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

Fall TV: Get Details on the Split-Season, Non-Stop Schedules for Grey’s, Once, Other ABC Shows

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on NCIS: LA, Once, Covert Affairs, Five-0, Big Bang, Haven and More!

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’

Here’s your entertainment news/commentary for this week.

September is premiere month for most TV series. Here is a printable calendar of notable premiere dates. Note these are premiere dates and not necessarily the data show will regularly air.

September 2013 calendar of premiere dates

Here is an actual schedule of when shows will air on a regular basis.

Fall TV schedule from TVahlic.com in PDF format

And if you want to know what has been renewed or canceled check out

TV Line primetime renewal scorecard Be sure to click other links at bottom of that page for the other networks. Each network has its own page.

Also

TV Line Cable renewal scorecard Again this is a multipage link. Several networks per page.

The CBS/Time Warner battle continues into its fourth week. Time Warner is offering free TV antennas or vouchers for antennas at Best Buy etc. for customers who want to pick up blackout CBS stations. That doesn’t do anything for the nationwide blackout of CBS owned Showtime Networks. TWC customers in the New York area will miss coverage of this upcoming weekend’s U.S. Open tennis unless they have antennas or another source. NFL coverage starts the following week. If it isn’t resolved by then it’s going to be a very long wait. CBS recently reached a new deal with Verizon for their cable systems. CBS president says Time Warner turned down the exact same deal that they made with Verizon.

While I tend not to cover gossipy entertainment news or other overhyped entertainment stories I will offer a couple of comments on the two biggest entertainment stories of the week.

While I did not see all of Miley Cyrus’s performance on the VMA awards I will say that I did see her in her guest starring role on Two and a Half Men in which he appeared in a very skimpy bikini which seem to reveal more than her outfit did at the VMA. While she didn’t have the moves, it was a lot sexier I thought. I also agree with one entertainment reporter who said that the Parents Television Council and MTV’s Video Music awards both benefited from her performance. It’s like in the comic books where the villain cannot exist without the hero and vice versa. Also it’s not like the VMA awards in its 30 year history has been known as particularly family-friendly entertainment. Anybody who got offended when their young children watch the show, got what they deserved.

The other major controversy was the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman in the upcoming Superman versus Batman film. I go back to the interview with Michael Keaton when he first played Batman and got called to the set and said to the interviewer “It’s time to go work the suit”. What he was saying was that when you’re in the Batman suit, you don’t really perform. You’re more of a puppeteer than an actor. And considering that these days much of the “working the suit” is done via computer animation, it really doesn’t matter who plays Batman. However it does matter very much who plays Bruce Wayne. I had been unfamiliar with the Iron Man comics before I saw the first movie. I couldn’t imagine why they had hired someone like Robert Downey Jr. to play a superhero. Then when I got familiar with the character Tony Stark I completely understood why he was perfect for the part. I want all the people who have been bad mouthing Ben Affleck to ask not what kind of Batman he would be but ask what kind of Bruce Wayne he would be. I think it will be great as Bruce Wayne. And of course it all depends on what kind of Batman we’re going to see. Could Adam West have played in the Dark Knight series of films? Could Christian Bale have played the 60s TV Batman? David Letterman noted that people are petitioning to remove Ben Affleck as Batman but nobody seems to care about removing the president of Syria after using chemical weapons.

In the links below read

Matt’s Inside Line Spoilers dated August 22

Michael Ausiello spoilers dated August 27

Not in the links below but also of interest

Our favorite clown Tatiana Meslany from Orphan Black will guest star on upcoming Parks and Recreation

Joshua Gomez a.k.a. Morgan Grimes from Chuck will guest star in an upcoming episode of Castle playing a man who claims he traveled back in time to avert some disaster.

