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TV Notebook
Tuning in to summer
Thanks to cable, it's TV's slow season no more. Just look at what's coming Sunday night.
By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Television Critic Sat, Jun. 10, 2006
Any sane person, even a TV critic (most of us are at least legally, if not practically, sane), cuts back on TV in the summer.
There's lots more to do in the beautiful 8:30 p.m. daylight, and by the time night does fall and lightning bugs light and sweet summer smells waft through the dark, TV doesn't always seem like the most pleasurable alternative.
But summer TV, because of cable, has gotten better and better. You may have missed it.
Tomorrow is a sort of informal premiere night for the season. HBO revises its entire schedule, returning two of the best shows on TV at any time of the year and adding a couple of not-as-good new ones. USA brings back the sci-fi thriller The 4400. And there are a pair of nature specials.
Viewers may be reluctant to come late to HBO's Deadwood and Entourage and The 4400, entering their third seasons. Such concerns are groundless.
If you're going to try to understand every detail, you might as well stay outside at the barbecue. But if you suspend your little questions, you should be all caught up by the end of the evening and plugged in for the season to some pretty good entertainment.
A summertime cable bonus: These shows all repeat four or five times every week, so you have plenty of chances to catch up if something more interesting's going on on Sunday.
In order of interest:
Deadwood (HBO, 9 PM ET) With its distinctive language (and not just the curse words that flow like gravel through a sluice) and primo sets and costumes, Deadwood can actually transport you out of this world. It's life in the gold rush camp in what is now South Dakota in the 1870s. Mark Tinker's direction is so beautiful tomorrow night, it barely matters what anybody is doing. But plots are a-bubble, as poor Al Swearingen - hard to believe, but a testament to the amazingness of this show, that you can sympathize with the evil dastard - struggles to make his way in what is now only a semi-lawless world.
Entourage (HBO, 10 PM ET) "The master plan is happening here," agent Ari, the venal vulture, tells his wife, as he tries to pry another $100,000 out of her trust fund. It's happening with Entourage, too, which grew last season from an obvious study of strange louts in the strange land of La La, to an arch satire that may be the funniest thing on TV.
The 4400. (USA, 9 PM ET) Our heroes (or are they?) all disappeared and then magically returned to Earth in a big ball of light, each with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men. They're back, in a two-hour season premiere. Instead of phoning them to beat up on Lex Luthor or Mr. Mxyzptlk, the authorities are leery of these supermen (and women and children). The series is more sophisticated than a lot of TV sci-fi, with many parallels to what some see as the current mistrust between government and citizenry. The twists tomorrow should surprise veteran viewers and newcomers alike.
Lucky Louie. (HBO, 10:30 PM ET) This is HBO's first standard sitcom, filmed before a studio audience. But with its ultra-raunchy language, it takes the sitcom to an entirely new place. It's the same poor-schlub-husband theme that has characterized domestic TV comedy since The Honeymooners, but Louis C.K. finds himself in the closet for masturbating, instead of trying to sneak out with the Racoons. Frequently offensive - even, I suspect, to the most open-minded HBO fan - Lucky Louie can be pretty darn funny too, as it dives right into sticky situations that standard sitcoms, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, have been tiptoeing around for 50 years.
Gorillas Revisited, With Sigourney Weaver. (Animal Planet, 8 PM ET) The actress, looking surprisingly unchanged from when she played conservationist Dian Fossey 18 years ago in Gorillas in the Mist, returns to Rwanda, hoping to see some of her old ape pals in the Virunga mountains. This low-budget message piece can be quietly moving, especially when Weaver visits an orphanage run by 94-year-old Ros Carr, a friend of Fossey's before she was murdered in 1985, and takes a couple of the genocide refugees up into the mountains to meet the gorillas.
Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction. (Discovery Channel, 9 PM ET) The film tries to mix dramatic re-creations and scientific explanation, but winds up with a combo that does disservice to them both. Still, the 1883 explosion of the Indonesian island was the biggest boom in recorded history.
Dane Cook's Tourgasm. (HBO, 11 PM ET) Hugely popular on the college circuit, Dane Cook can be hilarious on stage. But this reality-show tagalong with him and three friends, on a 20-show tour last year, is flatter than an Academy Awards thank-you speech.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/television/14784873.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Washington Notebook
Cable measure moves ahead
It could lower bills, but Net access an issue
By Eric Benderoff Chicago Tribune June 10, 2006
Legislation passed to open up local cable markets to more competition could lower cable bills, but it includes a controversial provision that might lead to higher charges to access the Internet.
The House of Representatives passed a sweeping new telecommunications bill Thursday that eliminates the need for programming providers to negotiate with individual communities.
If approved by the Senate, the "national franchise proposal" would not only increase cable competition, it could also prompt phone companies, including AT&T and Verizon, to speed a national rollout of video services.
Consumer groups and business interests agree this is a good development that could lead to lower cable bills.
"It will lead to new investment and a dramatic impact on consumer prices," said Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, a group that favors lower taxes and less government control.
But the House bill also includes a controversial notion known as "net neutrality," an idea that providers should not be able to discriminate against certain competitors or users by limiting access or charging higher fees.
The so-called Barton bill gives the Federal Communications Commission authority to enforce net neutrality principles and set fines of up to $500,000 for violations.
Many Democrats, backed by a diverse lobby of content providers such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and users ranging from religious broadcasters to liberal bloggers, said this wasn't enough to maintain the Internet's freewheeling openness.
"We are concerned for the future of the Internet," said Steve Worona, director of policy and networking programs for Educause, a group that represents the interests of universities. "The notion that the Internet would be gated will destroy the Internet as we know it."
Worona said executives like Ed Whitacre, chief executive of AT&T, use terms such as "my pipes" to describe the Internet. "That assumes that the Internet is his network and that we are privileged to use it," Worona said. "That is a radical departure from the way the Internet has developed, which is that everyone had access to everything on the Internet in a nondiscriminatory manner."
Rick Fox, an AT&T spokesman in Illinois, said his company is "pleased with the way the bill went through the House" and is hopeful the Senate will do something similar. AT&T is expected to roll out video services to Illinois customers later this year, he said, no matter what happens in the Senate. "Our timeline hasn't changed."
But Fox wouldn't comment on the possibility that AT&T would charge higher fees to companies such as Google to use AT&T's network. "It's too premature," he said.
Kibbe said it is possible there could be higher fees charged to Internet content providers in the future, because consumers are paying the freight for the development of the Internet. The question now, he says, is, "How are you going to finance all of this pipeline that needs to be developed?"
"The consumer will pay for a certain speed," Kibbe said. "But if the Googles and eBays are clogging the pipe, and not paying the freight for that pipe, then consumers are getting a raw deal."
But Worona said that once a consumer has paid for Internet service, he should have access to everything he wants to use.
Under some scenarios, consumer advocates say, it is possible that widespread tiered pricing structures could be implemented by Internet service providers to restrict access to some sites by not allowing customers enough bandwidth to watch a video at a Web site.
"The House vote against net neutrality should be a wake-up call to those who care about the future of the Internet," said Jon Murchinson, a Google spokesman. "We think [that] as consumers and businesses realize that the House has actually voted to create a two-tier Internet, they will voice their concerns."
Furthermore, it is conceivable that an ISP could block customer access to an Internet phone service provider unless customers pay more for it because the phone service competes with a similar one offered by the ISP.
The House passed the telecom bill, 321-101. But the vote by the Senate is not expected to be so one-sided.
Still, Kibbe does not believe there will be enough votes in the Senate to block the net neutrality issue. He said many senators do not seem interested in solving a "non-problem."
John Windhausen, an independent telecom consultant and lobbyist in Washington, said that, as it stands, a telecom bill has a "50-50 chance" of passage in the Senate. "And there are negotiations going on that could result in a brand new bill," he said
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-bz.cable10jun10,0,6265216.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv
Media Frenzy
Coming Soon (Maybe): Even More TV Channels
By Richard Siklos The New York Times June 11, 2006
Let’s take a poll, couch potatoes. Raise your hand if you are excited about the possibilities of television multicasting.
We jest, of course. Chances are that only people who work as lobbyists or media executives have a vague notion what multicasting means, though it has been kicking around for years.
But the word is likely to gain a much higher profile in coming weeks — not just because a regulatory showdown is looming but also because of a wave of new television channels and ventures that are suddenly being hatched.
Indeed, as America careers toward its much-touted conversion to the all-digital transmission of television signals — the digital switchover is now set in stone for February 2009 — the debate over multicasting is looking like another shining example of the law of unintended consequences when technology comes into play.
Multicasting, by the way, is the entertainment industry term for broadcasting several television channels in the space, or bandwidth, of a current analog broadcast signal.
There are technical issues related to this, but the upshot is that with new digital frequencies and equipment, a local station can now beam roughly four digital channels on its signal where a single analog channel once existed. Or it can broadcast the current signal and sublet the extra spectrum, or space, for other purposes, like Internet access, infomercials or pay-TV services.
Now, the first question one might rightly ask is this: Who cares about multicasting when there are already hundreds of cable channels available in millions of households, and a bewildering array of new download services and Webby ways of getting video material? Where television programming is concerned, there is no reason to believe that more is more.
But there is a compelling argument to be made that multicasting is a public good because it uses a national resource — the airwaves — to deliver more and better free television into people's homes. While only 15 percent of America's households currently receive their television over the airwaves, rather than through cable or satellite, some cool new channels may help to quell a potential uproar over the fact that old analog televisions will not work with new digital signals. Bruce Leichtman of the Leichtman Research Group in Durham, N.H., estimates that when the digital switch is thrown in 2009, there will be about 75 million analog TV's nationwide that get their signals only from rabbit ears. Their owners will need to buy $50 converter boxes to tune in after that.
