Winner of This Week’s “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Apocalypse Award” goes to Chris Young for posting a cat video on his entertainment blog page. But you’ve got to forgive him because the cat is singing an auto tuned version of the theme song to Game of Thrones.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’m going to have time to produce my usual fall TV schedule. However I found this one online that has just about everything mine would’ve had.
Also suggest you see this calendar provided by Michael Ausiello for September finales and premier dates.
Way overdue on entertainment news. Sorry about that but the Olympics and other things have kept me highly preoccupied.
In the links below we will start off with…
August calendar of summer finales and fall premieres and other important dates
ABC announces fall premiere dates (The previous installment of this newsletter for other networks)
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello from July 10
Spoilers from Michael Ausiello from July 31
Dancing with the Stars all-star cast revealed. Includes Helio Castronevis, gymnast Shawn Johnson
Preview trailer for the new season of Doctor Who
Actor Matt Smith previews new season of Doctor Who
Interview with Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat
Mariah Carey is replacing Jennifer Lopez on American Idol. I included the link so you can read about the salary numbers they were throwing around. WOW!
Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rimes reveals she is a Doctor Who fan
Avatar 2 not until 2015 Cameron says in an interview.
Not in the links below but still of interest
Kristhoffer Polaha a.k.a. Henry Butler from Ringer will be a series regular on the new CBS legal drama Made in Jersey
Irish actress Sarah Bolger of The Tudors will play Sleeping Beauty in the next season of Once Upon a Time
Irish actor Colin O’Donoghue has been cast as Captain Hook for the next season of Once Upon a Time
Summer Glau a.k.a. River Tam a.k.a. Terminator will do three episodes of Alphas on SyFy Channel this season other guest stars include Sean Astin and Lauren Holly
Jamie Chung (The Hangover II) will play Mulan on this season of Once Upon a Time
Author Gore Vidal at 86. Wrote screenplay for Ben Hur among others
Ernest Borgnine died at age 95
Sherman Hensley a.k.a. George Jefferson has died at age 74
SNL writer Tom Davis and former partner of Al Franken (Franken and Davis) has died at the age of 59
New season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire premieres Sunday, September 16
Eric Dane a.k.a. Dr. Mark Sloan is leaving Grey’s Anatomy
AMC has canceled “The Killing” after two seasons
After much drama the entire cast of Modern Family has re-signed for the next season after a number of holdouts
Louis starring comedian Louis CK has been renewed for a fourth season on FX
FX networks has ordered more episodes of Russell Brand’s comedy talk show Brand X (which is pretty good if you haven’t seen it)
Martin Sheen will join Charlie on Anger Management. Series has been renewed for 90 more episodes to be shot in quick succession
Mark Valey a.k.a. Christopher Chance will play a new love interest for Dana Delaney on Body of Proof
Showtime has renewed cancer drama The Big C for a final season of just four episodes
America Horror Story has been retitled “America Horror Story: Asylum”
Fox has renewed Master Chef for a fourth season
Sharon Osbourne has tweeted hints that she’s leaving America’s Got Talent after this season. Probably because her son has MS
ABC has preemptively canceled Fred Willard’s improv show after his arrest for lewd behavior
Vince Vaughn is developing a reboot of The Brady Bunch for CBS
CBS is canceled a dating show titled “3” after just “2” episodes. I guess it didn’t live up to its name.
Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show is changing its name from “Anderson” to “Anderson Live” and will change format and include rotating cohosts
A new series premieres this month on BBC America titled Copper about New York police during the American Civil War.
BBC America will also coproduced a new series titled The Musketeers to premiere in 2014
Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston will play the villain Malekith The Accursed in Thor 2
Universal Studios is working on a remake of Endless Love
CBS is suing ABC claiming that “The Glass House” is a ripoff of its reality show Big Brother
No host or producer has been hired for the Oscars. Jimmy Fallon and Lorne Michaels turned it down
M Knight Shyamalan will write and produce a pilot for SyFy Channel titled “Proof” about a billionaire who offers a reward to anyone who can prove life after death
Tom Cruise is the highest-paid actor at $75 million per pic
AMC announced The Walking Dead season will premiere October 14
Tom Arnold roasted his wife Rosanne Barr in the Comedy Central roast which will air August 12
British actor Peter O’Toole says he’s retiring from acting. I didn’t know he was still alive.
The third part of the Hunger Games trilogy will be split into two movies in 2014/2015
Peter Jackson announced that there will now be three hobbit movies not 2 as originally planned
TNT has renewed Falling Skies for season 3!