Rumors are Randy Jackson will stay with American Idol not as judge but replacing Jimmy Iovine as mentor

Keith Carradine will join season 2 cast of The Following

Navid Negahban played a terrorist on Homeland will be Oliver Queen’s new nemesis on the next season of Arrow

Office alumni Brian Baumgartner will guest star on upcoming Mike and Molly as a teacher union representatives

Stephen Moyer a.k.a. True Blood vampire Bill Compton will star as Capt. von Trapp opposite Carrie Underwood in a live production of the sound of music to air on NBC December 5

Amelia Rose Blaire a.k.a. the governor’s daughter Willa on True Blood has been upgraded to a series regular for next season

TV Land has canceled Fran Drescher sitcom Happily Divorced after two seasons

SyFy Channel has ordered a pilot for a series called “12 monkeys” loosely based on the 1995 film

American horror story season 3 will premiere October 9 on FX

David Morrissey (The Walking Dead’s Governor) has been cast in a new AMC pilot Line of Sight. He will play in NTSB investigator who survives a plane crash and tries to figure out its cause. The pilot will not keep him from doing season 4 of Walking Dead however if he gets picked up to series that might interfere later.

Olympian Michael Phelps will have a cameo on Suits

A Rambo TV series may be in the works

Demi Lovato will guest star on an upcoming Glee

This week’s winner of the “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse Award” go to CBS who plans to redevelop “Love American Style” can the love boat be far behind?

Former wonder woman Lynda Carter will guest star on 2 1/2 men

There will be a web-based after show for fans of Sons of Anarchy called “After Anarchy” will air after season premiere, episode 5, and season finale.

Jon Stuart returns to The Daily Show September 3

George Eads a.k.a. criminalist Nick Stokes has been written out of several upcoming episodes of CSI after he got into a shouting match with writers and producers

NBC is developing a TV series based on the 1995 film Outbreak

Daryl Hannah will guest star on Hawaii 50

My favorite Game of Thrones hottie Natalie Dormer has joined the cast of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay parts 1 and 2”

Veteran sportscaster Vin Scully will return for his 65th season as announcer of Dodgers home games

in addition to all the other “Oz” themed shows in the works, NBC is considering its own Oz series titled Emerald City

Gilbert Taylor who was director of photography for the original Star Wars, Dr. Strangelove and The omen has died at age 99

Despite rumors, Peter Jackson is not directing an upcoming episode of Doctor Who

Veteran stage, TV and film actress Julie Harris died at age 87

Bill Murray will appear on David Letterman’s show on August 30 to celebrate the 20th anniversary on CBS

Amazon studio has ordered a pilot for a kids show titled Maker Shack Agency combining two of my favorite interests… Television and gadget makers

ER alumni Methi Phifer is joining the cast of Showtime’s House of Lies

Famous record producer Dr. Luke appears to be out of the running as an American Idol judge. Harry Connick Junior is the next room or judge. He has served as a single week mentor a couple of times and on a really good job with one exception. He badmouth Crystal Bowersox when he thought her beeper was going off during their mentoring session. It turns out it was an alarm on her insulin pump. The expression of horror on his face when he realized his mistake is one of my favorite non-performance moments all time on American Idol. He would make a great judge.

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Bones, Once, Grey’s, Castle, OITNB, Revolution, New Girl and More!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Big Bang Theory, SOA, NCIS, Revenge, Once, Grimm, Bones and More!

Time for another what I hope will be weekly entertainment news. If I can keep the schedule up you should be seeing one of these each Wednesday or Thursday depending on what else is going on in my life.

I went to see Elysium yesterday in IMAX. It was a fairly good sci-fi action movie with a somewhat predictable plot. The special effects were also. The fight scenes however (and many other scenes) suffered way too much from handheld camera. I know that directors who use shaky handhelds during fight scenes are trying to give you the impression that you’re in the middle of the fight. But for me it just looks like they are wiggling the camera around so you can’t really see what’s going on or how think the fight is. This film was directed by the same guy who did District 9 and it had a lot of the same look and feel of that film which I liked a lot. Matt Damon was as you might expect in an action movie. Jodie Foster was however very creepy playing the villain. We don’t see her play villains very often but she was awesome in this one. If you’ve got nothing better to do on a Saturday night I would recommend it. Otherwise it’s a must-see for cable.

We mourn the passing of Elmore Leonard who died at age 87. His crime novels with the basis of TV series Justified and Karen Cisco as well as many many other films including Get Shorty.

Time Warner Cable/BrightHouse and CBS/Showtime are still at odds with one another after over two weeks. Dave Letterman has been delivering scathing criticism of TWC/BH and his nightly monologue as well as making fun of strange cable shows such as Amish Mafia and the man with the 132 lb. scrotum. I still remain pissed over the whole thing.