Unfortunately for broadcasters — and, arguably, for viewers — that 15 percent of households is not a big-enough market to make these new niche channels economically viable. For the model to work, broadcasters also need to make the new channels available to people with cable and satellite services — and they want the channels to be distributed free, in the way federal law currently obligates cable companies to carry their primary local channels.
The law is known as the must-carry rule, and several groups, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, are lobbying for what they call the digital must-carry rule: that all their broadcast signals, including whatever new digital multicast channels they cook up, should be included, free, on the basic cable lineup.
There are several arguments for this. One of the most sensible is that local broadcasters have had to invest small fortunes in equipment to convert to digital broadcasting at Washington's behest, and that this is a way for them to recoup their costs.
The broadcasters have a powerful ally for this cause in the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin J. Martin. The F.C.C. has rejected digital must-carry twice already — the last time in 2005, when Mr. Martin, before he was chairman, was the sole vote in favor — but the composition of the commission has changed and the subject is expected to come up for a vote again in the next few weeks.
Some cable companies are already carrying the big television networks' new channels — NBC Weather Plus, for instance, is carried by Time Warner Cable in Manhattan. But that is because cable companies have broad relationships with the big broadcast networks, which supply much of the programming that causes people to buy cable service in the first place. Digital must-carry is crucial for independent station groups, which do not have that leverage.
The cable industry, to no one's surprise, regards this as rubbish and views digital must-carry as an unconstitutional way to force them to put free channels on their private networks. Kyle E. McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, has said that his members spent $100 billion upgrading their systems over the past decade and would be forced to carry channels "that may have no appeal at all." That would be unfair not only to operators like Comcast, the argument goes, but also to all the CNN's and ESPN's that have to compete on their merits for places on the cable dial.
Besides, some broadcasters are talking about multicasting eventually growing into a free, over-the-air alternative to bare-bones cable service.
Even as that regulatory showdown shapes up, some viewers are already seeing glimpses of what multicasting promises to bring into America's households: CBS is planning an entertainment-based channel that provides the rough equivalent of extra features on DVD's for some of its top network shows; NBC is already offering local weather channels around the country and, in New York, a spin-off of its Channel 4 flagship called WNBC 4.4.
Broadcasters like multicast channels because they help them to aim at smaller and smaller slices of the overall audience, which is rapidly being fragmented by the Internet and other new technologies. "It's a great advantage for us because it gives us a number of alternative platforms to give more local programming to our viewers," said Jay Ireland, the president of NBC Universal Television Stations.
But in addition to local and network spinoffs, multicasting is giving rise to wholly new national channels. One start-up broadcaster, for example, is offering a channel called the Tube, promoted as a free competitor to MTV; another company, Ion Media Networks, has announced plans with partners to start national channels with health and children's programming as themes.
Ion was previously known as Paxson Communications, a group of 60 TV stations. Ion's new chief executive, R. Brandon Burgess, said he believed that multicasting was the ticket to making free TV a viable alternative to cable for the first time in decades. That is no small matter as he tries to rescue the company from the brink of financial collapse. Mr. Burgess, a former NBC Universal executive (NBC has a big stake in Ion), said that a package of free national channels could be assembled alongside all the new local digital signals.
A typical viewer would then have a package of 30 or more free channels that could represent a far better alternative to cable than what is now available over the air. A similar service in England, called Freeview, has attracted seven million households; it delivers free channels via a set-top box that viewers buy.
Beyond the free services, companies like USDTV and Moviebeam are already leasing spare spectrum from local broadcasters to offer pay-TV and pay-movie services to people who buy special set-top receivers.
Despite all this activity, it is far more likely that you would raise your hand about high-definition TV than about the equally game-changing notion of multicasting. And, indeed, even if cable companies are forced to carry the new channels by the F.C.C., legal challenges could delay their widespread availability.
"The industry has done a pretty good job of marketing HDTV but not as good a job of even hinting to the public that they could get lots more channels for free," Martin D. Franks, executive vice president of CBS, said. The uncertainty over whether these new channels will ever see the light of day, he added, "does not help."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/yourmoney/11frenzy.html?pagewanted=print
The fight over a la carte
A la carte push latest volley in Comcast-Verizon battle to bundle services and win over consumers
By Corilyn Shropshire Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sunday, June 11, 2006
"A la carte" used to mean a single serving of strip steak or rack of lamb minus the accoutrements. These days, it also means allowing consumers to cherry-pick and pay for only the cable channels they want.
At least 14 states, including Pennsylvania, are rewriting rules that for decades have given local governments control over who provides cable television in their areas. The changes would give New York-based phone giant Verizon Communications Corp. what it has long coveted -- a big enough opening that would let it jump into the paid-TV market full throttle.
The a la carte push marks the latest round in the ongoing fight between telecommunications titans Comcast Corp. and Verizon. The nation's largest cable company and second-largest phone company are battling to be all things to all people, offering bundled services that include cable TV, high-speed Internet service and both traditional and wireless phone service.
It's a showdown that over time will be a victory for consumers, industry watchers say, with spoils in the form of a lower prices, more services and one monthly bill. But it could take years if not decades to determine which company is a winner.
Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both are waging high-profile marketing campaigns as they continue to spend tens of billions on new technology, equipment and upgrades to come out on top.
Philadelphia-based Comcast began its latest push last year, when it started offering bundled packages of high-speed Internet access, cable TV and phone service at a discounted price ($99 in Pittsburgh, where it introduced the package in April). It has reeled in nearly half-a-million customers since then.
Industry analysts believe Comcast -- and its cable brethren that also have begun offering phone service -- could woo up to 12 percent of the nation's residential phone customers by the end of next year. And that doesn't include the explosion of cell phone and Internet-based phone providers that already are cutting into what has been Verizon's bread and butter.
Verizon hasn't been standing still. In the last three years, it has spent tens of billions to replace old copper phone lines with brawnier fiber optic cables that have the speed and capacity to carry voice, video and Internet.
The upgrades have allowed it to counter Comcast's encroachment onto its traditional turf with its own version of the "triple play,'' reselling DirecTv satellite and in some cases its own subscription TV service with its phone and high-speed Internet package.
There are signs Verizon's tack is working. Its first move -- last year's price cuts on its digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed Internet service -- has more than doubled its customer base since 2003 from 2.3 million to 5.1 million.
And in states such as Florida and Texas, where it has been cleared to offer its Fios brand subscription TV service, Verizon has captured between 20 and 30 percent of the paid-TV market in less than a year, analysts say.
It is against this backdrop -- Comcast encroaching on phones, Verizon on TV -- that the showdown over a la carte is playing out.
Changes in state laws in Texas, Indiana, Kansas and South Carolina, and proposed legislation in other states, including Pennsylvania, replace requirements that cable TV providers reach franchise agreements with each municipality where they operate with a statewide agreement.
Verizon and other nontraditional cable operators say the move would speed their ability to provide alternatives to cable companies by forgoing burdensome negotiations with every town and community. The local agreements, Verizon maintains, gives Comcast a big head start in the 36 states where it's rolling out the services.
It's a lead that Verizon and some industry watchers claim is unfair because cable companies didn't have to overcome the same hurdles when they got into the phone business.
"If you look backwards, phone companies have been competing for the past 20 years," said telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan. "The cable industry hasn't,'' and the result is that its prices keep rising. The Federal Communications Commission says cable TV prices have risen 86 percent since 1995, outstripping the pace of inflation.
Cable supporters maintain that the franchise agreement changes would unfairly allow in new competitors without the costs that traditional cable companies faced -- not only to win local franchise agreements across the country but to build the requisite infrastructure for cable.
The franchise agreements, in which municipalities effectively bestowed local monopoly rights to a cable company, were required to ensure that the young companies in the then-fledgling cable industry offered their service everywhere, not just in affluent areas.
Moreover, observers note it's not as if Verizon is starting from scratch. Thanks to its "Baby Bell'' roots, the company has the advantage of already being the largest phone provider in most of the markets where its seeking to offer paid TV, noted Marvin Sirbu, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
"Yes, they are having to spend a lot of money'' to put in fiber optic lines for DSL and video service, he said. "But then, they are in the position to benefit" because of the marketing advantage of already having a relationship with many customers.
The balance could shift once Verizon's refurbished network is completed -- and it begins to bait consumers with unlimited power and better quality for services such as high-definition TV.
Fighting for the remote controls of the 70-plus million and growing households that pay for TV is perhaps the only thing that Verizon and Comcast have in common. Their backgrounds are dramatically different, as are the growth paths taken to get to this point.
Comcast is generations younger than the former offshoot of the former "Ma Bell" AT&T conglomerate that was dismantled in 1984.
A relative youngster in the telecom industry, family-operated Comcast sprouted in the 1960s as a cable TV business from founder Ralph Roberts, whose son Brian now sits at the helm.
Comcast's entrepreneurial roots and Verizon's public utility past have stoked their competitive flames as they publicly bicker about which has the greater competitive advantage to sway the public and lawmakers to their side.
The perpetual sparring is a good thing for consumers who have been flush with options for land-based and mobile phone service, but are typically stuck with fewer options for paid TV -- a cable company or satellite TV service offered by DirecTV or EchoStar. Critics say that's why cable prices keep rising.
Soon, a fourth component will fire up the competition between Comcast and Sprint even more. The cable giant is getting ready to add Sprint mobile phone service to its mix of offerings next year, and Verizon plans to launch its version of the "quadruple play" through its 50 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.