Alex Trebek has recovered from a heart attack is back on set at Jeopardy
BBC America series “The Hour” will return in November for a second season. Sort of like HBO’s The Newsroom only set in the early 1960s. Excellent show.
Your August Calendar: NBC’s Fall TV Sneak Peek, Plus More Than 75 Other Premieres and Finales
Fall TV: ABC Announces Premiere Dates — Which Launches Are Being Held for October?
Ask Ausiello: Scoop on Grey’s, Parenthood, Castle, Vampire Diaries, Horror Story and More!
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on HIMYM, Community, Good Wife, Castle, Vampire Diaries and More!
Dancing With the Stars Cast Revealed: All-Stars Going for a Second Shot at Mirrorball Glory Are…
Doctor Who Season 7 Preview: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! Weeping Angels! Fiver Song!
‘Doctor Who’ star Matt Smith previews the new season — plus an exclusive behind-the-scenes photo
Mariah Carey joins ‘American Idol’
This recent article from CNET.com describes how a technology company called “3ality” provides various tools to filmmakers who want to shoot in 3-D rather than convert after the fact. There camera rigs were used in two of the latest 3-D films “Prometheus” and “Spiderman”. Check it out
For me the top entertainment news this go round is the return of Aaron Sorkin as a showrunner of a major television series. The new HBO series “The Newsroom” is so amazing I’m going to devote an entire blog entry to my thoughts on it.
In personal movie news I went to see “Prometheus” a couple of weeks ago in IMAX 3-D. Highly recommend this sci-fi prequel to the classic “Alien” series. Very good stuff.
In case you haven’t heard it here are the latest obits. Andy Griffith has died at age 86. Turner Classic Movies will show four of his films July 18 -19. TV Land will air favorite episodes of Andy Griffith show July 4, 7 & 8. Also Nora Efron, screenwriter of such classics as “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle” has died at age 71 of leukemia. She kept her condition secret until the last minute. Also actress Ann Rutherford who played Scarlett O’Hare’s sister in Gone with the Wind has died at the age of 94.
And since I promised this blog was only going to contain significant entertainment news and not the usual drivel, I’m not going to report the divorce of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
Sorry for the long delay between entries. I’ve been very busy with Saint Gabriel Festival etc.
In the links below to read…
Interview with Burn Notice creator about season 6 plot lines
Ask Ausiello spoilers for June 12
Interview with producers of USA series Suits about this new season
Game of Thrones beheads George W. Bush
Premiere dates for new NBC series range from early August until October
Premiere dates for new Fox series range from September 12 -October 28
Premiere dates for new CW series entirely in October
Interview with Falling Skies showrunner about the new season
Postmortem interview with Killing star Joel Kinnaman about playing detective Holder and upcoming Robocop movie
USA has ordered a new series Graceland from the creator of White-Collar about FBI, DEA, and Customs agents
Ask Ausiello spoilers for June 19
Ask Ausiello spoilers for July 3
NFL delays afternoon kickoffs from 4:15 PM to 4:25 PM affecting prime time TV even more
CBS spoofs ABC with fake news release or “Dancing on the Stars”
Not in the links below but also of interest…
Yvonne Strahovski a.k.a. Sarah Walker from “Chuck” will join a multi-episode arc on the upcoming season of Dexter
Kate Walsh will make this her last season on Private Practice
Bellamy Young plays the first lady in ABC series Scandal will be upgraded to a series regular next year
Jerry O’Connell and Portia de Rossi have been added to the cast of the Munsters reboot as Herman and Lily
This season of Showtime’s Weeds will be its last. Probably should’ve retired it three seasons ago.
Publicity photo for The Walking Dead reveals Merle (Darrell’s presumed dead one armed brother) is alive and well
Jeannie Tripplehorn from HBO’s “Big Love” is joining the cast of Criminal Minds
Meghan Ory a.k.a. Little Red Riding Hood has been promoted to series regular on Once upon a Time
Former Terminator Robert Patrick will play Alcide’s father in a flashback sequence on True Blood
Adam Baldwin will play a recurring character on TNT’s Leverage. Season premiere July 15
I’m ashamed to admit I really like HBO’s series Girls which announced it will return for its second season in January
Arsenio Hall will return to late-night TV in a syndicated Monday – Friday talkshow
Ray Romano will join Parenthood for a multi-episode arc
Brian Dietzen who plays Ducky’s assistant Dr. Palmer is promoted to NCIS regular. By the way Ducky survives.
The final season of Fringe will take place in the year 2036
Comedy Central will roast Roseanne Barr August 12
ABC has renewed Rookie Blue for a fourth season
Kristin Chenoweth is joining The Good Wife to play a reporter covering the Florek campaign
Nathan Lane is joining The Good Wife playing a bean counter trying to help the law firm regain financial footing
Fox and CNN misreported the Supreme Court decision on healthcare. Initially said it was struck down when in fact it wasn’t.
