As with the loss of Robin Williams, we will not attempt here to measure the significance of losing Joan Rivers. Both were singular talents that had no peers.
The biggest entertainment news is probably a story you have not heard. The local CBS affiliate WISH TV channel 8 is losing its affiliation with CBS. The change will take place January 1, 2015 Local TV stations used to be subsidized by their networks however over the years that has evolved to reverse itself so that local stations have to pay the networks for the network shows. WISH TV was in the middle of negotiating a new contract with CBS and didn’t want to pay as much as CBS was asking. CBS says that’s okay. We will take our programming somewhere else. Namely to WTTV channel 4. Channel 4 has always been an independent station which in recent years has shown programming from CW network such as Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, and Arrow as well as its young Superman series Smallville which ended a couple of years ago. WTTV is owned by Tribune Broadcasting which also owns WXIN Channel 59 which is a Fox affiliate. Tribune says that they will operate completely independently and they even plan to open the local newsroom for WTTV that will be separate from the WXIN newsgathering organization. From the articles I’ve read, WISH TV was taken quite by surprise. All requests for comment have returned with the response “We don’t know”. For example local news people sign multi-your contracts presuming that the TV station is still going to have a news program. But without income from the network programs it’s questionable whether channel 8 can continue to produce a local new show. In the 1970s channel 6 and Channel 13 swapped affiliations between ABC and NBC. I thought perhaps channel 8 would pick up CW network but the articles linked below from the Indianapolis Star WTTV will continue to air CW network programs on its subcarrier channel 4.2 while caring CBS on 4.1 over the air. Bright House cable currently does not show any sub channels from channel 4 but they do air sub channels from other local stations such as MyTV and Cozi so my guess is they will eventually add the additional channel 4.2 as well other cable and satellite providers. That’s just speculation on my part. Here are the links to the articles from the Indianapolis Star a few weeks ago with more details. Article from Indianapolis Star website and another article from Indianapolis Star website.
A couple of new shows for you to check out on Starz network. Outlander is the story of a World War II Army nurse who goes on a late honeymoon with her husband after the war and while touring some Scottish ruins gets magically transported back to the 1700s. Based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon. Except for the initial time jump it’s not very sci-fi/fantasy but is more of a historical drama. But it’s really well done and produced by former producers of Battle Star Galactica. It’s holding my interest after three or four episodes. The other new Starz series is called “The Chair”. It’s a reality series produced by former Project Greenlight producer Chris Moore. It pits two different first-time movie directors against each other to create a feature film (at least 83 minutes) based on the same screenplay. In the first episode that aired last Friday each director has done major rewrites of the screenplay but the basic setting and characters have to remain the same. If you are a fan of moviemaking and especially if you are a fan of Project Greenlight which had previously aired on HBO, then you definitely want to check this out.
It’s time for the new fall TV shows to start. Sons of Anarchy premiered last night on FX. Haven is returning to SyFy Channel this week. Boardwalk Empire premiered its final season on HBO Sunday. Just to name a few. I used to make my own Fall TV schedule that showed which shows were new, and which ones were changing time slots. But I finally found the website that makes a pretty good table of its own. You can download a PDF printable version of the broadcast and cable schedules here. Not much on the cable schedule.
Printable Fall 2014 TV Schedule v1.01 (PDF)
Printable Fall 2014 Cable TV Schedule v1.00 (PDF)
Additionally I used to make a list of which shows were returning and which ones were canceled however TV Line as already produced such list for broadcast and cable. We have provided those links before but here they are again to refresh your memory.
2014 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Cancelled? What’s Coming Back? What’s on the Bubble?
Cable Renewal Scorecard: What’s Returning? What’s Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?
And organized slightly differently here is a calendar of premiere dates courtesy of TV line
TV line calendar of premiere dates
Specifically we want to mention the passing of two of our favorite shows. HBO’s True Blood aired its final episode a couple of weeks ago. It made use of this final season to do some flashbacks to show some interesting back story that was very satisfying. And it wrapped up tying up all of the loose ends of other storylines. Altogether it was a really great show and a satisfying but somewhat bittersweet ending. Bittersweet is the same word that I would use for this series finale of The Killing. The show was about a male/female pair of Seattle detectives who spent the first season half on AMC network trying to solve one case. Viewers were a bit upset that they didn’t solve it by the season finale of the first season but it was still a quality show throughout. It was thought to be canceled after the second season but got a reprieve of a third season on AMC that ended with Detective Sarah Linden killing a fellow detective (who happened to be a serial killer). That was supposed to be really really the final season. And then it got picked up by Netflix for an additional six episode many season which gave us a very juicy case as well as showing us the aftermath of what happened at the end of season 3 the ending of this fourth and allegedly final season also had a satisfying ending although they did kind of wrap it up quickly. I think I believe them when they say it will not be back but with this show you never know. Anyway I liked them both and will miss them greatly.
Since our last installment we had the Emmy Awards. Here is a link to the winners. I’m getting a little bit disgruntled that the same shows and actors win year after year and that some really outstanding performances get overlooked. While the Oscars are too much of a snobbish movie buff kind of thing, The Emmys are in my opinion becoming just a popularity contest. Emmy Winners 2014 — Full List
In the links below read…
Postmortem interview with producers of True Blood about the show’s finale.