Ultimately, the two behemoths aren't dueling to see who's left standing -- both are equipped to gain money and customers -- but more to see who gets to claim to be king of the hill. It's a battle, said Mr. Kagan, the telecom industry analyst, that consumers should win as long as "the prices stay low and the innovation stays high.''
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/06162/697133.stm
TV Notebook
ABC News Girds For New Bout With 'Today'
By Brooks Barnes Wall Street Journal
ABC'S "Good Morning America" has been trying for 11 years to race past NBC's "Today" show and become the dominant morning program. It's no small prize: The No. 1 slot can mean tens of millions of extra advertising dollars.
But just as "Today" is showing some signs of vulnerability -- its anchor team is in flux after Katie Couric's departure last week, and a huge renovation of its signature studio is causing headaches on and off screen -- "Good Morning America" is having engine trouble.
"Good Morning America" learned in mid-May it would lose its popular host, when Charles Gibson was sent to stabilize the network's faltering "World News Tonight" franchise. The popular weatherman Tony Perkins left the show in December, and last week, the executive producer of "Good Morning America," Ben Sherwood, resigned to move to Los Angeles, where his mother is suffering from cancer. The show's other host, Diane Sawyer, is locked into a long-term contract with no windows, but ABC News a unit of Walt Disney Co., has had to work overtime squashing industry speculation that she is packing her bags, too.
"I want a strong and stable 'Good Morning America,' " Ms. Sawyer said in an email, "and I will be there to do everything I can to make that happen."
Meantime, "Today" is riding the wave of publicity generated by the showy send-off that NBC News, a unit of General Electric Co., gave Ms. Couric. On Friday last week, the "Today" broadcast, sans Katie, delivered an average six million viewers, or 1.7 million more than "Good Morning America" -- more than twice the usual gap of around 800,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. (CBS Corp.'s "The Early Show," in third place but trying hard to improve, attracts an average 2.8 million viewers.)
The latest round of morning-show skirmishing comes as the programs buck the trend in network news: They are actually growing. The long-term outlook for evening news broadcasts is grim and prime-time news shows are struggling: ABC's fall schedule has no time slot for "Primetime," and NBC shunted "Dateline" to the purgatory of Saturday. But the morning shows have inched up 6% in combined viewers since 2003, compared with a comparable drop of 9% for the three evening news programs in that period, according to Nielsen.
The trend is mirrored at local stations, where early-morning news -- even newscasts starting as early as 5:30 a.m. -- are gaining viewers and ad revenue.
Various theories explain the rising fortunes of morning news. Some news veterans point to statistics indicating that Americans are starting their days earlier and occupying themselves with work, activities or cable news later in the evening. "The morning shows are the inheritors of the old function of the evening news," says Bob Bengtson, a retired ABC News executive. "For a lot of people, the morning is the new dinner time." Another camp thinks it's a result of the unsettled state of world affairs, while others speculate that people like the morning shows' entertainment aspects.
Whatever the reason, scrutiny of "Good Morning America" has rarely been greater. Disney executives who normally give ABC News and its president, David Westin, a long leash have been aggressively stepping in. "Intense scrutiny is an understatement," says one senior Disney television executive.
Priority No. 1: Fill the crucial executive producer position and send a signal to viewers and advertisers that the show is stable. "Ben's resignation came as a surprise, but I'm moving as quickly as possible to find a new executive producer," Mr. Westin says.
Mr. Westin says he could announce Mr. Sherwood's successor within days and that he would expect the new "Good Morning America" captain to start work within three weeks. The plan is for Mr. Sherwood to continue at the helm until Labor Day, with his replacement spending the summer planning an informal re-launch and finding a new anchor to share the sofa with Ms. Sawyer and the show's lesser-known third anchor, Robin Roberts.
Mr. Westin declined to discuss his hunt. But people close to him say candidates include "Good Morning America" deputies Tom Cibrowski and Jessica Guff, and Neil Shapiro, former president of NBC News. Speculation that Mr. Westin will hire Tammy Haddad, executive producer for MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," has been overblown, these people say.
Mr. Gibson's June 30 departure from "Good Morning America" will "of course be a significant blow," Mr. Westin says. Since Mr. Gibson returned to the program in 1999 with Ms. Sawyer at his side, ratings have improved 19%. Still, Mr. Westin says not to underestimate the temporary pairing of Ms. Sawyer and Ms. Roberts. "We are fortunate to have some built-in stability with Diane and Robin, who we promoted to anchor not long ago because she deserved it and in anticipation of a day Charlie might leave," he says.
The search for Mr. Gibson's replacement is in its initial stages, but among the early candidates is Bill Weir, co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America," according to one ABC News executive. Chemistry with Ms. Sawyer will be key in any hiring. In addition, the show needs to fill Mr. Perkins's weather slot and to hire new on-air contributors.
Several ABC News executives argue that the opportunity to topple "Today" won't come this summer but rather in the fall. That's when Meredith Vieira is set to go to "Today" as Ms. Couric's replacement and viewing levels usually jump after a summertime lull. Summer months are important in terms of retaining a loyal audience, but ABC News doesn't see it as a time to spend lavishly on ratings-boosting stunts.
Jim Bell, executive producer of "Today," says he isn't worried. "We have a team and a plan already in place," he says. "That doesn't appear to be the case elsewhere."
"Today" will move back to its glass-walled Rockefeller Center studio in the fall following a renovation, in which the studio added high-definition equipment. The show has been filming in a temporary outdoor set, which has presented sound problems as well as awkward camera shots of screaming fans during serious news briefings. A spokeswoman says the kinks with the new set-up are being worked out.
Mr. Westin says he is disappointed Mr. Sherwood won't be the one "doing battle" in the fall, noting that "Good Morning America" has notched huge improvements during his tenure. The past two seasons have been the program's best since at least 1991, and viewing gaps with "Today" shrank to their smallest in ten years, he says.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB114981671520675750-Ry3B45MlJJ6V976vI6YklxbYWH0_20060616.html
TV Notebook
60 years of the Tonys
Awards show airs Sunday
By Mike Brantley Mobile Register Saturday, June 10, 2006
So, who is this guy, "Tony," anyway?
No guy at all. The Tony Awards were founded six decades ago in memorial to Antoinette "Tony" Perry, the American Theatre Wing's World War II chairwoman. The first Tony Awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria's Grand Ballroom.
This weekend will mark the ninth year the Tonys are held at the historic Radio City Music Hall in New York. The event will be broadcast live from there Sunday beginning at 7 p.m. on CBS (WKRG-TV5).
The awards honor outstanding achievement in any of the 39 eligible Broadway theaters during the 2005-06 season. It's a relatively small theatrical community of only 754 voters who select the winners.
Among the presenters will be Hank Azaria, Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, Eric McCormack, Cynthia Nixon, Anna Paquin, Bernadette Peters, Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Kyra Sedgwick, Martin Short, Alfre Woodard, Oprah Winfrey and way too many other people to list here.
TNT gives a 'Closer' crash course with marathon
I spent a lot of last summer encouraging people to watch "The Closer" on TNT. And I've spend some time since then answering queries from fans wanting to know when they'll get a chance to watch more of the series starring the just-listed Sedgwick as the cop from Atlanta who has turned the LAPD on its ear.
Good news: "The Closer" is back Monday night, with a second summertime season of episodes showing on TNT. Look for the first fresh episode of the year at 8 p.m. Monday.
Missed the first season? There's good news for you, too. TNT will get you up to speed Sunday with an eight-hour marathon of first-season episodes. The first, the pilot episode that introduced fans to Sedgwick's Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson character, will kick off the marathon at 10 AM ET.
As regular viewers already know, "The Closer" follows a lot of the professional life and some of the personal life of its central character, a transplant from Atlanta who heads up the Priority Homicide Division in Los Angeles.
From the TNT description of the series: Johnson's position on this elite detective squad, which handles high-profile cases of a sensitive nature, is a tenuous balancing act. She faces sometimes-antagonistic roadblocks, even from her own peers, but she and her team forge ahead solving difficult crimes, despite some who are still wary of her unconventional style.
http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment/1149931013317130.xml&coll=3
TV Review
"Entourage" hugs it out on Season 3
By Chuck Barney Contra Costa Times TV critic Jun. 10, 2006
'Entourage," HBO's hysterical comedy about a movie star in the making and his barnaclelike posse, is a testament to on-the-mark creative execution.
Think about it: In recent years, television has spit out a steady stream of inside-Hollywood shows, some of which have been tethered to well-known stars (Lisa Kudrow and Kirstie Alley). Overplaying their hand and blindly assuming that our curiosity for celebrity life knows no bounds, these shows mostly crashed and burned.
But "Entourage" not only survived, it has built momentum along the way. Now entering Season 3, it has a cool factor that no other show in its genre has been able to attain, and HBO is hoping it can become a "Sex and the City"-sized hit.
So why has "Entourage" succeeded where so many others have failed? Relying on brilliant casting and clever writing, the show's creative team pulled off a feat that is much more difficult than you might think: It has gingerly coaxed us to care about -- and like -- colorful characters who are teeming with unlikable traits.
When "Entourage" debuted a couple of years ago, I would have bet against this happening. Yes, the show's four-musketeers-in-Hollywood concept had some spice to it, but I doubted viewers would really want to "hug it out" on a long-term basis with shallow, obnoxious, womanizing doofuses like Vince (Adrian Grenier), "E" (Kevin Connolly), Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara). Toss in Ari (Jeremy Piven), that jerk of a talent agent, and you had the makings of a toxic brew.
But here we are in Season 3 and many of us are actually rooting for these guys to make their Hollywood dreams come true. Vince's potential blockbuster, "Aquaman," is set to debut in theaters. If it hits big, his career will take off like a missile. If it fails, he could be headed to the overpopulated land of has-beens, where his brother, Drama, currently resides. And so darned if we don't become as absurdly obsessed with the box-office numbers as the gang does.