A couple of shows I can recommend you check out. BBC America has started a new crime drama called Broadchurch starring David Tennant of Dr. Who fame. The Americanized version of the same series is in the works for Fox network. This is your chance to check out the original. Only two or three episodes have aired so far. You should be able to catch up on demand. Also if you get Sundance Channel check out “The Writers Room” which each week interviews the writers of your favorite TV shows. Next week’s episode interviews the writers of Game of Thrones. You might be able to catch previous episodes on demand or reruns. Worth checking out. Finally if you can’t get enough of quirky introverted female detectives check out FX networks “The Bridge” about a murder that occurred on the bridge between Juarez Mexico and the US. A strange woman detective on the US side teams up with a Mexican detective to solve a serial murder. Sort of a sunny version of “The Killing”. No Seattle rain 🙂 Also AMC network has started the second season of Hell on Wheels about the building of the transcontinental railroad. It looks like this season is going to be every bit as good as the first.

In the links below read…

David Tennant talks about appearing in Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.

Postmortem interview with show runners of True Blood about season finale in upcoming season 7 including return of someone you thought might not return.

Michael Ausiello spoilers for August 20

The cast of next season of Survivor revealed. Will include returning players paired with members of their own family

Interview with Sandra Oh about leaving Grey’s anatomy at the end of the season

Video interview with Clark Gregg about Agent Colson’s revival on SHIELD

Not in the links below but also of interest…

Lee Thompson Young a.k.a. Detective Barry Frost on Rizzoli & Isles was found dead of suicide. Tuesday night’s episode was dedicated to him. Production has shut down for a few days on the next season.

Gia Allemand who was a former contestant in The Bachelor committed suicide. She was 29.

Eva La Rue a.k.a. CSI Miami’s Natalla Boa Vista will be guest starring on upcoming episodes of Criminal Minds

Covert Affairs and White Collar return October 17

TNT has renewed Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes, and Perception for new seasons

Bullet joins Arrow… If you are mourning the loss of fascinating character “Bullet” from The Killing you can get more of actress Bex Taylor-Klaus when she guest stars on next season’s Arrow playing comic book character “Sin”

Lindsay Lohan will guest star on HBO’s Eastbound & Down.

Lisa Robin Kelly who starred in “That 70s Show” died in a rehab facility while seeking treatment for alcohol abuse

Dexter’s dad James Remar will guest star on multiple episodes of Gray’s anatomy

JoAnne Garcia Swisher a.k.a. Dr. Nina Green on Royal Pains will play Ariel in upcoming season of Once upon a Time (no casting news on Times New Roman) (sorry I couldn’t resist)

Tina Fey has sold a sitcom to Fox that will go straight to series without a pilot. It’s that place in a woman’s college who admits its first mail student. Tina Fey however will not appear in the series.

Republican National Committee again has changed his mind and decided it will not allow NBC or CNN to host any Republican primary debates because the networks are planning documentaries and miniseries on Hillary Clinton

NBC is reconsidering producing the miniseries about Clinton. Fox TV Studios has withdrawn from talks to produce the miniseries for NBC.

CBS is planning a drama about a female Secretary of State that isn’t particularly about Hillary Clinton

Elmore Leonard has died at age 87. TV series Justified and Karen Cisco as well as many films such as Get Shorty were based on his crime novels

‘NSync is reportedly reuniting for Sunday nights Video Music Awards

Marg Helgenberger will return to CSI to celebrate its 300th episode

Judd Nelson is joining the cast of Nikita for its final season

From the “Oh God I Feel Really Old” file… Melanie Griffith will play Danno’s mom on Hawaii 50

TBS has renewed Sullivan & Son and Men at Work. I’ve never seen either of them.

Duck Dynasty season premiere set a record as the most-watched nonfiction cable TV episode ever

Bebe Neuwirth will guest star on upcoming episodes of Blue Bloods as an inspector general who oversees the police department. Possible previous relationship between her and the Commissioner will heat things up.

Thor: The Dark World will be released in IMAX 3-D

Sony TV will produce a TV series “El Mariachi” based on the Robert Rodriguez film

NBC has renewed Hollywood Game Night for a second season of 10 episodes. I really really like this show.

David Tennant talks filming ‘Doctor Who’ 50th anniversary show: ‘It was everything I hoped’

True Blood Scoop: Alexander Skarsgard’s Season 7 Fate Revealed! Plus — EP Talks That Nude Scene, Bill-Sookie-Alcide Triangle and More

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Once, Bones, Chicago Fire, True Blood, Parks and Rec, Dixie and More!

