My new computer is running well. 99% of stuff has been transferred from the old machine. I’ve released a new version of my software for sending and receiving infrared signals from a TV remote using Arduino microcontrollers. Which being that I finally have time to do another installment of my entertainment blog.

The weather as nasty as it’s been I’ve not been able to get out to see any movies. So there’s nothing to report there. I have watched a few awards shows and I’m pleasantly surprised to see Gravity get so many nominations. I really liked it a lot but then I’m a sci-fi freak. It doesn’t have a chance of winning against the other competition but as they say “it’s just an honor to be…” (labeled not good enough like all the other nominees who didn’t win).Late news… Gravity director Alfonso Cualrón did win best director from the Directors Guild and tied for first place with “12 Years a Slave” the Producers Guild. So perhaps an Oscar isn’t completely out of the question at least for him.

In TV news I’m kind of liking the new season of American Idol with judge Harry Connick Junior. I really liked him when he was mentor a couple times. He’s not afraid to tell it like it is but he does it in a slightly nicer way than Simon Cowell ever did. He’s also hilariously funny at times. Also glad to see that they are cutting back on the making fun of bad contestants. They really haven’t done that much since Simon left. And as one other TV critic recently noticed we seem to have an absence of sob stories about contestants who have overcome some great tragedy thanks to music. Maybe some of the sob stories will be revealed later.

Because it’s been a while since I did one of these, some of the “spoilers” aren’t much of a spoiler anymore. Sorry for getting behind.
It’s that time of year when shows are being renewed or canceled. Bookmark this link for TV Line’s Renewal Scorecard

Typically there is a lot of news about pilots being produced. I used to follow those but there were so many pilots that disappointingly never made it to air (i.e. Wonder Woman a few years ago) that I always decided to wait for the real thing. However this year TV Line has put together a list of pilots and who is starring in them. So I’m including this link in case you’re really interested. Both links include multiple pages categorized by network.

In the links below read about…

• Spoilers from Matt’s Inside Line dated January 16
• Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated January 21
• Postmortem interview with creators of Sleepy Hollow about the season finale
• Spoilers from Matt’s Inside Line dated January 29
• A look at Peter Capaldi in his new Dr. Who costume. He calls it “a Rebel Time Lord” look.
• Spoilers from Michael Ausiello dated January 28
• Fascinating interview with “Gravity” cinematographer about techniques he invented the film
• Article about a guy who is preserving last silent films on DVDs called “Accidentally Preserved”. It’s funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