"Entourage" works because, despite all the Hollywood partying, the red-carpet hobnobbing and the big-name cameos (James Woods hilariously spoofs himself on Sunday), the show is really about friendship -- a bond between four guys who will always have each others' backs. And though they may too often think with their genitals, deep down they really do have hearts.
Of course, the same can't be said for Ari, Piven's deliciously acidic, tantrum-throwing character. The agent we love to hate remains one of the best reasons to watch "Entourage" and it's always more fun to watch him when he's under extreme pressure.
To that end, this season has Ari struggling to set up a boutique agency after being rudely booted from his prestigious firm. The rocky transition puts a strain on his marriage, as well as his finances.
But, hey, once you begin wallowing in Hollywood's excesses, it's apparently hard to stop. When his wife suggests that Ari's habit of eating at the Palm four nights a week might be a tad wasteful, he responds with very twisted, Ari-like logic.
"But do I ever order the lobster? No!" he growls.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/columnists/chuck_barney/14781119.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
TV Review
Will third year be the charm for 'Entourage'?
By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer Sunday, June 11, 2006
Perhaps the third year will be the charm for Entourage.
It should.
HBO's clever comedy about up-and-coming movie star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his longtime New York buddies is one of TV's funniest and has everything going for it Sex and the City did when it was a mega-hit and made Manolo Blahniks a household word.
Despite Entourage's comedic brilliance, the series has yet to reach Sex-like ratings. Just under 3 million tune in Entourage, while twice that many watched Carrie and her girls date just about every eligible bachelor in Manhattan.
Entourage's 12-episode third season kicks off in fine form as Vince's Aquaman (directed by James Cameron) is set to open in theaters. But will Vince and his boys, levelheaded manager Eric (Kevin Connolly), skirt-chasing Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and his washed-up actor-brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), be able to handle A-list fame?
If you haven't watched Entourage yet, start now. Not sure why you should? Well, here are five reasons I love the show.
1. The wonderful chemistry: Chemistry is such an elusive quality. You either have it or you don't. It can't be faked or manufactured. And like those martini-swigging gals on Sex and the City, the party-hopping boys on Entourage have a natural, free-flowing rapport that's fun to watch. That they're close off-screen (Connolly and Ferrara attended Dillon's Las Vegas wedding) certainly helps. As a viewer, you want to hang out with these guys as they explore all the lavish pleasures La-La-Land has to offer. And since we know we can't hang with them, we're more than happy to live vicariously through them. Like true friends, these ex-Noo Yawkas have each others' backs. I loved how they all rallied around Vince last season during his emotional roller-coaster relationship with Mandy Moore. Yes, the Mandy Moore. Boys will be boys. But the Entourage pals proved they're men, too.
2. Jeremy Piven is full of comedic gusto: As Vince's shark-like agent who likes to "hug it out," Piven doesn't chew the scenery; he devours it. He's a force of nature to be reckoned with and one of TV's most fiendishly funny characters. I still can't believe he was robbed at the Emmys last year. In a world that's become so PC, tell-it-like-it-is Ari is like a breath of fresh air who doesn't mind whom he offends. When lady's man Vince, for instance, can't decide who to take to his glitzy Aquaman premiere, Ari, as always, has a crass, but hilarious, solution. "Pick the one skank that's going to be photographed well and be done with it."
3. The fun celebrity guest stars: There's nothing funnier than watching stars poke fun at their images. Entourage has become the hip place to do that. Ask Bob Saget, who was a hoot last season as a pot-smoking, hooker-loving jerk. Tonight the crazy-looking James Woods plays, well, crazy-looking James Woods who huffs and puffs and curses and swears and, oh, you get the point, when he finds out that Drama and Turtle have his Aquaman premiere tickets. You don't want to make James Woods angry.
4. Those chi-chi Hollywood parties: Ever wonder what those glam Tinseltown parties are really like? Well, Entourage gives you a mouth-watering, behind-the-scenes peek. And as one who has been to several of those parties, all I can say is the show is pretty darned accurate. The glittery locales. The hot music. The even hotter babes. It's all there.
5. Kevin Dillon's courage: We all know Dillon's more famous brother. His name is Matt. He was just nominated for an Oscar for his searing role as a racist cop in Crash. Kevin, meanwhile, has never been as famous. And he's not as good-looking, either. That means Kevin gets major props for basically playing himself on Entourage. Matt LeBlanc made Joey a lovable doofus on Friends. Dillon has done the same with Drama, a dim-bulb goof with a heart of gold.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tv/content/entertainment/arts_entertainment/epaper/2006/06/11/tv_post_story_0611.html
TV Review
World Cup Announcing
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog June 11, 2006
It’s not hard to get into the excitement of 2006 World Cup Action, two days into the games in Germany. With ABC/ESPN committed to show all 64 games, and a nifty daytime schedule with games from 8:30 to 4:30 daily, it’s easy to make a day off of it all.
Action, such as it is, may be confined to the 0-0 tie of Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago today, enough to make the Caribbean underdog weep with joy.
The main announcer for ESPN is Dave O’Brien, a baseball announcer who has only recently turned to the sport and purposely talks about everything but the action on the field. He’s full of factoid about each of the players, packing a personal story about each one. He’ll tell you where the countries are located (Costa Rica, apparently, is in Central America!). And he won’t let you down for weather reports.
For a fuller game analysis and lots of advice on what the players should have done is three-time U.S. World Cup player Marcelo Balboa.
The B-announcing teams in Germany for ESPN will be JP Dellacamera with John Harkes and Rob Stone with Robin Fraser.
That’s a step up to the action for Dellacamera, the vet who spent last World Cup barking out the action from a closet-like studio in Bristol, looking at a TV monitor of the action.
That’s where his old partner Tommy Smyth has returned, working with Adrian Healey. The other Connecticut-based team announcing the action while watching a feed – something you too can do if you turn off the sound and do a little research – is Glenn Davis and Shep Messing.
As for the visuals, the direction so far is pretty well done, largely staying on the necessary evil of the wide shots but cutting quickly for the well-placed close-up. What really sets the World Cup apart from every other sporting event on TV is the uninterrupted action every 45 minute period . That kind of unbroken action that is precisely why the U.S. is the only place in the world where the sport is not as big as it is everywhere else in the planet – not enough commercial breaks.
They try to make do with little sponsorship banners in the scoreboard – Budweiser and Phillips among them. And when the breaks do come, there’s such an avalanche of pent-up ads, you can go for a snack, take a bathroom break and get a good start on the lawn chores before returning for the second half. As for the ads especially designed for the Cup, there’s a good one from Adidas but if you’ve seen any game you’ve probably seen it seven times already.
http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/06/world_cup_annou.html
Commentary
ESPN still must work on its image
Tim KawakamiSan Jose Mercury News June 11, 2006
It would be just like ESPN to do something asinine today, to schedule wall-to-wall showings of ``Berman on Berman'' or export the ``Cold Pizza'' scream team to show soccer fans what cranky, unhinged sports hooliganism really sounds like.
It would be just like ESPN to do something ridiculous and ethically bankrupt that will make me regret I tried to praise the all-powerful network, this one time.
What the heck, I'm going to do it anyway: Unless I'm getting really soft in my old age, ESPN, particularly ``SportsCenter,'' has become much less shameful of late.
I can see the billboards now: ``Slightly less debasing, except when Chris Berman is on!''
Since last year's departure of former ESPN huckster maestro Mark Shapiro, and the arrival of new programming czar John Skipper, dare I suggest that ESPN has displayed glimmers of a . . . gulp . . . conscience?
My examples: Doug Gottlieb's bracing college basketball commentary, Buster Olney's crucial truth-telling on baseball, the solid nightly ``NFL Live'' discussions, and the increasingly pointed and spotlighted group of general reporters, including Pedro Gomez, Alex Flanagan, Tom Rinaldi, Shelley Smith and Sal Paolontonio.
Of course, I type this acknowledging that 90 percent of the gassy programming that prodded me to launch a monthlong personal ESPN boycott two years ago is still on the air.
I type this knowing that no network should ever be forgiven for that perennially useless NBA studio show, for mindlessly ordering up the ``Bonds on Bonds'' episodes and for regularly foisting Berman, Sean Salisbury, Screamin' A. Smith, ``1st and 10'' and ``Around the Horn'' upon us.
``Bonds on Bonds'' was the rare TV triple crown: It failed commercially, artistically and morally, all at once, but at least Skipper got around to canceling it. Shapiro would have tried to make a movie out of it -- or hey, a theme park ride, now that he's a maven at Six Flags.
Still, ``Bonds on Bonds'' was nothing worse than what CBS provides us every year when it bows down to Augusta National Golf Club or every time there's another gushy, publicist-controlled sports profile on ``60 Minutes.''
Plus, the ratings are so low for Smith's show that penalizing ESPN for it would be like ripping a local station for running a 3 a.m. test pattern. Who cares?
Anyway, I type this fully expecting future ESPN embarrassments, however much credit I give to Skipper and ``SportsCenter'' and game-production guru Norby Williamson.
And I eagerly await Fox Sports Net's latest attempt at a nightly sports show -- ``The FSN Final Score,'' which debuts July 3 and is being shepherded by my friend and former boss, Rick Jaffe, who continually proves to me that newspaper souls can translate to success in TV.
But ESPN is still the standard here, with room for improvement. ESPN doesn't have -- and, I'm guessing, doesn't want -- a Johnny Miller or Charles Barkley on board.