Survivor: Blood Vs. Water Cast Revealed (Rupert, Again!) — Plus: Several New Twists on Tap

Sandra Oh talks ‘Grey’s’ exit, jokes about Cristina’s uncertain fate: ‘They could send her to the moon’

‘SHIELD’ video: Clark Gregg on Agent Coulson’s revival

As promised last week, we’re doing these little more often now.

Let’s kick off this installment with my famous “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse” award which this week goes to CBS. They announced that they are developing a new series called “Dorothy”. It is a current day medical drama with characters based on The Wizard Of Oz. If this was April and not August I would’ve thought that was a big April fools joke but apparently it’s serious.

By the way CBS/Showtime is still absent from Time Warner/BrightHouse cable systems over a contract dispute. Statistics on the bootlegging of CBS series Under the Dome and Showtime’s Dexter are up 34% from normal according to one sites report. Meanwhile customers of Time Warner in Wisconsin filed a class-action suit against them for dropping an NBC station over a contract dispute. Late last week the chairman of the FCC threatened to intervene in the CBS/TWC battle if they didn’t come to terms quickly. However it’s not clear what the FCC could do to intervene.

Meanwhile this Saturday Fox networks is shutting down its Speed network and replacing it with “Fox Sports 1” however it has still not reached contract agreements with DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable they used to charge 23 cents per subscriber for Speed. They now want between 80 cents and eventually $1.50 in a few years into the contract.

From the “Sorry I Missed This” department… I mentioned that I lost almost a month worth of entertainment news when Google shut down its Google reader. Among the items I missed was that both Van Pelt and Rigsby are going to be written out of the show “The Mentalist”.

In the links below you can read

Matt’s Inside Line spoilers for August 8

Michael Ausiello spoilers for August 13

Character description of Ziva’s replacement and other post Ziva NCIS news

Postmortem interview with Jeffrey Dean Morgan about the series finale of Magic City and its cancellation

Not linked below but also of interest…

Singer Eydie Gorme was a Tonight Show regular with her husband Steve Lawrence has died at age 84

Karen Black starred in Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider and Nashville has died of cancer at age 74. I remember her best in Hitchcock movie Family Plot.

Margaret Pellegrini one of the original Wizard of Oz munchkins has died at age 89. Only two of the original order 24 munchkins remain alive.

Sandra Oh announced this season will be her last on Grey’s Anatomy.

Amber Tamblyn has been cast as Charlie’s long-lost lesbian daughter on Two and a Half Men

Christian Camargo who played the Ice Truck Killer on Dexter has been cast as Dukes brother on Haven

Cheers reunion on CSI. John Ratzenberger will guest star opposite his old buddy Ted Danson

SyFy Channel has announced there will be a sequel to its cult hit Sharknado to be titled “Sharknado 2: The Second One”. So clever!

NBC has announced Jay Leno’s final night will be February 6, 2014 the day before Olympic coverage begins. Jimmy Fallon will presumably start immediately after the Olympics

Showtime has announced that since they are not making a wrapup movie for The Borgias they will instead release an e-book based on the script from the two-hour finale that never got produced. It will be titled “The Borgia Apocalypse”

NBC has ordered a pilot script for a futuristic show called Paradise where in the city of Las Vegas has been turned into a giant prison and a man falsely accused tries to escape.

Boy band heartthrob Nick Jonas will guest star on an episode of Hawaii 50

Alec Baldwin is in talks to host a show on MSNBC

Director Ang Lee’s next film will be a 3-D drama about the world of pro boxing in the 60s and 70s and will re-create the famous “Thrilla in Manila” Ali Frazier fight

A judge has ruled that descendents of Marvel Comic author Jack Kirby cannot revoke his rights to Marvel comics because it was work for hire. He worked on Avengers and X-Men

Game Show Network’s American Bible challenge has been renewed for third season. Jeff Foxworthy will continue as host.

Alcon Entertainment will make a TV movie based on the book “Chicken Soup for the Soul”

Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas have been added to the cast of Expendables 3

The Republican National Committee has backed down on its threat to ban NBC over proposed Hillary Clinton docudrama

World War Z has earned over $500 million worldwide to become Brad Pitt’s biggest box office ever

Veteran TV actor Henry Polic, who played Jerry Silver on ABC’s Webster and voiced Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow on Batman: The Animated Series, has died. He was 68.

