version) will premiere on PBS January 19

Whoopi Goldberg’s voice has been cast as the voice of the wife of the rabbit in Once upon a Time in Wonderland

NBC is considering rebooting Murder She Wrote this time to star Octavia Spencer

USA has renewed Suits for season 4

Fox’s new sitcom “Dads” has been picked up for a full season order bringing the total to 22

NBC says it hasn’t given up on Celebrity Apprentice even though it’s not on any current schedules

Gilles Marini and Mary Lynn Rajskub will guest star and possibly recur in upcoming episodes of 2 Broke Girls

RIP Marcia Wallace was a voice on The Simpsons and played Bob Newhart’s secretary on The Bob Newhart Show. She was 70.

RIP Hal Needham. The famous stuntman also directed the Smokey and the Bandit movies.

RIP Nigel Davenport. Veteran British actor whose film roles included A Man for All Seasons and Chariots of Fire

New Fox cyborg robot show Almost Human is adding John Larroquette to the cast as a robot scientist. That is a scientist who makes robots. Not a scientist who is a robot. At least I think so?

The Fox network American version of British detective series Broadchurch has been retitled Gracepoint. Both versions star David Tennant.

Morris Chestnut has joined the cast of the new TNT spy series Legends

Kerry Washington is expecting a baby. No word on how they will handle that issue for her character on Scandal

CBS is preparing a spinoff series for How I Met Your Mother since it is ending this season.

This week’s winner of the “Chris Young Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse Award” goes to CBS who’s going to air an I Love Lucy special with colorized footage.

Discovery channel and Science Channel will both air their first scripted film “Challenger Disaster” starring William Hurt as Dr. Richard Feynman who was the chairman of the committee investigating the Challenger shuttle explosion. 9 PM on November 16.

‘Doctor Who’ 50th anniversary show to be screened in more than 300 theaters

TVLine Mixtape: Your Favorite Songs From Grey’s, AHS: Coven, Reign, Bones and More

Bones Wedding Post Mortem: EPs Talk Christine’s Absence, Brennan’s Original (and ‘Unsuitable’) Vows — Plus: New Big Bad’s Moniker Revealed!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s, Bones, Coven, Sons, Psych, Carrie, Vampire Diaries and More

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on NCIS, The Mentalist, Bones, Grey’s, Castle, Criminal Minds and More

Fox Unveils Midseason Schedule, Sets Dates for Idol, The Following — Plus: Glee Takes a Breather

Dylan McDermott Confirms ‘Intimate’ Hostages Twist — Plus: Another Horror Story In His Future?

Person of Interest: Sarah Shahi Ponders Shaw’s Sex Life (Um, Knives?), Talks Love/Hate With Root

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Once, Arrow, PLL, Dracula, Glee, Bones, Criminal Minds and More

Elizabeth Mitchell Dishes on Revolution’s Nixed Necking, Reuniting With ‘Terrifying’ Lost Hubby

A little bit overdue but here’s the latest installment of my entertainment news.

I went to see “Gravity” in IMAX 3-D. I know what awful lot about movie special-effects and I have absolutely no idea how they did some of those scenes. The whole thing was absolutely awesome. You must see it in the theater preferably 3-D and if possible IMAX 3-D. Really edge of your seat kind of thing from start to finish.

In other news… According to the overnight ratings of the Colts versus the Broncos last night, 71% of the televisions in the Indianapolis area were watching the game last night. Way to go Colts.

Apparently in this season of The Mentalist we’re finally going to find out who is the dreaded serial killer Red John who is responsible for killing Patrick Jane’s wife. I’ve got a suggestion for a show ending plot twist. I think Patrick Jane is Red John and doesn’t know it himself. I think he’s got a split personality survey fight club kind of thing. I’ve not heard any pundits or other TV writers suggest this. This is all on me. But it sure would be fun if it was true. I’m going to try not to be disappointed if it isn’t.

There comes a time when you can’t watch every TV show and you have to cull the herd as it were. Usually its new shows that just don’t make the cut such as Ironside but occasionally you have to let go of an old friend. For me it’s Boardwalk Empire. I love the first couple of seasons of the show but last season that seem to go downhill and I never could regain interest this season after three or four episodes. I’ve deleted the remaining episodes from my DVR and said farewell to Nukie and the boys.

In the links below read…

Interview with NCIS Showrunner about life after Ziva

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated October 8

Interview with producers of American Horror Story about opening episode

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated October 10

Interview with Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead about what’s coming up for his character

Interview with NCIS: LA executive producer about 100th episode

Spoilers from Michael Aussiello dated October 15

Interview with Theo Rossi about his character on Sons of Anarchy

Interview with producers of Covert Affairs about the second half of the season which recently premiered

Interview with Tim deKay about his character in this season of White-Collar

Link to a new teaser trailer for 50th anniversary Doctor Who special episode

Very funny video clip of the Alice in Wonderland bunny rabbit accidentally targeting Snow White’s crotch

Not in the links below

Lady Gaga and the Muppets will do a holiday special together. Good mix.

NBC is planning a reboot of the 80s detective series Remington Steele but this time it’s a half-hour sitcom

Despite the retirement of the Detective Munch from Law and Order: SVU, Richard Belzer may still be playing the role as a recurring character. That character has been on 10 different TV series.

Agents of SHIELD has been picked up for a full season of 22 episodes

CW network has ordered additional scripts for its new series The Originals, Tomorrow People, and Reign. Originals is a very unoriginal vampire show that I only watched about five minutes. Tomorrow People chose province as a bunch of people who have telekinetic powers. You might want to check it out. Reign is a medieval period drama. I thought it was going to be a ripoff of Once upon a Time but apparently it’s more like a toned down version of some of the cable series such as The Borges, The Tudors and White Queen.