Rizzoli and Isles has been picked up for a fourth season next year
TNT has already renewed Dallas for season 2
A&E has renewed Longmire for season 2
TBS has renewed Men at Work (I’ve never seen it)
HBO has ordered new seasons of The Network and True Blood!! We are very happy 🙂
HBO has ordered new season of Eastbound and Down. (Yawn)
The original Avenger Emma Peel a.k.a. Diana Rigg will guest star on Doctor Who along with her real-life daughter Rachel Sterling
Christine Lahti has been cast to play Steve McGarrett’s suddenly not did mother on Hawaii 50
Former Nikita bad guy Xander Berkeley will have a recurring role on SyFy Channel’s Being Human
Emillie de Ravin a.k.a. Belle has been promoted to series regular on Once upon a Time season 2
Jennifer Hudson will have a multi-episode arc on next season of Smash.
CBS has renewed previously canceled Unforgettable for 13 episodes in summer 2013
TBS has purchased the rights to reruns of “2 Broke Girls”
Maura Tierney will join the cast of The Good Wife
Savannah Guthrie has replaced Ann Curry who recently replaced Meredith Vieira on the Today show
The Supreme Court has ruled CBS does not have to pay fines for Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction
Erin Andrews is leaving ESPN possibly going to Fox Sports
“Lost” alumni Elizabeth Mitchell is joining the cast of new NBC apocalypse series Revolution
CNN host Anderson Cooper came out of the closet this week and announced he’s gay
A&E has ordered a series titled Bates Motel that is a prequel to Psycho
FX networks secure the rights to reruns of Mike and Molly
“Monsters University” a prequel to Monsters Inc. will premiere June 21, 2013
A contestant on “America’s Got Talent” who claimed to be an injured war veteran was a hoax
Burn Notice Creator: ‘Very Different’ Season 6 Will Make Things ‘Vastly Worse’ for Michael & Co.
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Parenthood, Breaking Bad and More!
Suits Preview: Mike and Harvey’s Top-Secret ‘Circle of Knowledge’ Grows In Season 2
Game of Thrones’ Severed George W. Bush Head Brings Dishonor to House HBO: What Say You?
Fall TV: NBC Sets Premiere Dates, Including Summer Debuts and Late Start For Community
Fall TV: Fox Sets Premiere Dates Leading Off With X Factor and Glee, Touch Gets Late Start
Fall TV: The CW Sets Premiere Dates, Delaying Launches Until October
Falling Skies Season 2 Preview: Expository ETs! Tom’s Chilly Welcome Home! And a Ray of Hope?
Eye on Emmy: The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman on Humanizing Holder and Making Robocop Real
USA Network Gives Series Order to Graceland, from White Collar Creator Jeff Eastin
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Castle, Bones, Glee, Psych, Weeds, Dallas, Leverage, Dexter and More
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Revenge, Gossip Girl, Weeds, 90210, Bones, Castle and More!
How WIll NFL’s Kickoff Time Change Affect CBS’ Sunday Schedule?
CBS slams ABC with fake press release
“Survey says…” It’s time for more entertainment news. First off recipes to “Family Feud” game show host Richard Dawson who died just at age 79 one week after the airing of a docudrama about the most famous family feud in history. I’m talking about the Kevin Costner version of “Hatfield and McCoy’s” which aired on History Channel last week. I watched all six hours and it was pretty good. Also a fond rest in peace to Kathryn Joosten who passed away this week at age 72. Probably most famous for being Karen McCloskey on Desperate Housewives but for me she will always be Mrs. Landingham who was the secretary to Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett on The West Wing. Interestingly enough her character in both of these iconic shows left the series by dying.
HBO series Game of Thrones wrapped up its second season last night and delivered on its tradition of iconic closing images at the end of the season. Already counting down the days to season 3. The only thing that mitigates loss is that the next season of True Blood premieres next week. Other upcoming premieres include The Glades and Longmire (A&E) June 3, Pretty Little Liars (ABC family), Rizzoli and Isles (TNT), Franklin and Bash (TNT) June 5, Royal Pains (USA), Necessary Roughness (USA) June 6, Saving Hope (NBC), The Choice (Fox) June 7, Dallas (TNT) June 13, Burn Notice (USA), Suits (USA) June 14, Falling Skies (TNT) June 17, The Newsroom (HBO) June 24, Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen (FX) June 28 other premieres are in the fourth link below.