The network has too much athlete kiss-up in its chromosomes to stop now, and Peter Gammons, John Kruk and, to an extent, Joe Morgan should probably register as official Bonds lobbyists from their performances so far this year.
ESPN's signature voice is the blathering, sycophantic Berman, while NBC has Bob Costas and Al Michaels and Fox has Joe Buck.
But, if you ask me, under Skipper and Williamson, ESPN has strengthened its strong points and de-emphasized some of its weak spots.
ESPN's strength is its breadth and depth: It does soccer (thank God no more buffoonish Jack Edwards on the USA World Cup play-by-play), it does the College World Series, it has Barry Melrose's analysis on hockey (100 times better than anything on OLN).
It can send 572 or however many reporters and anchors it sent to Kentucky for Roger Clemens' minor league start last week. Heck, it even has classy Dana Jacobson anchoring alongside the other horrors on ``Cold Pizza.''
Though we don't get ESPN radio in the Bay Area daily, when I travel I always find a way to listen to Dan Patrick's show, especially during the tart hour he shares with old ``SportsCenter'' partner Keith Olbermann.
A big ESPN test will come this fall, when Williamson rolls out his ``Monday Night Football'' broadcast. We'll see how well Tony Kornheiser's charming ``Pardon the Interruption'' shtick translates alongside motor mouth Joe Theismann and smart play-by-play man Mike Tirico.
We'll see if ESPN, in its shiniest moment (``Monday Night Football!''), reverts to emptiness or if it decides it wants to be a real broadcast network with integrity, principles and pride and all that other strange stuff.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14792125.htm
TV Notebook
Serials get soggy
Nets love dramas with ongoing storylines,
but pricey series are a financial risk
By Michael Schneider Variety.com Sun., Jun. 11, 2006
The networks will fill their bellies with serials this fall, developing an enormous appetite for shows with open-ended storylines.
But once that heavy serving cools down, webheads may not like the bitter aftertaste.
As execs search for the next "Desperate Housewives" or "Grey's Anatomy," the majority of this fall's frosh dramas (including ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," CBS' "Smith," Fox's "Vanished" and NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") are either sudsers or contain storylines that carry over from week to week.
Even procedural dramas are giving into temptation, adding bits of ongoing storylines. Why the frenzy? On the upside, a hit serial can create a bonanza of press attention, marketing ventures and ancillary returns, like DVD and download revenue.
But on the downside, the shows are more expensive for the webs that carry them, upping the stakes should one fail. And undoubtedly some will this coming season.
"There will be a glut," says Fox's Preston Beckman, exec VP of strategic program planning. "Just look at the history and play the odds ... probably there will be an increase in the amount of failure this year."
Marc Graboff, president of NBC Universal TV's West Coast operations, says serialized dramas must jump an even higher hurdle for success.
"There's nothing worse than a mediocre serialized show," he says. "It's a tough business model."
That's because even mega-hit serialized skeins see their ratings collapse upon repeat -- if they're repeated at all.
Yet networks have traditionally relied on repeats to make money (since the initial run generally covers the license fee). So those shows must outperform expectations in that one-time airing.
"Unless it does big ratings in the first run, it's going to be tough for the network to continue," Graboff says.
"If you can't spread the cost of these dramas over two runs, you've got to find something to replace it in the summer," Beckman says. "That means more programming costs -- and more of a drain on your marketing budget."
Another strike against the form: Shows with complex, ongoing storylines also boast huge ensemble casts, which in success translates to a hefty payroll.
As for the after-market,serialized dramas rarely perform in syndication as well as shows with episodes that can stand alone.
Networks have faced the quandary before. CBS saw its auds drop dramatically for repeats of megahit sudsers like "Dallas" in the 1980s. The following decade, Fox tried to work around the problem by ordering 30 or more episodes of "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Melrose Place" per season, in order to avoid too many low-rated repeats.
The broadcast webs largely got out of the sudser business in the late 1990s. At the same time, execs grew infatuated with the closed-ended format of shows like "Law & Order" and "CSI."
The "Law & Order" franchise, even though it has seen some recent ratings dips, is still the model of how to keep a show alive far beyond the life expectancy of a primetime drama. The "L&O" mothership enters its 17th season this fall, having maintained its basic story structure even with almost constant cast changes.
But then came the rapid-fire success of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy," not to mention the ongoing hit status of Fox's "24."
The popularity of those shows reminded webheads that, in success, serialized dramas can explode into bigger phenomena than workhorses like "CSI" will ever be. "Lost," for example, is now a major enterprise encompassing TV, DVD, cell phones, the Internet, broadband and other media.
Fans of serialized dramas are more willing to consume merchandising from their favorite shows, will watch more episodes and are more upscale, according to a network median income study by Magna Global.
The emergence of new platforms has also made it easier to exploit serials to the point that viewers can't miss an episode.
"In success, even with a short shelf life, you can figure out ways to monetize it in a way that captures the audience past the initial run," Graboff says. "You can put it on iTunes, video on demand, stream it on your Web site, replay it on the air ... just look at Fox's '24.' Their DVD sales are bigger than their foreign sales."
The growth of such alternative revenue streams is serendipitous, giving studios some cause to be less leery about producing too many serials.
"The fact that there's less of a syndication back-end is offset by all of the revenues from DVD and other forms," he says.
Still, television, like history, appears destined to repeat its mistakes. Last year, the rush to air sci-fi skeins (in a misguided attempt to emulate the success of "Lost") turned up empty. This year, nets are hungry to recapture the thriller aspect of "24" by focusing on one drawn-out storyline -- in some cases coming up with another round of similar ideas (i.e., Fox's "Vanished" and NBC's "Kidnapped").
But as they frantically search to find the next "event" program, the nets will likely keep tapping the serial well.
The trend has even spread to comedy, where several new shows ("Big Day," "30 Rock") also contain serialized elements -- making their syndication prospects dubious.
"Everybody runs to the same side of the ship, and that's why it keeps sinking," Beckman warns. "Because of the success of '24,' 'Lost,' 'Desperate Housewives,' there's a very simplistic thinking, 'Let's make serials,' never really trying to understand why those shows worked. Everybody thinks, 'These things have worked, clearly that's what we have to do.'"
TV Review
"Deadwood" going without much of a bang
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Critic June 11, 2006
Perhaps it's best this way. In the past few weeks, "Deadwood," David Milch's inside-the-sausage-factory glimpse of the creation of a society in the late 1800s, has ascended from merely being considered in some erudite circles the finest achievement in television history to the martyr in the struggle between art and commerce.
HBO declined to renew "Deadwood" for a fourth season, one which Milch had previously said would provide closure for the series.
Instead, the saga will be somewhat hastily wrapped up in two TV films.
Whilst mourning the series' departure, fans can at the very least take solace that this ensures that the network won't try to squeeze any unfocused, meandering seasons out of the show, which is what we to our dismay have seen unravel on "The Sopranos."
In the meantime, "Deadwood" both the show and the town continues to grow. More and more recurring characters have come to town as word of nearby gold strikes got out, which can make following the myriad plotlines a daunting prospect for casual viewers. (The show's easier to follow watching several episodes back-to-back, making the DVD collections indispensable.)
This rudderless expansion is just a headache for Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the series' iconic brothel/saloon operator. When the series opened, Swearengen ruled Deadwood to the extent that it could be ruled with a mercilessness leavened only by his profane philosophizing. He was none too pleased with Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) appeared, to assume the role of sheriff; lawlessness suited Swearengen's purposes.
Now, however, others just as ruthless as Swearengen including George Hearst (Gerald McRaney), who's every bit as ambitious and ruthless as Al have come to Deadwood with dreams of domination of their own. So Al has entered an uneasy alliance with Bullock, supporting him in the upcoming elections (Seth's friend Sol, played by John Hawkes, is conducting a fairly clueless yet preordained-for-victory campaign for mayor).
Yet Swearengen hardly embraces the town's evolution. "(Expletive) the (expletivin') elections," Al says with what passes, for him, as misty nostalgia; "Let the camp return to its former repute."
Swearengen and Hearst's brutally elemental battle for codifying power ratchets up as the season progresses, culminating in an exhaustingly protracted and shockingly graphic five-minute fist fight between the two's henchmen bodyguards in episode five. You've been warned.
Elsewhere in Deadwood, Brian Cox comes to town playing a theatrical producer interested in bringing a little culture to the place (good luck with that). Alma (Molly Parker) follows tragedy with triumph when she finally opens her bank. Hearst has a particularly decisive way of dealing with employees seeking to unionize.
And Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert) bests her fog of alcoholism just long enough to provide a history lesson on her time with George Custer for Martha Bullock's (Anna Gunn) schoolchildren.
Naturally, what has drawn much just attention to the series is the dialogue, which Milch and his writers have crafted in epigrammatic rhythms landing somewhere between Shakespeare and the Old Testament and alternately seethes and crackles. "Tell your god to ready for blood" is the battle cry when Swearegen and Heart's war escalates.
In a calmer exchange between the two, Al asks George, "You ain't the center of the universe?"
"No, sir," Hearst immodestly replies, which leads to Swearengen's arch rejoinder: "Don't that lead you to despair?"
http://www.dailynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3919879
TV Reviews
Laughs stop before HBO's comedies do
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Critic June 11, 2006
As season three of "Entourage" opens, "Aquaman" — the movie that promises to transform Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) from B-lister to megastar — is opening nationwide imminently. Through the three episodes of the series that HBO made available for review, we discover the film's box-office fate, but what we don't learn is whether "Aquaman" is actually any good or not.
There's no audience reaction at the premiere, nor any mention of the film's reviews, nor is the Valley audience with whom Vince and his hangers-on watch the movie on its opening weekend allowed to offer any opinion.
