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!