ABC Family Channel has renewed The Fosters for season 2

NBC is developing a sitcom for actress Meg Ryan

Fox’s canceled midseason sitcom Us and Them. I never saw it.

Michael Cudlitz a.k.a. Southland’s officer John Cooper has been promoted to Sgt. on a different show. He will play Sgt. Abraham Ford in upcoming episodes of The Walking Dead

MTV has renewed Teen Wolf for season 4 and it will be followed by a half-hour talk show called Wolf Watch for fans to talk about the show.

WGN America cable channel is launching two scripted series Salem about the 17th-century Massachusetts witch trials and Manhattan about the project to build the first atomic bomb.

Lifetime network is developing the fifth announced Wizard Of Oz inspired show. This one titled Red Brick Road about a road that leads to the darkest and most dangerous parts of Oz.

ABC will live televised the wedding of the latest Bachelor contestant and his intended

I have seen network as renewed Comedy Bang Bang for a third season in 2014

The Walking Dead season premiere had a record-breaking 16.1 million viewers. Highest in series history.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Golden Globe awards in both 2014 and 2015

Arrow will meet Black Canary in episode 4 this season

Kerry Washington will host SNL November 2. Musical guest Eminem

HBO series Gurgles will return for season 3 January 12

Despite starring in her own sitcom The Millers, Margo Martindale will return to The Americans on FX next season. She plays such a great bad guy I really thought it was a waste of her talent to stick her in a sitcom. I’m glad she’s coming back.

ABC has ordered additional scripts for The Goldbergs (which I didn’t care for) and Trophy Wife (which is turning out to be a guilty pleasure for me).

Glee creator confirms that next season will be the final season.

Fox has ordered a 13 episode adventure drama tiled Hieroglyph set in ancient Egypt.

TNT has renewed Franklin and Bash for season 4

Michael Aussiello reports a hit drama series is going to kill off a major character but he won’t say which one. That actor already has a new series but they cannot pronounce it until his character is killed off in the other series. I will keep you posted.

NBC has canceled new sitcom Welcome to the Family. I watched one episode and thought it had minor potential

NBC has canceled Ironside. Final episode will be October 27. Specials will occupy the timeslot through November and December and then it will be filled by Chicago Fire spin off aptly named Chicago PD. I watched one episode of Ironside and I’m disappointed to report it did not hold my interest.

New Fox sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been picked up for a full season

Rock Star Marilyn Manson will play the voice of Shadow on Once upon a Time

Fox has canceled a new animated series starring the voice of Jane Lynch before it has even aired a single episode. The network didn’t like the first couple of episodes. Producers may try to shop it around.

As I predicted CBS’s “We Are Men” has been canceled. I gave up after one episode.

Fox has ordered six additional scripts for sitcom Dads

CBS has ordered additional scripts for The Crazy Ones, The Millers, and Mom

George Eads will return to CSI in November as criminalist Nick Stokes after a hiatus

Carol Burnett was awarded the Mark Twain prize for American humor by the Kennedy Center

NBC has put Parks And Recreation on hiatus while it sorts out schedule changes

Marvel Studios is producing four TV series and the miniseries (with total of 60 episodes) to be shopped around to cable networks, Netflix, Amazon and others. No word yet on what they will be producing.

Woody Allen is creating a new film called “Magic in the Moonlight”starring Emma Stone and Colin Firth

Ovation arts network is returning to Time Warner/Bright House after being dumped from the ratings. The network is going to add original programming so they’re giving it a second chance.

HBO series True Detectives starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson will premiere January 12

Comedy Central had to air a rerun of South Park because a power outage kept the producer from finishing the episode on time.

Cinemax series Banshee season 2 premiere January 10

SyFy Channel’s makeup reality series Face-Off has been renewed for a sixth season. We are very happy.

Mira Sorvino will be a recurring character on TNT’s Falling Skies next season

Charlie Hunnman a.k.a. Jax on Sons of Anarchy has decided not to take the starring role in the movie version of 50 Shades of Gray after all. Cites his busy schedule. Search is on for a replacement.

NCIS Boss Talks Of Life After Ziva and Deflecting S.H.I.E.L.D. — Plus: Abby Gives McGee [Spoiler]

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Glee, Nashville, Arrow, Bones, Castle, Walking Dead, HIMYM and More!

American Horror Story: Coven Premiere Post Mortem: 12 Burning Questions Answered!

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Bones, Once, Castle, Scandal, Supernatural, Walking Dead and More!

Ominous Walking Dead Spoiler: Andrew Lincoln Warns of ‘Painful’ Midseason Finale

NCIS: LA Boss: Episode 100 Is ‘Chris O’Donnell’s Best Work’ — Watch a ‘Shocking’ Sneak Peek

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Bones, Walking Dead, Nashville, NCIS: LA, Sleepy Hollow and More

Sons of Anarchy’s Theo Rossi Breaks Down New, ‘Animalistic’ Juice: He’s ‘Gone to a Different Place’

Covert Affairs EPs Preview Annie and Auggie’s Latest Struggle, Power Shake-Ups and More

White Collar’s Tim DeKay: In Season 5, Peter and Neal ‘Have Got to Address Their Relationship’

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Video: Eleven Can’t Run From ‘The Day of the Doctor’

‘Once Upon’ promo blunder: Snow White’s magic crotch!

I guess humans aren’t the only dead things come back to life in “The Walking Dead”. Apparently CompuServe lives again at least in the prison library.