In the links below read about…
Descriptions of the first three episodes of the new season of True Blood premiering June 10
Postmortem interview with producers House about the series finale
Ask Ausiello spoilers for May 22nd
Premiere dates for summer series. Note this is a little weight because it starts with May premieres that have already started. Click the link at the bottom of the page for June
Postmortem interview with producers of Revenge about season finale and season 2
Postmortem interview with producers of Awake about series finale and what would’ve been in season 2 if it had been renewed
Postmortem interview with American Idol creator Nigel Lythgoe about this season and his views on other reality competition shows
Interview with producers of Game of Thrones about the filming of the Battle of Blackwater Bay. Note that the article runs 3 pages. Links at the bottom of the first page.
Not in the links below…
Ridley Scott confirms there will be a Blade Runner 2 and that the lead character will be female.
Showtime as renewed Nurse Jackie for season 5
AMC will run a marathon of the first two seasons of The Walking Dead starting July 8. Will include interviews and a special black-and-white version of the pilot
British comedian and former Doctor Who companion Catherine Tate will now be a series regular on the US version of The Office
Andy Samberg is leaving Saturday Night Live.
Starz has announced that season 3 of Spartacus will be its last. We are gravely disappointed.
Four characters will not be returning for season 2 of Smash… Debra Messing is losing her husband and her boyfriend. Katherine McPhee is losing her cheating fiancé. And sneaky assistant Ellis who got fired in the finale will not return
NBC has canceled a cappella singing competition The Sing Off and we are disappointed. Ordered a new singing competition called “The Winner Is…”
Tim Daly is leaving Private Practice. Also ABC has ordered only 13 episodes next season. Kate Walsh will leave after next season.
Starting in 2013 the Emmy awards are eliminating supporting actor/actress in a miniseries/made-for-TV movie. Will expand actor/actress in a miniseries/movie category to six nominees
Paramount Studios has decided to retitle the new Tom Cruise film “Jack Reacher” rather than “One-Shot” which was the title of the Lee Child novel upon which it is based
Interesting fact of the day… ESPN costs 26 percent of your cable bill but only gets five percent of the ratings.
Aaron Sorkin (author of West Wing, The Social Network) has signed on to write the movie about Steve Jobs based on the Walter Isaacson book
Titanic 3-D will be available on Blu-ray in September
Lionsgate rumored to be turning movies and TV shows such as The Expendables
Fox has announced the team that converted Titanic to 3-D is working on Independence Day set for release July 3, 2013
Vanessa Redgrave will play a lesbian Supreme Court justice in the upcoming USA network series Political Animals. I didn’t realize it was going to be sci-fi 🙂 Must be set in an alternate universe where that can happen. Shame we don’t live there.
May 25 marked the 35th anniversary of the original Star Wars. God I’m getting old!
MTV is going to make a TV version of the horror film series Scream
Green Bay Packer Donald Driver became the third football player to win Dancing with the Stars
True Blood: Major Spoilers on the Season 5 Premiere and Beyond!
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Glee, Bones, Vampire Diaries, Dexter, Happy Endings and More!
Hot for Summer: 100 Premiere Dates and More!
Revenge Boss Answers Finale’s Burning Qs (Someone Did Die!) and Spills Season 2 Secrets
Awake Creator Nixes One Theory, Hints Dream-y Finale Was In Fact Britten’s Worst Nightmare
American Idol: Nigel Lythgoe Talks ‘White Guys With Guitars,’ Ratings Declines, Twitter Peeves
‘Game of Thrones’: How producers pulled off ‘Blackwater’
It was 20 years ago today… (No not Sergeant Pepper) that Johnny Carson retired from the Tonight Show. There will never be another like him.
We were so far behind on entertainment news that I couldn’t get it all put together in one afternoon. Here’s a continuation of even more news
In the links below check out…
Article and YouTube video interviewing the cast of The Walking Dead as they begin shooting season 3
Interview with actor who plays Jamie Lanister about the big upcoming battle in Game
Producers of Grimm talk about finale and what’s coming next season
Absolutely must see for fans of Game of Thrones fans: alternate versions of their opening sequence as done in Legos and as done by the Simpsons
Postmortem interview with producers of House after series finale last night. Also check out “May sweeps scorecard” embedded in the article
Not in the links below but also of interest…
A &E network has canceled Dog the Bounty Hunter
Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Robert De Niro are set to star in an upcoming comedy film called Last Vegas
Sin City: A Dame to Kill for will release to theaters October 4, 2013 starring Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba
Ridley Scott will direct a sequel to Blade Runner
A&E has canceled Breakout Kings
TNT or Lifetime networks are considering picking up CBS’s recently canceled Unforgettable
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy have signed up to star in a buddy cop movie
James Cameron reports he is not only making Avatar 2 and 3 but perhaps even 4. “I’m in the avatar business…period” although he may make some documentaries
HBO has renewed half-hour comedies Girls and Veep each for a second season of 10 episodes
TNT has ordered a new season of Southland
Breaking Bad returns to AMC July 15
‘The Walking Dead’ clip: Andrew Lincoln promises a ‘darker, harder, faster, deeper’ season 3
Jaime Lannister is as excited as you to see the Battle of the Blackwater
‘Grimm’ season finale: Bosses talk big reveal and what’s coming up in season 2!