The network formally known as Versus now known as “NBC Sports Network” is undergoing another minor identity overhaul. Would be known as NBCSN and will adopt a new logo.

Hunger Games 2 will premiere in the UK November 11, worldwide November 22

Frank Darabont the original show winner of The Walking Dead will premiere his new 1940s crime drama Mob City on TNT December 4 to run six episodes.

After importing Lost Girl and Continuum from Canada SyFy Channel now turns to New Zealand for “The Almighty Johnsons” The series covers 4 ordinary boys who acquire the power of Norse Gods. 23 episodes will premiere in 2014.

This year’s Discovery Channel Shark Week was the highest-rated in its 26 years of existence

The cast of Duck Dynasty gets a 900% salary boost to $200,000 per episode and a multiyear extension

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Once, Mentalist, New Girl, Castle, H50, Bones, Haven, Teen Wolf & More

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Mentalist, SVU, Grey’s, Parenthood, NCIS: LA, Revenge and More!

NCIS Exclusive: Meet Ziva’s Successor

‘Magic City’ star Jeffrey Dean Morgan on show’s ‘depressing’ cancellation, ‘fitting’ series ender

I’m going to try to put out entertainment news on a almost weekly basis and try to aim for Wednesdays if I have the time. That’s because my favorite spoiler articles from Michael Ausiello always come out on Tuesday.

You recall in the past I have produced a fall TV schedule because I couldn’t find a good one online the combined all of the various networks together. I finally found one so I’m linking to it instead of creating my own. You can find a link on my entertainment blog here

Fall TV schedule

You can see what TV series have been renewed or canceled by clicking these links.

Prime time Renewal Scorecard

Cable Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Been Cancelled?

The biggest news and entertainment is the fight between CBS and Time Warner/Bright House cable. They are negotiating over the retransmission rights of a half-dozen or so local CBS owned affiliates. However the dispute turned nasty when TWC/BH also dropped Showtime and other pay cable channels and by CBS with the talks broke down. And not just in the affected markets but nationwide (including here on Cossell Drive). While I can still see WISH TV channel 8 including its CBS program, I can no longer get CBS on demand, Showtime, The Movie Channel or Smithsonian Network on my Bright House cable. I can always catch Dexter or Ray Donovan on demand once the dispute is settled (or from other sources nudge nudge wink wink say no more) but I had several movies queued up that I was hoping to watch that will now not get recorded. Hopefully they will still be showing once the dispute has settled. One unique counterattack, CBS is blocking online streaming of it shows through CBS.com to people who have Internet with TWC/BH. So if you happen to have bright house Internet and don’t even have cable, you cannot watch CBS shows online. This is the nastiest fight I’ve seen in a long time. One analyst says CBS loses $400,000 per day because of the blackout. Some predict this will extend all the way to the opening of football season and I don’t mean preseason. I certainly hope it’s resolved before that.

Now onto our regular news…

In the links below you can read

Matt’s Inside Line from August 1 (news and spoilers)

X factor announces new judges, new format, smaller prize

Josh Whedon answers questions about Agents of SHIELD

Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated August 6

Postmortem season 3 interview with Falling Skies producer

Postmortem season 3 interview with Falling Skies cast

Not in the links below but still of interest

The Doctor Who 50th anniversary special episode will air simultaneously around the world Saturday, November 23 7 PM in the UK 2 PM in the US East Coast

Peter Capaldi has been cast as the 12th Dr. in Doctor Who. He will take over from Matt Smith after the Christmas special

British actor James Murray who used to be in the original Primeval TV series will join the cast of next year’s Defiance

Defiance will have its 13 episode second season in June 2014

Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe are both leaving Parks And Recreation next season

SyFy Channel has picked up Continuum for season 3.

BBC America premieres a new drama series Broadchurch tonight.

Fox is working on a American adaptation of Broadchurch for the 2014-15 season

Mary Lynn Rajskub has signed on to reprise her role as Jack Bauer’s girl Friday Chloe in the upcoming “24: Live Another Day” 12 episode miniseries for spring 2014

Keith Urban is definitely returning as American Idol judge. Jennifer Lopez may return after a year off.