Postmortem interview about season finale of Covert Affairs
Inside Line spoilers dated August 28
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated September 2
Inside Line spoilers dated September 5
Interview with Producer of Sons of Anarchy about season opener
Not in the links below but also of interest…
NBC has decided not to go forward with “Emerald City” an hour-long drama modern reimagining of Wizard of Oz. It had already been ordered to series but NBC gave up. Universal Studio could shop it to another network.
Big Bang producers say that Penny and Leonard will probably not get married this season despite being engaged.
SyFy Channel series Lost Girl will be ending after it’s upcoming 5th season of 16 episodes which will air in two segments of 8.
Kim Kardashian will guest star on an upcoming 2 Broke Girls
Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkland dropped the hint that Daryl might be gay. That was just a rumor. But they have confirmed we can look forward to a gay character in the series eventually.
Netflix announced that its upcoming Marco Polo series will premiere December 12
In addition to Rosie O’Donnell joining the cast of The View they have also added Rosie Perez. I wonder if actor/former football star Rosey Grier is available as well 🙂
David Hyde Pierce a.k.a. Dr. Niles Crane from Fraser will have a recurring role on The Good Wife
A&E has canceled Longmire
SyFy Channel has announced it is not renewing the Wil Wheaton Project. I kind of liked it.
The rumors are back that Jack Bauer may be headed for the big screen. Rumors of a “24” movie abound.
Prison Break reunion: Dominic Purcell will join Wentworth Miller as a guest in the upcoming season of The Flash
No more Hordor for now. Neither the vocabulary impaired giant nor his master Bran will appear in season 5 of Game of Thrones. There storyline will pick up presumably the following season but don’t look for them at all this season.
NBC is considering producing a sitcom that would air live every week including live commercials.
Former US X factor contestant Simone Battle has committed suicide at age 25. She was a hot looking African-American pop singer.
British comedian James Corden (never heard of him) will be replacing Craig Ferguson on the CBS Late Late Show
HBO has announced that the final season of Newsroom will premiere November 9
Showtime announced that upcoming season 7 in 2015 will be the last for Nurse Jackie
RIP Oscar winning actor director producer Lord Richard Attenborough age 90
BBC edited episode 3 of the current season of Dr. Who which depicted the beheading of a monster robot. Did so in out of sensitivity over recent terrorist beheadings.
Keith Olbermann’s ESPN 2 program is moving from 11 PM to 5 PM and he will be anchoring some installments of Sports Center when big news items are breaking
Discovery Channel has canceled reality show “Sons of Guns” after one of the main was arrested for aggravated rape.
Netflix is paying $2 million per episode for the streaming rights to reruns of NBC’s “The Blacklist”.
Netflix is paying reported $1.75 million per episode for streaming rights to upcoming Fox series “Gotham”. This is the first time such a deal has been made before the show has even aired on a network.
Fox’s considering a remake of the classic series “The Greatest American Hero”
Netflix has renewed its Gothic thriller Hemlock Grove for a third and final 10 episode season
CeeLo Green’s reality series “the Good Life” has been canceled by TBS after the musician made controversial twitter statements about rape.
Apple Computers claims that none of the leaked nude celebrity photos were result of a hacking of iCloud directly. It says the celebrities simply had their passwords hacked but it was not a security breach of the cloud itself.
Fox has canceled “Gain Related” after one summer season.
SyFy Channel has greenlit a miniseries “Childhood’s End” based on the novel by Arthur C Clarke.
George Clooney will direct a film about the British tabloid phone hacking scandal
Tom Hanks and Lily Tomlin are among the 2014 Kennedy Ctr. Honorees
CBS is considering offering the Showtime premium cable channel as a streaming service to those who have broadband but not cable. Time Warner is also considering the same move with HBO.
AMC has officially ordered into production a pilot for a spinoff series from The Walking Dead. Will not yet guarantee series pickup but it is highly likely.
The NFL has hinted that verbal halftime performers will have to pay to appear rather than the NFL paying them.
Maggie Lawson of Psych is joining the cast of Two and a Half Men.
Chris Pratt a.k.a. Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy will host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live September 27
Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara will not be returning to MythBusters next season. It will just have the stars 2 original hosts.
Zach Galifianakis will star in a new comedy series on FX titled Baskets to be produced by Louis CK
Dancing with the Stars cast includes comedian Tommy Chong, MMA star Randy Couture, NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip, Lea Thompson a.k.a. Marty McFly’s mother. Among others.
Filming has begun on the third Robert Langdon film (sequel to Da Vinci Code) titled Inferno.
Harry Belafonte and Maureen O’Hara will receive honorary Oscars
Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock will play the villain Black Adam In the Upcoming DC Comics Movie Shazam
True Blood Post Mortem: EP Defends Finale Death, Explains Sookie’s Future
Post Mortem: Covert Affairs Bosses Talk [Spoiler]’s Fate, Annie and Auggie’s ‘Challenge’ and More
Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Once, Walking Dead, The Mentalist, B99, Beast, Resurrection and More!