I was watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead and as Carol was having her story time/knifing lesson in the prison library I did a double take and quickly hit the rewind button on the DVR asking myself “Did I see what I thought I saw?” Indeed I had seen the all-too-familiar type style and the word CompuServe. One of the books on library shelves behind her was “Using CompuServe”. I later managed to get a screen capture and by doing some searches on Amazon determined that this was the 1995 edition called “Using CompuServe Special Edition“. A variety of other vintage computer books can be seen on the bookshelf including “Delphi Unleashed” (two copies in case one is checked out), “OS/2 WARP”, and “Using Harvard Graphics”.

In another section of the bookshelf we can see books on JavaScript 1.1, JavaScript Unleashed, Using Excel 4, Using Turbo Pascal 6, and Visual C++ Unleashed. About the only book that I saw that might be useful was “Fire Officer’s Guide to Disaster Control“. I’d never heard of the book and I don’t know why it was filed in among a bunch of 1990s computer reference books but at least it might be remotely useful in the zombie apocalypse.

Here is a screen grab where Carol is reading the storybook. I’ve adjusted brightness and contrast on all of these images. You can click on the images for full resolution.

Screen Grab from “The Walking Dead” s04e01. Carol reading book.

Here are a couple of 200% blowups of portions of the above image.

Close-up of part of the bookshelf

Close-up insert of some of the books.

Here is another screen grab where Carol is holding a knife.

Another Screen Grab from “The Walking Dead” s04e04

Close-up of the second grab.

I’ve been so busy watching new TV shows I haven’t had time to read or write about them. This week’s installment is almost a full week late. I’ve not watched all of this newly premiering series that I had hoped to catch but I already have my first nominees for series most likely to be the first canceled. My nominees are “We Are Men” which I was kind of looking forward to seeing Mr. Monk back on TV. But I could barely get through one episode it was so bad. Also flashback 80s sitcom The Goldbergs was exceptionally lame. Michael Ausiello predicts Lucky 7 or Betrayed will be the first cancellation. I did not watch Lucky 7 and although I’ve recorded Betrayed by me delete it before I watch it based on his opinion. I was concerned that Blacklist was going to be a bust because it was so heavily promoted by NBC. Sometimes when they overhype something it’s a bad sign. In this case I was very pleasantly surprised that it is an awesome show. I again recommend it and Hostages. Breaking news “Lucky 7” wins as for show to be canceled. Blacklist gets full season order of 22 episodes.

I recently posted a message on Facebook saying that I was not that big a fan of The Voice because I thought too much of it was fake. The idea that you get up there and really don’t know who you want to be your mentor until you’ve actually seen who turns around is just totally bogus for me. If I was a singer I would have my first second third choices already made up and unless my first choice just totally yawned at my performance there would be no decision be made. Shortly after that I did hear one contestant say “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time” which was the first on his thing I’ve heard out of the contestants mouth. But in our first linked article below we have a video blog between a TV line website funded and former American Idol Melinda Doolittle as they break down their favorites on the first week of The Voice. I direct your attention to a section of that video about three force of the way in in which they present evidence for the idea that the blind auditions are not really 100% blind. Ceelo asked the question about a guy who “sounded like a soldier” and guess what… The guy was a soldier! Later Blake as the guy about the guitar he’s playing and guess what? The guy had a story about his guitar. I agree with Melinda this is ample evidence that the judges have some foreknowledge of at least the back story of particular contestants. And if they’re getting coached about back story then they might also be getting coached by producers about the relative merits of particular contestants.

In other singing competition news… I absolutely love the new Four Chairs middle round of X Factor. It’s got to be torture for the contestants themselves because obviously the first four contestants to perform are going to take a chair even though they haven’t got a snowballs chance in hell of keeping it. It’s good dramatic TV. But what I like about it most is I think it’s fair. It really gives you a sense of which contestants were the best along the way. One of my other pet peeves about The Voice is I don’t like the battle rounds because you get the opportunity for a pair of bad singers to go against one another and a pair of good singers going against one another. In the end you don’t get the best singers. The ability to steal a contestant has mitigated that problem a little bit but I still like Four Chairs much better than battle rounds.

In the links below read…

The video blog about The Voice that I spoke about earlier

Interview with Lisa Edelstein about her upcoming guest starring on Castle and her exit from House

Interview with Stana Katic about upcoming season of Castle

Interview with producers of The Good Wife about season premiere and other episodes

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated October 1

Interview with NCIS producer about Ziva’s final episode

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated October 4

Also of interest but not linked below…

John Barrowman will return to Arrow this season

CBS has renewed Unforgettable for a third season

Michael Rappaport will guest star as the bad guy in the upcoming season of Justified

CNN Films has scrapped its plans for a Hillary Clinton documentary

NBC has backed out of its plans for a Hillary Clinton miniseries

IFC is producing a 10 episode half-hour series, Garfunkel & Oates. They are female comedy/folksinger duo was seen on Tonight Show and other places. They are very funny.

James Spader may have some scheduling conflicts if The Blacklist gets picked up for a full season. He’s the bad guy in the upcoming Avengers movie

Paget Brewster will return to Criminal Minds for their 200th episode

MythBusters will have a special zombie episode October 17 featuring characters from The Walking Dead

NBC will not renew its summer series Camp for a second season. I never watched it.

David Tennant will start in the American version of Broadchurch playing the same role he did in the British version only he will use an American accent. The British version will go into production of season 2 soon. American version starts shooting early 2014. I just finished watching BBC version and it was awesome.