‘Thrones’ credits tweaked by ‘Simpsons,’ Lego
House Boss David Shore Answers Burning Finale Qs, Addresses Cuddy, Foreman, Kutner Mysteries
I’m so far behind on entertainment news we’re only going to get halfway through it in this installment. We’ll have another installment in a day or two.
We start off this week’s entertainment news within RIP for Robin Gibbs of the Bee Gees passed away this week after a long illness. Thanks to his legacy of great music he will remain “Stayin’ Alive” in our hearts.
Went with friends this week to see Marvel Avengers in IMAX 3-D. Totally awesome if you’re a fan of the genre and not a bad action movie even if you aren’t a big comic hero fan. We saw 3-D trailers for the new Spiderman and the new sci-fi movie Prometheus which depending on who you talk to either is or is not a prequel to the Aliens series. Regardless of what is it looks very cool.
Heads up for an upcoming series on HBO called “The Newsroom” which will be written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. The previews look really good. Speaking of West Wing, the new HBO comedy “Veep” is better than I thought it would be. While the humor is extremely dry and it helps to be a fan of Julia Louis Dreyfus, the political plots are actually pretty interesting. Over the first four episodes she is trying to push through a new clean jobs bill. The senator who agrees to help her sponsor the bill insist that no one from the oil industry be on the commission. The oil industry insists that someone be on the commission. She pick someone that neither side liked and got them to agree to it because it made everybody mad. Pretty cool politics. In the end the vice presidents clean jobs bill went down the tubes because the president himself wanted to focus on something different. She ended up having to cast a tie-breaking vote against her own proposal to stay loyal to the president. Pretty heady politics for a half-hour comedy show.
Because I was under the weather for a while and got tied up in other projects. Our entertainment news is way behind schedule. There are going to be articles that give you “sneak peeks” at season finales that have already been shown. But if you’re like me, your DVR is 98 percent full and you’ve not yet seen some of those season finales. So I’m going to include those kinds of articles anyway. There will also be articles that are postmortem commentary on season finales. If you’ve not seen them yet you may want to skip those.
In the links below to read about…
Fox renews Fringe for its fifth and final season of 13 episodes.
At the bottom of the Fringe article see the link to TVLine’s 2012 renewal scorecard
Preview of the season finale of “Once upon a Time”
Descriptions of new CW network shows including Beauty and the Beast and Arrow
Descriptions of 8 new ABC series picks up for the fall.
Postmortem interview with producers of Fringe about season finale.
Postmortem interview with producers of Once upon a Time about season finale.
Descriptions of 7 new CBS series including Elementary… A Sherlock Holmes reboot
Overview of complete NBC fall schedule
Overview of complete Fox fall schedule
Overview of complete ABC fall schedule
Overview of complete CBS fall schedule
Overview of complete CW network fall schedule
Complete grid of all network fall shows
Postmortem interview with producers of Bones about season finale and next season
Postmortem interview with producers of Scandal about season finale and next season
“Preview” of season finale of Grimm with its star
“Preview” of season finale of Nikita with producers
Postmortem of season finale of Nikita
Not in the links below but also of interest
NBC has picked up a sitcom pilot Save Me starring Anne Heche about a woman who starts channeling God after an accident. 13 episode order
NBC is also picked up a JJ Abrams/Eric Kripke action show Revolution. It’s a post apocalyptic world where all energy suddenly disappeared
NBC has picked up a White House comedy called 1600 Penn
NBC had picked up a about a “House like” veterinarian who likes animals but hates people.
NBC has renewed Law and Order:SVU and a new drama show called “Chicago Fire” about the Chicago fire Department
Demi Lovato & Britney Spears have signed on as judges for X factor
NBC has picked up a Jimmy Fallon produced sitcom called Guys with Kids
Fox has renewed Kiefer Sutherland’s Touch but sadly canceled Alcatraz and The Finder
Elaine Pompano, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr. and Chandra Wilson have signed two-year deals to continue on Gray’s anatomy
Despite Alcatraz cancellation Parminder Nagra will not be out of work. She will play a love interest for Gus on the upcoming season of Psych
ABC has canceled Cougar Town but it has been picked up by TBS
NBC has renewed Parenthood!