Ellen DeGeneres will host the Oscars this year

Dylan Bruce played one of the clones husbands Paul on Orphan Black will guest star on Arrow

Kathy Bates star in the upcoming season of American Horror Story as a very bad one. I can’t wait!

The new show runner of Revenge promises less conspiracy theory and simpler plot lines

Dancing with the Stars will no longer have a results show. They haven’t really said how they’re going to handle that.

Yvonne Strahovski will reprise her role as Hannah on next week’s episode of Dexter. Deborah doesn’t take it too well.

Starz channel announced Magic City will not return next season.

Leslie Hope a.k.a. Jack Bauer’s late wife will guest star on an upcoming NCIS in an important role

Tahmoh Peikett who played Lieut. Hilo and Battle Star Galactica will have a recurring role in this seasons Supernatural

Bones producers promise Bones and Booth will get married this season at a time you least expect it.

Sam Underwood who is currently starring in the seasons Dexter will move to “The Following” as a regular next season.

Dexter executive producer says fans will either love or hate the series finale intensely

Major mystery resolved. Although Cote de Pablo is leaving NCIS they are not killing off her character Ziva

This week’s winner of “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse” award goes to TLC network which is producing a reality show about a man with a 132 lbs. scrotum.

The opening scene of this seasons Sons of Anarchy has started a controversy over violence in TV shows. Apparently those who seem screeners of it say it’s pretty intense.

Anna Camp a.k.a. Sarah Newlen on True Blood says her weirdest scene yet is last Sunday’s fight with Tamblyn Tomita. It sent her to the ER with minor injuries. Took three days to film.

Ryan Seacrest has been announced as the host of NBC’s “Million Second Quiz”

Republican national committee once NBC and CNN to cancel documentaries about Hillary Clinton

Michael Ansara at age 91. A veteran character actor who played many roles but is most noted as Kang the Klingon from the original Star Trek series. He was the first ever Klingon on TV.

More Bourne coming. Universal Studios is working on a sequel for the latest Bourne Legacy film with Jeremy Renner

CBS has green lit a new sci-fi series for next summer and ordered 13 episodes without shooting a pilot. “Extant”. A similar process was used for “Under the Dome”. In the show a female astronaut returns to earth after a year in space and tries to reconnect to her family. She experiences “something that will change human history”. Show will be produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.

Veteran NBC news man John Palmer passed away this week after a brief illness.

The original Technicolor 1936 Wizard of Oz is being digitally remastered in IMAX 3-D! We could not be happier!!!! Will premiere in Hollywood’s historic Chinese theater on September 15 where it originally debuted 75 years ago. It will be the biggest IMAX theater in the world. Wide release on IMAX screens is September 20. DVD release of 75th anniversary collector’s edition will be October 1.

Downton Abbey returns to PBS January 5.

Sylvester Stallone tweeted about Expendables 3 “Bruce Willis out… Harrison Ford in. Great News”. Nobody knows what he had against Willis. Others in include Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, Nicholas Cage, Millia Jovoich.

Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill deny that there appearing on PBS news hour is the first ever female coanchor team. They remind us that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey did it first 🙂

James Cameron announced there will now be three new Avatar movies not two. First will open in December 2016. Then about one a year.

Dustin Hoffman is message to has been successfully treated for cancer.

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on NCIS, New Girl, Glee, Castle, Flash, NCIS: LA, Scandal, SVU and More

The X Factor Season 3: Smaller Prize, Passionate Mentors, No More Judges’ Houses or Boot Camp

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 7 Burning Qs (Kinda) Answered — Plus: Official Poster Unveiled!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s, Scandal, Bones, Revenge, Sons, NCIS, Arrow, Once and More

‘Falling Skies’: Noah Wyle, more cast discuss season 3 finale on ’2nd Watch’

‘Falling Skies’ season 3 finale: Showrunner Remi Aubuchon answers your burning questions!

In the past I’ve put together a fall TV schedule that shows you what TV shows are returning, which ones have moved to new timeslots, and which ones are new series. It was because I could never find a good source of the information all in one place. I always had to go to each networks website to conflict the information. Last year I found a really good source for such a chart and so I did not make one last year or this year. Here is a link to a PDF of this year’s chart from one of my favorite TV websites.

Fall TV schedule from TVahlic.com in PDF format