Amber Tamlyn is now officially a series regular on 2 1/2 men

ABC has renewed summer replacement drama Motive for season 2. I liked it as a summer show that it would probably not make the cut in a regular-season. The premise is they show you the victim and the killer in the first few seconds and you have to figure out why.

Former ER doc Sherry Stringfield will guest star multiple episodes on CSI

Wilfred has been renewed for fourth and final season. Moves from FX to FXX. Never watched. Look too stupid to me.

Covert Affairs has been renewed for season 5 and we are very happy.

Fox renews Sleepy Hollow for second season. The first renewal of any new show on any network this season.

Dennis Haysbert will guest star on Trophy Wife. Jury still out on this show but it may become one of my guilty pleasures. Or it may just be too kooky.

Nathan Filion will guest star on an episode of Community

Kim Raver has signed on to appear in the new 24 series as well as William Devane who played her father

The six episode final season of Nikita will premiere November 22

And the loser is “Lucky 7”. ABC canceled it after just two episodes. Reruns of Scandals will fill the slot

Halley Berry will star in new CBS sci-fi drama “Extant” scheduled for summer 2014

Fox has renewed The Simpsons for season 26

Blacklist has earned a full season pickup of 22 episodes

Sting will appear in an episode of Michael J Fox show

David Letterman has renewed his contract through 2015

Bob Newhart will reprise his Emmy-winning guest starring role on Big Bang Theory along with recent DWTS contestant Bill Nye the Science Guy

Sadly Ironside debuted to the lowest rated follow drama ever for NBC

Mark Burnett is creating a reality show for NBC which will launch contestants into space on Virgin Galactic

AMC will have a mega marathon of Walking Dead leading up to the season premiere later this month

Colin Hanks is joining the cast of the FX series Fargo

Seth McFarland and Mark Wahlberg will star in Ted 2 to hit theaters June 2015

ExxonMobil is suing FXX network because the way the two X’s overlap in the logo resembles Exxon’s logo. Can Dos Equis be far behind?

Daytime show Rachel Ray has been renewed through 2016

As if being Capt. Kirk wasn’t enough, Chris Pine will play Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan in an upcoming movie directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Rest in Peace Tom Clancy whose books The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and others have been made into blockbuster movies.

Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney said in October premiere record of $55 million. I plan to see it this week.

Reality Check: Week 1 Standouts on The Voice! Plus: Are the Coaches Really Flying ‘Blind’?

Lisa Edelstein Talks Castle Making Nice With McCord (and Her Unimaginable House Exit)

Castle: Stana Katic Surveys Kate and Rick’s New Hurdles, Their Destiny and… Wedding Plans?

The Good Wife Scoop: EP Robert King Answers Burning Premiere Qs (Where’s Kalinda?), Sheds New Light on Upcoming Will-Alicia Throwdown

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s Anatomy, Nikita, Scandal, Once, Revenge, Good Wife and More

NCIS Boss Spills Secrets Behind Ziva’s Exit: What Changed? Was a Kiss Cut? Could She Return?

Matt’s
Inside Line: Scoop on Once, Glee, Scandal, Hell on Wheels, H50, Castle, Trophy Wife & More

Been busy working on broken computers for friends so this week’s installment is a little late

Went to see the original Wizard of Oz in IMAX 3-D last night. Will probably do a separate blog post on that but the short version is it was wonderful.

Critics are panning the Emmy broadcast for being too depressing with all those extended obituaries. I didn’t know that but I just thought Neil Patrick Harris wasn’t really very funny. His mid-show song and dance number wasn’t funny at all and that’s why people like the song and dance numbers is because they usually have lots of really clever lyrics. This one didn’t.

Speaking of obituaries let us offer a rest in peace to Ray Dolby of Dolby labs who developed numerous patented technologies to make film and TV sound better. Before the digital age, movie sound was encoded optically along the edge of the film and sounded pretty bad by today’s standards. Things did get better when they started putting magnetic recording tape along the edge of the film and recording and playback the sound to movies that way. However the quality of sound you get from magnetic audiotape depends heavily on the speed at which the tape moves past the recording and pickup head. Film moves relatively slow through a projector and so does the magnetic strip with the audio. You get a lot of hiss and noise inherent in the tape. You can electronically filter out those high frequencies but that also filters out part of the sound you want to hear. Filtering it makes it sound mushy instead of crisp. Dolby came up with the bright idea that we should record those high frequencies of the actual soundtrack at a much louder volume than normal. Then when you lower the volume of those high frequencies, the signal that you want comes out even but they hiss and noise gets the volume turned way down. Dolby noise reduction revolutionized audio playback on both films and audiocassettes. A variety of other digital innovations in surround sound also bear the name of Dolby labs. Don’t ask me how they work because I don’t know. I just know that the first time I ever heard six channel Dolby surround sound at the Eastwood Theater on the original Star Wars I was blown away just by the sound of the Fox fanfare before anything else came on the screen. Thank you Ray Dolby.

And continuing to speak of dead people… You probably note that the subject of each weeks blog post is not determined by which story is the biggest but is determined by how cleverly I can summarize the stories in a catchy way. One of my pithy little headlines of which at the time I was quite proud for being so clever in retrospect was in poor taste even for a tasteless guy like me. In reporting the death of British TV journalist David Frost who had an historic multipart interview with Richard Nixon I summarized it as “Frost joins Nixon” meaning that he was dead as well. However I’m pretty sure Nixon is rotting in hell not so much for his crimes but for being such a hypocrite whereas we all hope Sir David is in a much better place.