NBC has renewed 30 rock, community, and Parks and Recreation for possibly shortened seasons. 30 rock will be final season
NBC has renewed Whitney and Up All Night
ABC has renewed Once upon a Time, Revenge, Gray’s Anatomy, Castle, Dancing with the Stars,, Suburbatory, The Middle, and Modern Family
ABC has renewed Happy Endings
NBC has canceled Are You There Chelsea, Awake, Best Friends Forever, and Bent
We are sad to report that CW network has canceled Ringer. Although we found the finale quite satisfying.
CW has also canceled Secret Circle. CW has renewed Nikita and Heart of Dixie
NBC has canceled Harry’s Law and we are greatly disappointed.
CW has renewed Gossip Girl for a final season of just 11 episodes
NBC picks up a new series called Do No Harm that is sort of a Jekyll and Hyde type story. Also a soap opera called Infamous that sort of a ripoff of Revenge
ABC has renewed Scandal for a second season. I thought it was pretty good.
ABC cancels GCB, Pan Am, The River, none of which I will miss however I will miss Missing which was canceled. I thought it was pretty good.
ABC renews Private Practice, Body of Proof, Don’t Trust Apartment 23, Last Man Standing and picks up a Reba McIntyre sitcom Malibu County
CBS has renewed 2 1/2 men. It has canceled A Gifted Man
CBS has renewed CSI:NY however cancels CSI: Miami, Unforgettable, Rob, and NYC 22.
CBS has renewed Rules of Engagement
SyFy Channel announced Eureka will end July 16, meanwhile Warehouse 13 and Alphas will return July 23. Lost girl moves to Fridays at 10 PM beginning July 20. Sadly Sanctuary will not be returning.
Fox Renews Fringe For ‘Exciting and Climactic’ Fifth and Final Season
TVLine’s 2012 Renewal Scorecard has been updated with the news!
Once Upon a Time Bosses Tease a ‘Severely Intense’ Finale (Featuring a Lost-Style ‘Reset’?)
Fall TV Scoop: The CW Picks Carrie Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, Arrow and 2 Others
Fall TV: ABC Picks Up Connie Britton’s Nashville, Sarah Chalke’s Parents Plus 6 Others
Once Upon a Time’s Josh Dallas: ‘Crazy-Bananas’ Finale ‘Is Like a Train That Won’t Stop!’
Fall TV Scoop: CBS Picks Up Seven Series, Including Sherlock Reboot, Urie Sitcom
NBC Fall Schedule Revealed: Community Moving, Smash Delayed — Watch New Show Clips!
Fox Fall Schedule Revealed: Glee Shifts to Thursday, Touch Moves to Friday and More!
ABC Schedule Revealed: Revenge Moving to Sunday, Happy Endings and Apt. 23 to Tuesday
CBS Schedule Revealed: Two and a Half Men on the Move, Mentalist Sees New Home on Sunday
The CW’s Schedule Revealed: Supernatural and Arrow Team Up on Wednesday, Dixie to Tuesday
Fall TV Grid: What’s on When? And Versus What?
Bones Boss Answers Burning Finale Questions, Confirms Season 8 Time Jump and More!
Shonda Rhimes Weighs In on Scandal Season 1, the Finale’s Killer Reveal and Fitz’s Future
Grimm Star David Giuntoli Says Finale ‘Holds All the Answers,’ Teases Season 2
Nikita Boss Teases a Major ‘Paradigm Shift’ and the Death of a ‘Fan Favorite’ In the Season Finale
Exclusive Post Mortem: Nikita Boss Reveals Why [Spoiler] Had to Die — and What’s Next!
Last night on American Idol Josh Ledet sang John Lennon’s classic ballad “Imagine” and Judge Randy Jackson asked him why he chose that song. Josh responded with something about inspiring lyrics. I too was surprised that someone who is very open about their faith and their church background would choose this particular song.
While the lyrics you talk about peace, love, tolerance, charity or anti-materialism all of which could be considered Christian values, the song is actually at its core anti-religious. You don’t have to go very far into the song to see this. After all the opening line is “Imagine there’s no heaven…” I did notice that Josh skip the verse with the line” imagine… no religion too” but he did sing the opening line which proposes that there is no heaven or hell.
It’s always seemed to me that the basic premise of the song was that most of the things that are wrong with this world are attributed both to religion and if we got rid of religion we could have all of that peace and love and brotherhood.