Not in the links below but also of interest…

• CBS announced Survivor Braves vs. Brawn vs. Beauty will premiere February 26. Amazing Race All-Star premieres February 23.
• At a time when soap operas are dwindling CBS has renewed daytime soaps Y&R and B&B as well as the rest of its daytime lineup The Price Is Right, Let’s Make a Deal and The Talk for a new season.
• CBS announced a new summer series Extant starring Hallie Berry will premiere July 2. Season 2 of Under the Dome premier June 30
• CBS has hinted that it would consider another season of Hostages presumably with a different cast and plot line even though the first season had very disappointing ratings.
• Now that Michael J Fox has wrapped shooting his sitcom there is a chance he will return to guest star on The Good Wife. Also in the recent Good Wife episode about “Thick Trick” he was supposed to pit Diane against the firm of Florick/Agos but Christine Baranski was tied up filming “Into the Woods” so they switched and had Will do it.
• Now that CBS’ new series Intelligence has wrapped shooting, Meghan Ory can return to “Once upon a Time” in her role as Ruby/Red Riding Hood.
• CW network has ordered a spinoff of Veronica Mars for its new digital streaming service CW Seed. Also the Veronica Mars movie hits theaters March 14
• Producers have revealed that the next season of American Horror Story will take place in 1950 and that Jessica Lange will return is brushing up on her German accent.
• Former House costar Anne Dudek will guest star on an upcoming episode of Grimm
• Kathy Bates will guest star on an upcoming Mike and Molly as an old friend of Molly’s mom
• Jane Alexander will guest star on CBS’ Elementary as Sherlock’s longtime penpal
• HBO has renewed Real Time with Bill Maher for 35 episodes season 13 starting January 2015
• Fargo a TV series based on the Coen Brothers film premieres April 15 on FX story Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton
• CW network president says Supernatural will be renewed as long as the ratings continue to hold up. Reality series Breaking Pointe will not return. Two new reality series come to CW later this year. Barber Battle by Cedric the Entertainer and a magician competition called “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”.
• Benjamin Bratt will guest star in the new “24” series. His job… Find Jack Bauer!
• Showtime announced season 6 of Nurse Jackie in the final season Californication will prepare April 13
• A while back Michael Ausiello said he had use of an actor who was getting a new series that he could not reveal it because that actor was currently playing a lead character in another show and was about to get killed off. If you guessed Sons of Anarchy’s Ron Perlman you are right. I did not guess it in advance but when he got killed off I was 99% sure that was who they were talking about. His new job is playing a judge who is a married man with a call girl girlfriend on the side who has a religious awakening when he starts hearing voices through his ventilator-bound son which might be the voice of God. I guess that makes it Sons of Anarchy meets Joan of Arcadia set in a courtroom. It will appear on Amazon streaming service. I’m not excited.
• Showtime confirms Mandy Patinkin will definitely return for season 4 of Homeland
• Gilligan’s Island star Russell Johnson A.K.A. the Professor passed away at age 89
• Joan Allen will star in the six episode new season of The Killing which will be released on Netflix
• A&E is developing a reboot of Michael Landon 80 Series Hwy. to Heaven
• Warner Bros. is releasing the 60s Batman series to DVD
• Dave Madden played manager of the Partridge family has died at age 82
• ABC has ordered another Toy Story special “Toy Story That Time Forgot”
• ABC has refused to comment on rumors that it has put in a bid to show Thursday night football from NFL
• Next season NCIS will reveal the mysterious second wife of Agent Gibbs!
• Mary Steenburgen will appear in upcoming episodes of Justified
• NBC has announced its next live musical will be Peter Pan and will air December 4. No casting info.
• NBC has ordered 10 episodes of Emerald City. In modern-day Wizard of Oz story featuring a 20-year-old Dorothy was unwittingly sent on an epic and bloody battle for control Oz.
• NBC will shoot a season of Celebrity Apprentice in the spring for possible inclusion in the fall schedule.
• Billy Crystal who was Jay Leno’s first guest on the Tonight Show will return for his final show February 6.
• NBC programming president Robert Greenblatt can’t figure out why they can’t get an audience for “Sean Saves the World” or “The Michael J Fox Show”. Maybe it’s because they’re no good?
• Follow-up on previous item… Production has been halted on Sean Saves the World which means it’s effectively canceled
• A major character from Once upon a Time will be killed off and will be leaving the show for certain
• BBC America’s series Ripper Street will return February 22 for season 2. Very good stuff.
• The cast of Walking Dead will appear on Conan O’Brien February 6
• NBC has canceled plans for a Murder She Wrote reboot
• Mork and Mindy will reunite when Pam Dauber guest stars on The Crazy Ones with Robin Williams
• SNL head writer Colin Jost will take over the Weekend Update chair when Seth Meyers moved to late-night replacing Jimmy Fallon who is replacing Jay Leno
• Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey at both the new two-year deals to remain on Grey’s anatomy
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonanio will return as Nick’s mother I’d Grimm
• J August Richards is returning to Agents of Shield when his character Mike Peterson gets turned into the Marvel character Deathlok… A cyborg who first appeared in the comics 40 years ago
• USA Network has picked up a new courtroom comedy titled Benched
• Despite what I said earlier about not covering pilots… This is big enough news on its own. Sharon Stone will star in a pilot action drama Agent X for TNT. Too early for word on series pickup
• Stephen Fry will appear as the British Prime Minister in the new “24” series which will be set in London
• NBC has ordered a pilot The Money Pit based on the 1986 Tom Hanks/Shelley Long movie
• AT&T U-Verse assures viewers that the dropout of signal during the Grammy awards same-sex marriage scene was a technical glitch and not purposeful
• Syfy Channel has renewed Haven for 26 episodes. 13 in the fall and the other 13 in 2015
• Major news John Noble has been promoted to series regular on sleepy Hollow for season 2 (also Abby’s sister Jenny)
• Animated film The Nut Job which set box office records for non-studio animated film will get a sequel cleverly titled The Nut Job 2. Will premiere January 15, 2016
• Bill O’Reilly will interview Pres. Obama during the Super Bowl pregame shows
• TNT has acquired “Transporter: The Series” an internationally produced syndicated thriller based on the movies. Season 1 will premiere this fall. Season 2 begin shooting in February and will appear on TNT as well.
• HBO will not renew Family Tree nor Hello Ladies for second seasons. “Getting On” may get renewed.
• Ben Kingsley will appear in Night at the Museum 3. Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson etc. will return
• Hugh Jackman will play Blackbeard in Warner Bros. new film “Pan
• Michelle Obama will appear on Jimmy Fallon’s first week when the Tonight Show
• Fox is buying controlling interest of YES network which shows New York Yankees games. Maybe they will use the proceeds to pay for that new Japanese pitcher.
• DreamWorks will produce a live-action version of “Ghost in the Shell” based on the famous Japanese animated film
• Mira Sorvino will star in a BBC America series Intruders about people who seek immortality by possessing other people’s bodies.
• Rosie O’Donnell is returning to The View
• Sundance Channel is reinventing itself SundanceTV (without a space between them). Like that’s going to help things.
• Quentin Tarantino is suing website Gawker for leaking the screenplay of an upcoming movie. He’s threatened to cancel making the movie.
• Guns vs. God: Schwarzenegger’s new action movie Sabotage will be released March 28 as will a biblical movie titled Noah. Take your pick.
• After Time Warner Cable rejected a buyout bid from Comcast, now charter cable is bidding and would end up settling some of the TWC assets to Comcast to pay for the deal.
• Lindsay Vonn will not be skiing in the winter Olympics however she will appear as a commentator for coverage on NBC. She cannot travel so will appear from a US studio on Olympic coverage and on the today show
• A Cappella music fans will be pleased to learn Universal Studios will make Pitch Perfect 2. Actress Elizabeth Banks will make her directorial premiere.
• This week’s winner of the Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse Award goes to ABC for renewing game show “Bet on Your Baby” in which contestants wager on what their kids will do next.
• Forest Whitaker is in talks to appear in Taken 3 with Liam Neeson
• In 1998 comedian Louis CK made the black and white self financed comedy that made it to Sundance Film Festival but never got released. Starting today you can purchase a download for just $5 from his website.
• Marvel comics will publish new Star Wars titles in 2015
• Actress Barbara Lawrence played Gertie Cummings in the film version of Oklahoma has died at age 83
• Hong Kong movie mogul Run Run Shaw practically invented the kung fu movie genre has died at age 107. I have this image of him on his deathbed with his lips moving out of sync but he died before we could hear what he was actually saying 🙂 sorry I couldn’t resist.
• Director JJ Abrams announced that the script for the do Star Wars movie is complete. Filming will begin in May.