One minor news item that I think is sort of big. Aereo TV Internet streaming service is expanding to new cities including Indianapolis. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s how it works. Cable companies have to pay local TV stations in order to carry their signal that you can receive it free over an antenna. The Aereo service build the facility with thousands of tiny antennas and assigns one to each customer. It then records the HD digital signals coming in over the air and will stream them to you over the Internet. You basically just rent their antenna and they do not have to pay TV station cable fees. For those who are cutting cable and relying on services like Hulu and Netflix this is a way to get your local TV streaming. I’m not sure what the cost is but it’s cheaper than basic cable and doesn’t require any installation. See the links section for an article about copyright battles faced by the service.

In the links below read

Article about Aereo Internet streaming service and its legal battles

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated September 19

Interview with Cristin Millioti who plays the mother on how I met your mother

Postmortem interview with Dexter executive producer about series finale (spoilers)

Interview with creator of Castle without first episode and what’s coming throughout the season

Interview with actress Ming-Na Wen about her role on Agents of SHIELD

Interview with producers of Revolution about upcoming season

Interview with Jessica Capshaw a.k.a. Arizona on Grey’s anatomy about what’s in store for her character this season

Interview with Amber Tamlyn about her role on 2 1/2 men

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated September 26

Interview with producers of Once upon a Time about upcoming season

Not in the links below but also of interest

AMC has announced the final two episodes of Breaking Bad have been expanded to 75 minutes each

E! Entertainment channel has canceled the Ryan Lochte reality series after one season

Stacy Keach, Dean Stockwell, and Barry Bostwick will guest star in an upcoming episode of Fox’s new show Enlisted

Stephen Macht will guest star on Suits. He is the real is father of series star Gabriel Macht

Susan Sarandon will guest star on Mike and Molly

NBC is creating a miniseries about the life of Johnny Carson. No word on who will play him that most people hoping it’s Kevin Spacey

We are sad to hear BBC America has canceled “Copper” after two seasons. Second season ended last week.

TNT is ordered a drama series titled Murder in the First produced by Stephen Bochco. Sort of like The Killing they will take 10 episodes to solve a murder

Fringe veteran John Noble will be a recurring character on Sleepy Hollow

New ABC sitcom Super Fun Night which will premiere October 2 actually start with episode two instead of the first one. No reason given why. Not a good sign.

Mouse left TNT has canceled King & Maxwell after one season

NCIS is planning a New Orleans-based spinoff series

Vanessa Redgrave is joining the ABC drama series The Black Box about a woman who is a neuroscientist who suffers from mental illness. It’s my perception we see that before. 🙂

FX network has renewed The Bridge for season 2 and we are very happy.

Lifetime Channel has canceled Army Wives

Fox has ordered straight to series drama titled Gotham. It will tell the story of Batman’s pal Commissioner Gordon

Agents of SHIELD had the highest rated debuting drama series in 4 years for any network

ABC has renewed Mistresses for season 2. I never watched it

CBS has ordered 13 episodes of a detective drama titled Battle Creek from the producers of Breaking Bad and House. Will air in the 2014-2015 season

HBO has renewed Boardwalk Empire for season 5

Robert De Niro will replace the late James Gandolfini in its upcoming limited series Criminal Justice. Series loosely based on BBC series of the same name.

Fox has renewed Bob’s Burgers for a 22 episode fifth season

Amy and Bernadette on Big Bang Theory have renegotiated their contracts for big raises. Series stars contract expires at the end of the season so look for them to get a big pay raise next year.

Larry King will guest host ESPN 2’s Oberman while Keith Olbermann gets a day off

Apple iTunes has refunded angry fans of Breaking Bad for only selling them half a season on a season pass

British network ITV has renewed Law and Order: UK for season 8

Oprah Winfrey Network has acquired the broadcast rights to Lee Daniels the Butler. No surprise there.

Disney is planning a film about the 1997 chess match between Gary Kasparov and a computer

Wikileaks has leaked the script of the film Fifth Estate which is about WikiLeaks. Calls the film irresponsible, counterproductive, and harmful.

Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence will star in a remake of East of Eden

Aereo Chief Says Don’t Compare His Service With Alki David’s FilmOnX

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Bones, Castle, The Mentalist, Once, The Good Wife, Suits and More

HIMYM’s Cristin Milioti Promises Fans Won’t ‘Be Let Down’ By What’s Ahead for Mom/Ted (& Lily!)

Dexter Series Finale Post Mortem: EP Reveals Why [Spoiler] Had to Live and [Spoiler] Had to Die, Talks Alt Endings and Dissects That Final Scene

Post Mortem: Castle Creator Previews ‘Fun’ New Obstacles — Plus: Is There a [Spoiler] Coming?

Revolution Boss Previews ‘Grimier’ Season 2, Charlie’s New ‘Tude and ‘Shattered’ Mathesons

Jessica Capshaw Talks Grey’s Anatomy Infidelity and the ‘Long, Load Road Ahead’ for Calzona

Amber Tamblyn on Two and a Half Men’s ‘Queer’ Addition and What She Would Look for in a Girl

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on New Girl, Castle, Once, The Blacklist, NCIS, SVU, Sex and More!

Once Upon a Time Creators Address ‘Plotty’ Past, Preview a Future of Neverland Conflict, Charming Bonding, ‘Heat’ for Regina and More

Here’s your entertainment news for the week…

If you’ve been watching Million Second Quiz since you are a reader of this blog you could correctly answer the question that the name of Jurassic Park 4 was “Jurassic World” and that Tina Fey will host the opening week of SNL. If you win the contest you only an additional $10 per question. Had I written this week’s blog earlier you also would’ve known the question that Bob Newhart won his first Emmy as guest actor in a comedy series for his hilarious performance on Big Bang Theory. Much deserved by the way.