This could be because the show's writers are being coy, or because the real-life James Cameron — portraying the fictitious James Cameron, director of "Aquaman" — played along with the producers and they didn't want to suggest he made a junky movie.
Or it could be yet another industry-insider joke in a series chockablock with them — whether the movie is good or awful is irrelevant; it's all about the box office, baby.
"Entourage" kicks off a most curious block of comedies debuting on HBO tonight — its sleek polish segues into the lowbrow posturing of comedian Louis C.K.'s sitcom deconstruction "Lucky Louie," which will find favor mainly with nonreligious fans of "Blue Collar TV." That, in turn, gives way to the amorphous absurdities of stand-up comic Dane Cook, whose material amuses younger audiences but scarcely anyone over, say, 30.
So the evening lacks what broadcasters would call "flow." Or, more to the point, it's almost pathologically schizophrenic.
Back to "Entourage" for a moment. As Vince threatens to blow up big-time, the show itself has assumed a becoming modesty. In tonight's episode, Vince beseeches his neurotic mother (Mercedes Ruehl) to fly in to be his date for his potential blockbuster's premiere. Next week, an unfortunate series of events directs Vince and the gang to a high-school graduation party in Northridge, where they give a boost of self-confidence to the class nerds. After spending the entire episode railing against the lowly San Fernando Valley, Vince's brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), begrudgingly admits the place ain't so bad.
And in the third episode, a caustic buddy from the gang's past reappears, threatening rifts in the close-knit pack of horndogs.
Even Ari (Jeremy Piven), Vince's evil-genius agent, cavorts with less vitriolic swagger than usual.
Why HBO thinks "Entourage's" fan base will likewise embrace "Lucky Louie" is anyone's guess. Louis C.K. — who has written for Conan O'Brien and Chris Rock and is a decent stand-up in his own right — has reimagined "The Honeymooners" as a vehicle for masturbation jokes.
But rather than parody the sitcom, he's stripped the genre of nuance: Whereas Art Carney's Ed Norton worked in New York's sewer system, here, that's where everyone's mind is. Studio audiences guffaw every time characters say naughty words or express naughty thoughts or engage in naughty activities.
"Lucky Louie" opens with a typical sitcom moment — a beleaguered dad (C.K.) sits with his eternally curious daughter, who challenges his every statement with a plaintive "Why?" After a protracted sequence, an exasperated Louie blurts out, "Because God is dead and we're alone," satisfying her inquisition but, nonetheless, seeming a long way to go for that mild laugh.
Moreover, the show's writers are unburdened by the notion of character development. Tonight, Louie and wife Kim (Pamela Adlon) haven't had sex for months; next week, they're upon one another like ferrets. Tonight, Louie's pot-dealing pal is divorced; in a future episode, Louie tells him, "If you ever get married ..."
The show's plots and performances ape particularly lame sitcoms — some moments are genuinely embarrassing — which means the only real "joke" is that the studio audience is laughing at such rote material.
HBO declares the show to be "the end of the sitcom as you know it," but does so with a pride that the show itself does not merit.
After that comes "Dane Cook's Tourgasm," a lazy, home-movie-type show focusing on people who are clearly confident that they're far more inherently interesting than they actually are. Comics are needy types in the first place, so those Cook — who comes off as an affable guy if not a particularly incisive comedian — has recruited are particularly adept at mugging desperately for the cameras.
For his comedy tour, Cook brought three other stand-up pals along for the ride. Only one, Gary Gulman, betrays any talent; the brief glimpses of his live performances are uniformly entertaining.
The other two just seem like jerks — Bobby Kelly is fairly hostile; Jay Davis is pretty whiny. The series follows the guys as they reconnoiter the country, with staged bits (scooter races, horse rides, faux-rock climbs) added to alleviate their tour-bus claustrophobia and to wring some vestige of "drama" from the proceedings.
"Years down the line, I'm gonna look at this and it's going to be very close to my heart," Cook explicates earnestly. Well, that makes one of us.
http://www.dailynews.com/tv/ci_3919863
The Emmy Awards
New rules should reward most deserving shows
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Sun, Jun. 11, 2006
At the risk of incurring the wrath of ``Boston Legal'' fans everywhere, let me suggest that James Spader is the poster child for what's wrong with the Emmy awards.
True, Spader is a splendid actor with a delightful quirky sense of comic timing. His performances as ethically challenged attorney Alan Shore are solid pieces of work, deserving of admiration.
But for the past two Emmy seasons, Spader has managed to take home the award for best actor in a drama, even though the field for 2004 included James Gandolfini of ``The Sopranos'' and last year included Ian McShane (``Deadwood'') and Hugh Laurie (``House''). Given the competition, it's even surprising that Spader scored nominations.
It ain't right, folks -- and it appears the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences finally has figured out that it should try to do something about such embarrassments.
So, it has introduced some major rules changes that it hopes will lead to fewer shows and actors making it when academy members vote for them because of reputation, ratings success or simply out of habit. The hope is that some love finally will be given to shows unjustly ignored because of low viewership (i.e. UPN's ``Veronica Mars'') or because Emmy voters aren't part of their core audience (the WB's ``Gilmore Girls'') or for simple lack of clout within the academy (anything on cable's FX).
The way the new system works: Emmy voters will continue to cast ballots for nominees in the best drama, best comedy and lead actor and actress categories. But instead of the top five finishers automatically making up the field, the top 15 choices in the popular vote will go to blue-ribbon panels, which then will pick the final nominees.
``This voting initiative hits the issue of a narrow nominations process head-on,'' academy chairman and CEO Dick Askin said earlier this year, ``and significantly increases the potential for the widest and most diverse selection of nominees possible.''
Whether the new system will cure at least some of the Emmy awards' ills won't be known until the nominations are announced on July 6. Certainly, it won't fix the supporting actor categories (which will operate under the old system) and the fact that the vote is based on a limited number of episodes, not a full season of work.
But the general consensus within TV world is that the retooling could lead to recognition for such actors as Lauren Graham (whose work on ``Gilmore Girls'' should have gotten a nomination years ago) and such series as FX's ``Rescue Me'' (ditto). At the very least, it will add an element of unpredictability to a process that has been mired in a rut for years.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/
TV Notebook
4 women turn to the cameras to find love
By Mike Duffy Detroit Free Press TV Critic June 8, 2006
Love will find a way to give us summertime guilty pleasure.
And "How to Get the Guy" -- a new dates 'n' search for soul mates reality show -- gives it a whirl when it premieres at 10 PM ET/PT Monday on ABC.
The slick, unscripted series follows the relationship odyssey of four young, attractive and available San Francisco women as they try to shape their own true love destinies.
Our pilgrims of the heart include Alissa ("the dreamer"), Anne ("the girl next door"), Kris ("the party girl") and Michelle ("the career girl"). Before setting off on their soul mate safari, the women are given dating and mating tips from two "love coaches": chatty writer Teresa Strasser and TV host/infotainer JD Roberto.
For instance, they counsel shy Anne on how to "drop the hanky," code language for flirting and making eye contact. We observe Anne trying to do exactly that, sometimes awkwardly, in Bay Area stores.
With cameras always rolling, how real or romantic could it all be?
ABC slyly winks at the notion by describing "How to Get the Guy" as a "docu-soap." So think of it as a chick flick with real people; or at least the sort of real people who are willing to go looking for love and undergo relationship therapy on national TV.
For the MySpace.com generation, it's all just self-actualizing rock 'n' roll anyway.
Personal lives lived on camera? No biggie.
Looking for love on national television? Whatever.
Now all ABC has to find out is whether "How to Get the Guy" knows how to get the ratings.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060608/ENT03/606080414/1038&template=printart
TV Notebook
New Emmy System Could Give Sleepers a Chance
By Tom O'Neil, Special to The Los Angeles Times June 10, 2006
Don't expect the Emmy Awards to look like a TV rerun again this year. Although favorite, high-rated nominees usually return year after year, there's a new voting system that aims to boost the chances of low-rated snubees in the top series and acting categories.
This week, ballots were shipped to members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as usual, but when they're returned by June 20, they won't determine the final five nominees in all categories as they have in years past. New judging panels will convene at the academy's offices in North Hollywood on June 24 and 25 to do that job (as panels have done for years in other award categories) after weighing sample episodes submitted by the top 15 vote-getters among rivals for best lead actor and actress in a series and top 10 finalists for best comedy and drama. Academy members overall usually favor the most popular contenders as measured by Nielsen ratings or industry buzz.
"Up till now the Emmys have been a broadcast TV and HBO world," says Ray Richmond, Emmy writer for the Hollywood Reporter. "In order for the Emmys to be taken seriously, they need to recognize the more cutting-edge programs on the WB, FX, UPN and Showtime networks. What's an Emmy worth if someone like Lauren Graham from 'Gilmore Girls' can't be nominated?"
Five years ago, the Television Critics of America voted "Gilmore Girls" the best new program of the year. Since then it has given the show six more nominations, including two shots at best actress for Graham, but it's only received one Emmy bid — for best makeup in 2004, which it won. That's the only Emmy the WB has ever received out of its four nominations, none higher up than the guest-acting categories.
Now many Emmy-watchers believe "Gilmore Girls" and Graham have a good chance to make the finalists' lists. In past years, when the Emmy process employed judging panels to choose winners, it helped to rescue low-rated programs lucky enough to get nominated, such as "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "Cagney & Lacey" and "All in the Family."
This year there may finally be recognition for these often overlooked shows and stars in the series and acting races: "Battlestar Galactica" (Edward James Olmos), "Rescue Me" (Denis Leary) and "Veronica Mars" (Kristen Bell). Michael Chiklis won best drama actor in 2002, but "The Shield" has never been up for best series.