This song makes a good point. How many wars have been fought between Christians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims. This despite the fact that all three of those major religions espouse the remaining concepts of this song which are peace, love, brotherhood etc. History shows us even further that even within these major religions Protestants and Catholics have been a war with each other within Christianity for centuries. Sunni and Shiite Muslims are currently killing each other by the hundreds and thousands. At least the Reformed Jews and Orthodox Jews while they might disagree with each other vehemently don’t seem to be at war with one another at least not to the extent that the other intramural religious disagreements have turned to violence.
It’s not so much that religion itself is at fault for the ills of the world. It is religious hypocrisy that is at fault. Like I said before the core beliefs of these religions promote peace and brotherhood. However John Lennon’s lyrics do not denounce hypocrisy… They denounce religion in broad strokes.
There is also an undertone in the song denouncing nationalism and patriotism. Lines like” nothing to kill or die for” hint at nationalism and patriotism as being as guilty as religion in what’s wrong with the world. Again to a certain extent guilty as charged. We are a nation founded on freedom and we take great pride in that and are justified in making military sacrifices to defend freedom. But sometimes it’s our vision of freedom being imposed on others.
So anyway I’m always surprised when someone who is outwardly religious and/or patriotic endorses a song like “Imagine”. It is a very beautifully written song with a haunting melody and indeed inspiring lyrics with which I agree about 85% and I’m presuming it’s that similar 85% worth of inspiring lyrics that inspired Josh to choose that song. He did a wonderful job performing it.
But did he really pay attention to everything he was singing? Does he really believe that the world would be better off without religion and without pride in one’s country? My guess is he didn’t. I’ll give Josh an “A+” for performance and “D-” for song choice. If he wanted an inspirational song by a former Beatle that would’ve sent the same mood and shown off his vocal talents to the same degree he should’ve sang “Let It Be”.
Of course the big entertainment news is the passing of TV legend Dick Clark. Of course the conspiracy theorists are already saying that it doesn’t matter if our New Year’s Eve icon passed away because according to the Mayan calendar there will not be a New Year’s Eve because the world is going to end December 22, 2012. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Jonathan Frid, the actor who played the original Barnabas Collins on vampire soap opera Dark Shadows died at age 87. We are hoping it wasn’t because he saw the ridiculous trailer for the new Johnny Depp/Tim Burton adaptation of Dark Shadows. Although it was hotly anticipated by fans of the original show, it turns out this new version is more of a comedy spoof of the original than a real remake. We are highly disappointed and not amused at all. However the good news is Amazon.com is now selling a 131 disc DVD collection of every episode of the classic TV show in a box set for a retail price of $599 but you can pre-order it now for a mere $419.99! Comes complete with its own coffin shaped box.
I went to see Titanic 3-D last week. After a very disappointing 3-D conversion for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace I was a little bit skeptical about Titanic but it was absolutely amazing. The very best 2-D to 3-D conversion I’ve ever seen. When Rose is hanging off the back of the ship and Jack is saving her from her suicide attempt the depth of 3-D really adds to the drama of the scene. In the scene when Jack joins the upper crust of high society for dinner I really felt like I was sitting around the table with all of those people. And dancing below decks with the people in steerage and the claustrophobic feeling of the lower decks really comes alive. Even during the fastest and most complicated action sequences that 3-D held up perfectly. And in one of the final scenes as Rose clings to a piece of wood and says her goodbyes to Jack, a small lock of hair quivers back and forth rapidly as she shivers. The computer that does the conversion to 3-D has to track that little string of hair perfectly to maintain the 3-D effect and it does so flawlessly. After watching Star Wars I noticed that some of the scenes that should look good in 3-D were not shot in such a way that a 3-D conversion would make them look good. But after watching Titanic it looks like James Cameron was really thinking in 3-D way before the technology was available to shoot good 3-D or convert it. His entire style of filmmaking even in this older 2-D effort really shows his awareness of the third dimension in framing and choosing his shots. This week at CinemaCon, a Vegas convention that brings together movie producers and theater owners, directors Martin Scorsese and Ang Lee told theater owners that 3-D is the future of their business. Scorsese went on to say all of his films will be in 3-D from now on. He will not shoot 2-D anymore. Also from CinemaCon IMAX debuted a prototype of a new laser projector that produces brighter, sharper images on larger screens and the brightness extends all the way to the corners of the images. There are still some technical details to work out and concerns about the safety if somehow the laser shines directly into someone’s eyes. But they are using different kinds of lasers that are used in traditional laser light shows or rock concerts where those concerns originally came up and eventually became regulated. One more bit of new Cinema technology… Peter Jackson demonstrated some footage from his upcoming 3-D feature The Hobbit and it was projected at 48 frames per second as opposed to the traditional 24 frames per second. This provides a much smoother and more lifelike image especially on large screens. When I upgraded my TV from regular HDTV at 30 frames per second to a newer model it 120 or 240 frames per second I saw a visible difference in picture quality. If 48 frames per second ever becomes the standard we can work for amazing reality in movie imagery. Sadly 48 frames laser IMAX is still a few years away.