Probably the biggest news of the week is that AMC network is developing a new spinoff series for “the Walking Dead”scheduled to launch in 2015. It will be set in the same world as the current series. Creator Robert Kirkman will executive produce. He’s looking forward to creating new characters not linked directly to the storyline of his comic book series.

In the links below read about

List of creative arts Emmys already awarded. (Main broadcast Saturday night)

Streaming service Hulu has a deal with BBC four 144 shows including Doctor Who, Sherlock

Former Enterprise helmsman George Takei has a new YouTube series explaining technology that’s pretty good

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers for September 12

Saturday Night Live new cast members revealed includes AT&T (More Is Better) interviewer Beck Bennett

Postmortem interview with Covert Affairs producers about midseason finale and the second half of the season

Postmortem interview with Suits producers about midseason finale in the second half of the season

Details about new werewolf series titled “Bitten” to air on SyFy Channel in 2014

Daily Show’s Jon Stewart rips CNN for goofy coverage of Navy yard shooting. Must-see video.

Not in the links below but also of interest

CBS has renewed Big Brother for season 16

Fox new comedy “Enlisted” scheduled to premiere in November has been pushed to January

Christine Baranski will reprise her role as Leonard’s mother on an upcoming Big Bang Theory

Former Glee star Grant Gustin will play The Flash the upcoming season of Arrow. No word yet if he’ll sing

Karate Kid nemesis William Zabka will play himself again on an episode of How I Met Your Mother

Cecily Strong who plays “the girl you wish you had to start a conversation with at a party” on SNL has been promoted to weekend update coanchor along with Seth Meyers

James Tupper love Grays Anatomy is joining the ABC midseason drama Resurrection for a multi-episode arc

The Emmys “In Memoriam” feature will have extended attributes to James Gandolfini, Cory Monteith, Jean Stapleton, Gary David Goldberg, and Jonathan Winters

Ripped from the headlines The Good Wife are taking on the NSA. L&O: SVU will have an Anthony Weiner like character

Stockard Channing will return a few episodes on The Good Wife as Alicia’s mother

HBO has ordered to series a Post-Rapture drama titled The Leftovers created by Lost/OOAT creator Damon Lindelof

Our favorite Prison Break bad guy T-Bag a.k.a. Robert Knepper will guest star on NBC’s Blacklist

Jon Tenney who played Brenda’s husband Fritz on The Closer will guest star again on Major Crimes and will direct an episode.

Former soprano actress Emily Wickersham played AJ’s girlfriend will do three episodes of NCIS and may be Ziva’s replacement at some point.

James Firain who’s played baddies on True Blood and The White Queen among others will guest star on Sleepy Hollow

Creator of Sons of Anarchy and the Parents TV Council are having a fun time badmouthing one another over the opening episode of SOA

Rocker Iggy Pop will play the voice of The Caterpillar in Once upon a Time in Wonderland. Previous appearance was voiced by Roger Daltrey who was not available this time around.

Nathan Lane will return to The Good Wife reprising his role in a guest star for an episode or two

Rosie O’Donnell is joining ABC Family’s “The Fosters” in a recurring role

BBC America will have a TV movie called Burton and Taylor about Dick and Liz starring Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter

Brad Garrett will join Robin Williams on “The Crazy Ones” for at least two episodes

The Final Season of Mad Men has been expanded to 14 episodes but will be split in half 2014/2015

Bill Clinton will appear on David Letterman for the ninth time

Weinstein Company has acquired the rights to the film called “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby”. Maybe now we will find out where all the lonely people come from/belong.

ABC is developing an alternate history drama series set in current day America that lost the Revolutionary war to the British

Production on Castle has been delayed because of back problems of start Nathan Filion

Woody Allen will receive the Cecil B DeMille award at the Golden Globes on January 12, 2014

Discovery Channel will have a documentary about the salvage of the wrecked Costa Concordia this Friday

CBS scored a 15 year highest ratings for regular season NFL game with the Manning versus Manny game last week

Ex-Walking Dead star Laurie Holden has been cast with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in “Dumb and Dumber To” (that’s not a typo)

Transformers: Age of Extinction Will Open June 26, 2015 Starring Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Kelsey Grammer

Both NBC and CBS had to retract the name of the Navy Yard shooter after getting it wrong

Twilight hottie Christian Serratos will join The Walking Dead will play Rosita Espinoza from the comic series

Paramount is going to reboot the Terminator series with a new film to debut July 1, 2015

Lifetime network goes Sci-Fi. They order they pilot titled “The Lottery” set in a dystopian future where women can no longer have babies. Somehow they produce 100 fertilized embryos and a lottery decides who will be the surrogate mothers.

Aaron Eckhart will star in “I, Frankenstein” with Bill Nighy and Yvonne Strahovski in IMAX 3-D premiering January 24, 2014. Based on the graphic novel.

Showtime series Homeland is moving scenes to Morocco that were originally to be shot in Israel. Concerns about war in Syria (read poison gas) cited as reason.

Kelsey Grammer will join the cast of Expendables 3

RIP Richard Sarafian who directed the cult classic 1971 car chase film Vanishing Point as well and is several episodes of classic TV shows such as Batman, I spy, and 77 Sunset Strip

A four-hour miniseries Bonnie and Clyde will air simultaneously on Lifetime and History Channel December 8/9. Both networks owned by A&E

Actress Lily Collins has been named by McAfee antivirus as the most dangerous celebrity. If you Google her name you are more likely to get list of sites that will infect you with viruses than any other celebrity.