Among low-rated and even canceled new shows and the stars that could benefit: "The Comeback" (Lisa Kudrow), "Commander in Chief" (Geena Davis), "Everybody Hates Chris" (Tyler James Williams, Tichina Arnold), "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and "Weeds" (Mary-Louise Parker).
Other rookies might also make the cut, but they might have done so under the old system, considering their better ratings and buzz: "Big Love" (Bill Paxton), "The Closer" (Kyra Sedgwick), "My Name Is Earl" (Jason Lee), "The Office" (Steve Carell) and "Prison Break" (Wentworth Miller).
TV critics are rooting hardest for such underdogs as "Battlestar Galactica," now in its second season on the Sci-Fi Channel.
"We've been championing it from the beginning and really hope it gets lots of Emmy love," says TVGuide.com senior editor Michael Ausiello.
"The Emmys need to acknowledge the cool kids like Denis Leary, Kristen Bell and Mary-Louise Parker," adds Richmond. "They need to pay attention to the stars and shows that TV critics care about."
Those include the five nominees for best new show at the Television Critics of America Awards, which will be bestowed in July: "Big Love," "The Colbert Report," "Everybody Hates Chris," "My Name Is Earl" and "Prison Break." Nominees for individual achievement awards include Kyra Sedgwick, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jason Lee and, of course, Lauren Graham.
"The new Emmy voting change is good," adds Ausiello, "because the old system created embarrassing situations like last year when 'Will & Grace' had one of its weakest seasons, but ended up with the most nominations among comedy series. That reflects very badly on the Emmys."
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/la-et-emmys10jun10,0,3305396,print.story?coll=env-home-headlines
TV Notebook
New faces of fall's TV lineup have wrinkles
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist June 11, 2006
Here's a new wrinkle for you: Old is becoming TV's hot new thing.
At age 59, James Woods will be starring this fall in his first weekly television series , playing a hotshot attorney who doesn't play by the rules while teaching a bunch of hotshot novices how to play to win in CBS' "Shark."
Another new cutthroat TV lawyer will be Victor Garber, 57, as the lead in Fox's "Justice," a step up from his supporting role on "Alias."
Ted Danson, who was a more prototypical lead when "Cheers" made its debut 24 years ago, is now 58 and set to be the star of the ABC group therapy comedy "Help Me Help You."
Then there's NBC's "Twenty Good Years," a comedy starring John Lithgow, 60, and Jeffrey Tambor, 61, as longtime friends who realize they're heading into the home stretch of their lives and want to have some fun before they hit the finish line.
It wasn't that long ago that old TV acquaintances were forgotten and never brought to mind--save for reunion shows, retrospectives and "60 Minutes." That is starting to change.
Maybe it's because there's a move in some industry circles to push advertisers toward older viewers than the 18- to 49-year-olds over which marketers have long obsessed.
"Young people may be cool and exciting, but they don't have the money," Ken Dychtwald told a Chicago audience earlier this year. Dychtwald is a Baby Boom generation expert enlisted by cable nostalgia channel TV Land to make the case for what they tout as "the new power demographic" of viewers age 40 to 59. In any case, with overall viewership threatened by younger viewers replacing their parents' addiction to the tube with surfing the Internet, playing video games and text messaging, it behooves the networks to cast a wider net.
Shows built around older characters once were a TV staple, but that changed in the 1990s with the success of "Friends," a series that CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves (who helped develop it as a studio exec at Warner Bros.) has often said "changed the face of television."
It changed the faces, too.
Almost overnight, "Golden Girls" were devalued in an environment more welcoming of "Son" than "Sanford."
NBC's "Law & Order," set to enter its 17th season, has been and continues to be one of the exceptions. Though it's getting rid of cast member Dennis Farina, 62, it still has Sam Waterston, 65, and Fred Thompson, 63.
The success of reality shows, such as "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race," showcasing characters ranging from students to senior citizens has helped change the perception of what viewers of all ages will accept.
Recent years have seen the inclusion of James Caan, 66, on NBC's "Las Vegas" and William Shatner, 75, on ABC's "Boston Legal," to say nothing of Shatner's castmate, Candice Bergen, who is a fabulous-looking 60.
We're now seeing on-air personalities such as "American Idol" champ Taylor Hicks and CNN's Anderson Cooper, who once might have been sent to a salon for requisite dye jobs, actually celebrating their prematurely gray `dos.'
Much already has been made of the fact that when ABC News decided to replace Elizabeth Vargas, 43, as its weeknight newscaster, it turned to Charles Gibson, 20 years her senior.
When NBC needed a replacement for Katie Couric, 49, it went with Meredith Vieira, 52. "The CBS Evening News" with Bob Schieffer, 68, has been the only nightly network newscast to add viewers this past season.
But the news always has been one place on TV where talent doesn't come stamped with expiration dates. It wasn't that long ago that AARP-eligible Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw held down the top jobs at their respective networks. Lines on the face and a touch of gray are welcome. Without retirement age correspondents, "60 Minutes" would have trouble filling an hour each week.
But in prime-time dramas and comedies, the guiding philosophy has tended to be beauty before age, especially among series leads.
If Diane Keaton, 60, soon will be doing ads for L'Oreal Paris and her fellow sexagenarians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards can continue to draw sold-out stadium and arena crowds with their old-time rock 'n' roll, why should prime time be off-limits to those in the prime of their lives?
Speaking of Jagger, 62, he'll have a recurring role this fall as the potential mark in the ABC sitcom, "Let's Rob . . . "
Like so many others of a certain age this coming season, time is on his side.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0606110354jun11,0,1405212,print.column
TV Notebook
Professor's Book Finds Clues Hidden In TV's 'Lost'
By Walt Belcher Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - On the night that "Lost" introduced a character named Henry Gale, Lynnette Porter was watching the ABC drama as usual - with her laptop computer up and running full bore.
Making notes and keeping in touch with fellow "Lost" fanatics, Porter fired off a message.
She sought confirmation that Henry Gale was a character in "The Wizard of Oz."
In "Oz," Henry Gale is the kindly farmer and uncle of Dorothy Gale, the lass who goes over the rainbow to a strange land.
"It was a little thrill to discover that connection and ponder if it meant anything," said Porter, co-author of "Unlocking the Meaning of Lost: An Unauthorized Guide."
"Lost," like "Oz," also involves a strange land where characters could be metaphors for other things, she said in a recent telephone interview.
The "Lost" Henry Gale (Michael Emerson) may not be a kindly uncle, but he did fabricate a story about arriving on the island in a hot-air ballon.
In "The Wizard of Oz," the wizard turned out to be a trickster from Kansas who arrived in the Emerald City when his hot-air ballon went astray.
"Are these clues to solving the mystery and meaning of 'Lost'?" Porter said.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the fun is in the discovery and the speculation. It's the most layered series ever produced for television."
Where's Cigarette Man?
Many of those layers are sorted and explained in Porter's book, which was published in May by Sourcebooks Inc.
Not since "The X-Files" has there been a series with such a devoted following or such a perplexing mythology.
While "Lost" can be viewed and enjoyed as a mystery-adventure thriller, it also offers an intellectual exercise for the fans who analyze every episode.
Everything from the background music to characters' names to book titles and cultural references is fodder for the devotees.
There are even Web sites that translate "whispers" supposedly laid into the soundtrack.
"Lost" producers feed the process by planting symbolism, metaphors and clues in each episode.
The producers also have created numerous fictional Web sites spun off from the series that tease viewers with information that may or may not be useful in solving the puzzle.
Get To Know Characters
"Unlocking the Meaning of Lost" could be used as a primer for the casual fan who wants to dig deeper into the series or just keep up at the water cooler.
Porter was in Tampa recently to attend a "Lost" finale watching party in St. Petersburg sponsored by ABC affiliate WFTS, Channel 28.
Her guidebook was co-authored by David Lavery, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University.
The book covers the characters and their backgrounds, backgrounds on the series creators and writers and various theories about the unsolved mysteries of the series.
For those who haven't been paying attention, "Lost" follows the survivors of Sydney-to-Los Angeles Flight 815, which broke apart and crashed on a tropical island.
Cut off from civilization, the survivors have faced strange things including a polar bear; a landlocked pirate ship; a bunker furnished with food supplies, running water and electricity; a strange black cloud; a Frenchwoman who has been stranded there 16 years; an unexplained "monster"; and menacing inhabitants called "The Others."
Meanwhile, there seem to be some sort of mind-control and electromagnetic experiments taking place.
The series also involves romantic tension among some characters such as Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway). It also explores themes of redemption, good versus evil, and random fate versus predestination.
Prompting Discussion
Porter, an associate professor of humanities and communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, said she was hooked on the series from the outset.
"When you have characters named Locke and Rousseau, obviously named after philosophers, well that is something different," she said.
"I decided to write a book early on because there was so much there to be explored," she added. "The series raises questions about spiritualism, technology and human behavior."
Viewers have various theories about what has happened to the castaways - from being pawns in a corporate experiment to being kidnapped by aliens.
Others suggest they are all dead and stuck in some kind of "Twilight Zone" purgatory.
A survey of fans found 35 percent spend up to two hours a week viewing, researching and talking about the series, Porter said.
Many spend nearly a dozen hours a week on "Lost" activities, she said. These include visiting Web sites, writing and reading blogs, engaging in online chats and reading articles about the series.
"The wonderful thing for me as an educator is that it is introducing people to literature," Porter said. "When a character on the series picks up a book, it sends millions to libraries or bookstores."
Books mentioned on the series include "Watership Down," Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend," Henry James' "Turn of the Screw," "The Third Policeman" and "A Wrinkle in Time."