And now for a bunch of other entertainment news leading you into the May sweeps period. Lots of season finales and season ending cliffhangers to talk about.
In the links below read about…
Interview with producers of Ringer promises cliffhanger and three deaths!
Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 18
Preview of season 2 of Showtime’s serious Homeland to premiere in September
Interview with Supernatural’s Jim Beaver about the ghostly return of his character
Preview of remaining episodes of various Fox series
Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 24
Review of final storylines for this season of Grey’s Anatomy
Trailer for new Disney XD series “Tron: Uprising”
Very cool publicity photo of Anthony Hopkins portraying Alfred Hitchcock in an upcoming movie
Peter Jackson previews Hobbit footage at 48 frames per second rather than traditional 24. Makes movies look more realistic.
Prototype of new IMAX laser projector debuted. Promises bigger brighter screens.
Not in the links below but also of interest
Cyndi Lauper will guest star again on Bones as psychic Avalon Harmonia
Bree Turner who plays spy shop proprietress Rosalie has been promoted to series regular starting next season
Royal Pains returns June 6, Burn Notice June 14, White-Collar July 10
Supergirl to appear on White-Collar Smallville alumna Laura Vandervoort will guest star in an upcoming episode
American Horror Story season 2 will take place in an insane asylum. Voice judge Adam Levine will guest star on some episodes
The title of the final episode of House is “Everybody Dies” makes you stop and think
NBC has ordered a new series starring former friend Matthew Perry
Jennifer Morrison, Amber Tamblyn and Olivia Wilde will return for the series finale of House
Ryan Seacrest has signed up for another season of American Idol rumors say it’s two-year deal
ABC family network has renewed Lying Game for season 2
Alec Baldwin says he is returning to 30 Rock and according to him next season will be the shows last
This week’s winner of the “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse Award” goes to NBC for ordering a new Howie Mandel game show called “White Elephant”
Runner-up for the above award goes to a casting Lindsay Lohan to play Elizabeth Taylor in upcoming biopic
The Bachelor has been sued because it no longer casts African-American actors/participants
Fox news has signed Bill O’Reilly and Shawn Hannity to extended contracts
Martha Stewart will have a cooking show on PBS in the fall
Stephen King’s “Eyes of the Dragon” is in development as a movie or miniseries for SyFy Channel
Bill Maher has signed a two-year extension with HBO
True Blood author Charlene Harris has sold a mystery series to SyFy Channel
Former “Roman” Ray Stevenson who played Titus Pullo on HBO will have a prominent role in the next season of Dexter
SyFy Channel announced a new reality series “Hot Set” that is a spinoff from its makeup reality competition show “Face Off”. This one is for Hollywood production designers who have to create movie sets.
New HBO series Veep starring Julia Louis Dreyfus is getting decent ratings. I’ve seen one episode in if you like very dry political humor recommended. Think of it as West Wing written by Jerry Seinfeld. Although this show isn’t written by Seinfeld but you get my point.
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is doing a documentary on discovery channel about American outlaws
A new documentary titled “The Beatles: The Lost Concert” will debut May 17. Includes a complete Washington DC performance from February 11, 1964.
Ringer Finale Preview: Bosses Promise ‘Mother of All Cliffhangers’ and at Least 3 Deaths!
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Gossip Girl, Weeds, NCIS, Fringe, 90210, Grey’s Anatomy and More!
Early Intel on Homeland Season 2: Will Carrie Go Rogue? Plus: The New Threat to Brody
Supernatural‘s Jim Beaver on Bobby’s Ghost Powers and Taking the Fight to Dick Roman
Spectacular May Sweeps/Finale Spoilers on Glee, House, Bones, Fringe, New Girl and More!
Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s, Vampire Diaries, Good Wife, Glee, Dexter, The Office and More!
Grey’s Anatomy Preview: A Surprise Hook-Up, Plus a Finale in Which ‘Anybody Could Go’
‘Tron: Uprising’ intense new trailer
‘Hitchcock’ Revealed By Fox Searchlight
‘The Hobbit’ Debuts At Revolutionary 48 Frames During Warner Bros. Exhib Presentation: CinemaCon
IMAX Laser Projection Prototype Clears Way For Much Larger Screens: CinemaCon