Emmys 2013: Bob Newhart Grabs His First Gold, Plus Wins for Carrie Preston, Scandal and Louie Stars; HBO’s Candelabra Leads Early Pack

Hulu inks deal with BBC for 144 shows, including ‘Doctor Who’

George Takei launches video series to explain technology

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Hawaii Five-0, Once, Bones, Revolution, The Newsroom and More

SNL Confirms New Cast — With One Final Twist

Post Mortem: Covert Affairs Bosses Preview Annie’s ‘Darker’ Life, Surprising Allies and More

Post Mortem: Suits Boss on Harvey’s Emotional Declaration, Louis’ Surprise Discovery and More

Syfy Acquires Werewolf Drama Series ‘Bitten’ From eOne

‘Daily Show’s Jon Stewart Rips CNN For Navy Yard Shootings Coverage: Video

If you were watching NBC’s new game show Million Second Quiz Monday night you knew the answers to one of their questions because you read this blog or subscribe to this email. One of the questions asked which sitcom star was about to get a weekly pop-culture talkshow on MSNBC. And because you read this blog you knew it was Alec Baldwin. If any of you make it to the finals of MSQ you owe me $10 for that one second. I really like MSQ as long as I record it and skip through all the BS interviews. I can watch one 3600 second episode in about 1500 seconds. So many people played the game online Monday night that the app crashed.

To keep you up-to-date on the fall premiere schedules here is a repeat of the link to TV Line’s calendar of premieres. Most notable this week sci-fi channel has season premiere of Haven on Friday. Series finale of Burn Notice tonight, Monday night we have the new Fox series Sleepy Hollow, Monday night football, and Dancing with the Stars. Tuesday night you have 4 Fox sitcoms (three of them new). Wednesday is season premiere of Survivor and Friday the 20th ABC has three season premieres Last Man Standing, The Neighbors, and Shark Tank.

Sci-fi fans should note that BBC America is soon rerunning the miniseries Torchwood: Miracle Day and rerunning its hit new series about clones Orphan Black coming soon. Both highly recommended.

In the links below read

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers dated September 5.

Michael Ausiello spoilers for September 10

Postmortem interview with producers of Sons of Anarchy over season premiere

Four-minute video previews the next season of The Walking Dead

BBC reveal Doctor Who 50th anniversary programming and poster

Not in the links below but also of interest

One of my favorite character actor bad guys Zeljko Ivanek will guest star in upcoming episodes of White Collar

Sex and the City veteran Cynthia Nixon is joining the cast of NBC’s Hannibal

CW network is the fourth network to consider a Wizard of Oz modernization/reboot series

Michael J Fox has chosen his parents for his new sitcom: Candace Bergen and Charles Grodin will guest star and likely recur

Bruno Mars will perform at the Super Bowl halftime

Missing Marcus Craissus? Actor Simon Merrells is joining the cast of CW’s Tomorrow People

Tina Fey will host the premiere of SNL. Miley Cyrus and Bruce Willis will host later in the year

Cher will serve as mentor to Blake Shelton’s contestants on the voice

NBC has acquired the rights to a CIA drama produced by/starring Katherine Heigl

Elton John will pay tribute to Liberace at the Emmy awards September 22. Not much of a stretch.

Private Practice alum Paul Adelstein will guest star on Scandal

USA Network’s Graceland has been renewed for season 2. I gave up after about four episodes.

America Were Story: Coven will*not only AHS regular Jessica Lange but will add Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates which should be wicked fun

Jack Bauer’s favorite FBI agent will guest star in CBS’s midseason spy series Intelligence premiering January 2014

Not enough zombies? Sundance Channel will premiere the French zombie series The Returned on Halloween and show the remaining episodes each Thursday

Fox has renewed So You Think You Can Dance for season 11

AMC has again canceled The Killing. It’s really really dead this time although we really really loved that bonus season 3.

AMC has announced a prequel to Breaking bad titles Better Call Saul! About lawyer Saul Goodman

Carson Daly is leaving his late late late show Last Call and moving to Today Show. No replacement named

NBC/Universal has announced Style network will be renamed Esquire network.

Amy Poehler will guest star on The Simpsons

CBS Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returns December 10

This week’s winner of the “Sure Sign of the Apocalypse” award goes to British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles for giving a lifetime achievement award to Sacha Baron Cohen.

An extended cut of the new boy band One Direction film with 20 additional minutes will hit theaters. Twitter voting will decide which songs to add.

Apple iTunes is being sued by a fan of Breaking Bad to purchase date “season pass” for the series that deceptively only covered half the season.

Jurassic World a.k.a. Jurassic Park 4 will be released in 3-D on June 12, 2015

Downton Abbey previously reported will return to PBS January 5 but we now know will return to ITV in the UK on September 22. Fire up your bit torrent clients if you can’t wait.

Time Warner admits it lost customers during 32 they battle with CBS.

CBS chairman says it experienced no financial harm over fight with Time Warner.

Universal’s Dracula retitled Dracula Untold will be released October 2014

Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Kennedy” docudrama will premiere November 10

Selma Blair is being written out of Anger Management to sort of reboot show in a different direction

Kennedy Center honors will honor Shirley MacLaine, Billy Joel,, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, and the obligatory opera singer you never heard of Martina Arroyo December 29

X Factor in a series low rating within season 3 debut. However I thought some of the performances were awesome.

HBO’s “Mohammed Ali’s Greatest Fight” about his Supreme Court battle over conscientious objector status will premiere October 5 starring Christopher Plummer, Frank Langlla.

Brad Pitt says World War Z sequel is in talks. I can’t wait.

JK Rowling will write a Harry Potter inspired film titled Fantastic Beasts based on the Hogwarts textbook

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Burn Notice, Arrow, Bones, Revolution, Grimm, H50, Once and More

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Bones, SOA, NCIS: LA, Under the Dome, Vampire Diaries and More

Post Mortem: Sons of Anarchy Boss on [Spoiler] Fallout, Major Jax/Tara ‘Disconnect’ and More

Four-minute video previews upcoming season of Walking Dead

‘Doctor Who’: BBC Reveals 50th Anniversary Programming Lineup; Special Poster

Between my internal clock being messed up due to Labor Day wherein I thought yesterday was Tuesday, and an unfortunate addiction to Candy Crush Saga, this week’s entertainment news is going to be a day or so late. One other excuse is that at last the Time Warner/CBS dispute is over with and I’ve got my Showtime back! I’ve been catching up on four weeks worth of back episodes of Dexter, Ray Donovan, Nurse Jackie, and Web Therapy.

First an obituary… RIP British broadcaster David Frost at age 74. While most famous for his interview with Richard Nixon, I always remember him for his satirical news program That Was the Week That Was which is sort of a precursor to Saturday Night Life’s “Weekend Update” and a little bit of Jon Stuart.

Other major news is that the judging cast for American Idol has been finalized. Keith Urban returns from last year and will be accompanied by Jennifer Lopez from two years ago and Harry Connick Jr. who I thought was one of the best celebrity mentors may have had. Randy Jackson will be back as mentor. Some people expressed surprise at this however he was scheduled to have that role last year and in a last-minute shuffle returned as judge. I’m just glad they got rid of Jimmy as mentor.

In the links below read

Details on ABC networks complicated split season scheduling for several shows

Matt’s Inside Line Spoilers for August 29

Michael Ausiello spoilers for September 4

Interview with Burn Notice show runner Matt Nix about the final upcoming episodes of the series.

Not in the links below but also of interest

Lisa Kudrow will guest star in multiple episodes of Scandal. No word if she’s going to play a web therapist

Fringe alumni Jon Noble will return to The Good Wife but we’re not sure how. His character was killed off in that show.

Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck will guest star on CSI

True Blood’s Anna Camp will guest star on How I Met Your Mother

Fox is developing a modern day version of Les Miserables about a successful lawyer with a checkered past the judge to stay one step ahead of a zealous US attorney

Fox’s developing a drama based on Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware mystery novels

SyFy Channel is adapting its Stephen King based Haven into a comic book

The Glades has been canceled by A&E despite strong ratings in its season finale

JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan are developing a sci-fi pilot called “Westworld” for HBO

Production on soap opera One Life to Live which moved from ABC to an online soap has been suspended pending a disagreement with its former host ABC.

HBO has confirmed that next season will be the final for True Blood. It’s been a great run but I think they were running out of ideas. 10 episodes will premiere summer 2014 and will be the final ones.

Lady Gaga will return to SNL as a musical guest and possibly host this season.

Although not 100% efficient, Newsroom star Jeff Daniels reports that it has been picked up for a third season. Season 2 has a couple of episodes left.

The cast of the next Dancing with the Stars includes Valerie Harper, blue-collar comedian Bill Engvall,, NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, Bill Nye the science guy, Jack Osbourne (son of Ozzie and Sharon), Snooki (I suppose this was inevitable), former King of Queens wife Leah Remini, and the usual mix of people I’ve never heard of before.

Game of Thrones has recast the role of Gregor Clegane — aka Westeros warrior The Mountain — for a third time. Icelandic actor Hafthor Julius Bjornsson will portray the character in season 4

Spartacus alum Naevia a.k.a. Cynthia Addai-Robinson will portray famous DC comics villain Amanda Waller in the upcoming season of Arrow.

Boyd Crowder a.k.a. Walton Goggins will guest star on upcoming episode of Community

Character actor William Atherton noted for his roles in the Die Hard movies has joined the cast of SyFy Channel’s Defiance for season 2.

Jason Priestley will guest star on the 300th episode of CSI

Longmire has been renewed for season 3 on A&E

Charlie Hunnman a.k.a. Sons of Anarchy’s Jax has been cast in the film version of Fifty Shades of Gray. Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) also cast in female lead.

The season premiere of Showtime’s Homeland season 3 has been leaked online a month early. Terrorists are suspected 🙂

The official title of Transformers 4 will be “Transformers Age of Extension”. We can only hope they’re talking about the franchise 🙂

Lionsgate films is licensing clothing based on the Hunger Games films.

Paramount will release a 2014 live-action film based on the Mattel toys “Max Steel”.

Fox films is working on a remake of the film Poltergeists

Betty White has been awarded a Guinness Book of World Records “Longest TV Career for Entertainer (Female) 74 years”. The category was created just for her.

Alec Baldwin will host at 10 PM Friday night current events and culture talkshow for MSNBC starting in October. Lawrence O’Donnell’s talk news show only runs four nights a week. Typically the Friday night timeslot is a prison documentary series.

The original British series “Strike Back” will air on Cinemax under the title “Strike Back: Origins”.

The sequel to Man of Steel will be shot in Detroit.

Bradley Cooper will supply the voice to Guardians of the Galaxy character Rocket Raccoon

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Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on New Girl, Walking Dead, Glee, Big Bang, Nashville, PLL and More!

New Intel on Burn Notice’s Final Episodes and the Big Finale Death: ‘Nothing Can Prepare You’