Porter, who did not interview any of the cast members or production crew, said her book doesn't take a position on any of the theories.
The book does not answer any of the myriad unsolved questions. It just puts all the questions into perspective, Porter said.
"It's an overall guide to what has happened during the first season and nine episodes into the second season," she said.
A second book, covering the remainder of the second season and the first half of the third season, is in the works for next spring.
"That is when we will address the Henry Gale character and other things that happened on and off the island," she said.
http://www.tbo.com/entertainment/tv/MGBYC2J76OE.html
Critic’s Notebook
TNT Takes a Gamble With Complex “Saved”
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star Sun, Jun. 11, 2006
“Saved,” a new drama airing at 10 PM ET Monday on TNT, stars Tom Everett Scott as an emergency medical worker who makes a demanding job look easy.
In his mind, it is, compared with battling the demons that drive him to the poker table for nights of high-stakes action in between shifts.
Scott is good, the writing sings out in that stage-play kind of way, and with a high-quality show like “The Closer” as its lead-in, there’s a good chance “Saved” will find an audience.
“Oh, you mean as opposed to having ‘Wheel of Fortune’ as my lead-in?” jokes the show’s creator, David Manson.
Manson, you see, worked on another show once: “Nothing Sacred,” the heaven-sent drama about a conflicted priest, played by Kevin Anderson, who presided over a struggling urban parish. Manson co-created that series in 1997, but it never stood a chance when ABC put it on at 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Let’s just say the “Wheel” audience was looking for something a little lighter.
Also, a Catholic group faxed the show’s sponsors nonstop, claiming “Nothing Sacred” defamed the church. In reality, it made the church seem more real and credible to watch people struggling with their faith even while performing the sacraments. (Here’s a divine mystery: why “Nothing Sacred” still isn’t on DVD.)
On “Saved,” Scott plays Wyatt Cole, a Portland, Ore., paramedic who’s really good at what he does (as we see several times each hour). But he has resisted letting his talent take him higher up the food chain — namely, to medical school, where he’d finally please his famous doctor dad (played by David Clennon) and maybe woo back his ambitious ex-girlfriend, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser).
But first Wyatt needs to settle a $10,000 gambling debt. And all the while never let people see what’s eating him.
“That’s the key to the character,” Scott said in an interview. “This guy is never going to let people see him vulnerable.”
After “Nothing Sacred” died, Manson went back to films. Now, with edgier cable shows being rolled out, he’s getting work on TV again. The creators of HBO’s “Big Love,” that Mormon polygamy soap opera, called on him to help get the show off the ground. Same story with “Thief,” the FX miniseries with Andre Braugher as a burglar trying to live a double life as a responsible stepdad.
Americans are “not particularly hospitable to notions of complexity. They like things simple. They like their faith simple, and they like their characters unambiguous. But when you look at shows like ‘The Wire,’ ‘The Shield,’ ‘Nip/Tuck,’ ‘The Closer,’ these shows have characters who are rich and dimensional,” Manson said.
And lately TV has taken an interest in people going through some kind of spiritual crisis. Which Manson likes, even though he grew up Reform Jewish and now says he’s agnostic. “I seem to have a fascination for people who have chosen a path that is deeply influenced by religion. Perhaps because I see it as something missing in my own life.”
“Saved” and “The Closer” will both air commercial-free Monday night.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/columnists/aaron_barnhart/14774545.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Critic’s Notebook
Risque HBO shows flying in a no-kid zone
By Susan Young Oakland Tribune 6/11/2006
When HBO programs an evening of adult entertainment, lock the doors. Don't let the kids near the TV set. And then sit down and enjoy yourself.
The cable network busts out a new lineup tonight with shows that could make Morality in the Media members turn to salt pillars with just a casual glance.
On Wednesday, Congress passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which will boost fines for violations from $32,000 to $325,000 once the president signs the bill. This only affects broadcast networks and stations, making cable the last bastion of indecency.
Tonight's lineup of new and returning shows certainly runs the gamut from naughty boy fun on "Entourage" to extreme language and sexual situations in "Deadwood" and the new "Lucky Louie," an adult comedy that could make Richard Pryor blush.
First up is "Deadwood," returning for its third and final season at 9 tonight on HBO — although there will be two, two-hour movies after this 12-episode season wraps.
Let's first sing the praises of "Deadwood," the winner of Emmys, Peabodys and Golden Globes. Based on the brash history of this South Dakota western town, creator David Milch ("NYPD Blue") uses historic characters and gritty photography to evoke the spirit of the West. His characters are finely drawn and blessed by the considerable talents of the actors.
But it is the language of "Deadwood" that has received most of the attention.
Profanity runs as rampant as the violence in this god-forsaken place, and the dialogue is written in almost Shakespearian tones. You don't walk away from this show to check on the laundry. It requires full viewer attention. At first, the flowery language can be off-putting, but after a fairly short time you fall into the rhythm and beauty of it.
In a set visit last July, creator Milch once again defended both the profanity and the difficult language in his scripts as being true to the times. But several of his actors confided that trying to learn their lines was like preparing for a Shakespearian play — except they didn't have to worry about Shakespeare coming back right before a scene was to be shot with new material to learn.
One actress even admitted that she gets so involved in just learning the lines that she often doesn't even know what she said. "It's confusing even to us at times," the wishes-to-remain-nameless actress admitted.
That doesn't seem to be as much of a problem this season. While retaining the beauty of the language, the new episodes seem much easier to grasp. Or perhaps we're just getting used to it.
Tonight's episode is nothing short of exquisite as the town prepares for its first official elections for mayor and sheriff. Current Sheriff Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) looks to retain his post, with his friend and business partner Sol Star (John Hawkes) taking over as mayor from the creepy E.B. Farnum (William Sanderson).
For those who haven't kept up with "Deadwood," both seasons are out on DVD.
'Entourage'
"Deadwood" is followed on a lighter note by the return of the hilarious comedy "Entourage" at 10 tonight. The series, about a young, hot actor and his pals from back home who keep him semi-grounded, takes dead aim at Hollywood. We'll be forever grateful for "Entourage" bringing us such treats as "hugging it out."
Although you don't need to see the previous two seasons to enjoy this series, you'll want to take a look back. The DVD sets for both seasons are currently available.
After "Entourage" are the premieres of two new HBO shows, "Lucky Louie" and the reality series "Tourgasm."
"Lucky Louie" could be just as funny without the pervasive use of filthy language, but then it wouldn't be an HBO show.
Louis C.K, an Emmy-award winning writer for "The Chris Rock Show," created and stars in this series about a hapless working class guy who is married with one young daughter. Wife Kim (Pamela Adlon) puts in long hours as a licensed vocational nurse — and the main breadwinner — while Louie works at the local muffler shop.
Louie reflects life in the blue-collar lane, where bills are overwhelming and folks are just trying to get by. He lives in an apartment building and is trying to become a good neighbor to the African-American couple who just moved there with their young children. So he invites them to his daughter's birthday party.
They give her a black Barbie, which incites daughter Lucy (Kelly Gould) into a tantrum as she flings the doll saying, "I don't want a black Barbie."
Ouch.
Louie and Kim are humiliated. It's an awkward situation that just keeps getting worse as Louie tries to make it right between his family and neighbors Walter (Jerry Minor) and Ellen (Kim Hawthorne).
The other story line has Kim trying to get pregnant by any means necessary.
But while "Lucky Louie" at least has some really funny moments amid the soft porn, "Dane Cook's Tourgasm," which airs at 11 tonight on HBO, is just plain boring.
Follow Cook, who apparently is the hottest comic in America, on his road trip to various venues with fellow stand-ups Gary Gulman, Jay Davis and Robert Kelly. First stop is Sonoma State.
These four try way too hard to be cutting edge and funny in their antics. I'll admit that I barely got through the first episode, which airs tonight, and I fell asleep during the second episode.
Not a good sign.
USA brings back 'The 4400'
Despite those who wish to resurrect it, ABC's "Invasion" is dead in the water. Cast and crew have moved on to other projects and you just have to let it go.
So to salve those open wounds, you might try checking out "The 4400," which returns for a third season at 9 tonight on USA.
The series stars former Hayward resident Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as one of 4,400 people who were abducted by aliens over the decades. They were all returned to earth, and we've spent the last two years trying to figure out what's up with them and if they present a threat to their fellow humans.
These people have certain powers, and at the end of last season it was revealed that their powers have been controlled by the government through medications that resulted in some deaths.
Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie return as federal agents Tom and Diana, who are trying to help the 4,400 while protecting the general population. To catch up on the episodes, you can tune in to "The 4400 Marathon: The Essential Episodes" from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Pacific Time) today.
Or you can just get the DVDs of the past two seasons and watch them at your leisure. In either case, sci fi fans are in for a treat.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3925357
RussTC3
06-11-06, 03:22 PM
Judging by some of those articles it seems like TV Guide is really pushing for BSG to get a few nods.
If you asked me a few months ago what the chances were for BSG to get any Emmy nods I would have said zero. Now it seems like it'll be a disappointment if it doesn't get anything.
I now wouldn't be surprised if it gets three nods; Best Drama, Best Actor (Olmos) and possibly Best Actress (McDonnell).
Olmos now seems like the most possible of the three (probably taking the place of Spader).
Like I touched upon earlier, I think McDonnell was terrible this year, and the show is a shadow of its former pre S2 self. Olmos was excellent as usual, and the show actually suffered some when he was out of commission during the beginning of the season. He is the show. I don't think it would work without him.
But Ausiello and Roush seem to be REALLY pushing the show, and that might be just enough to get it a few nominations.
I agree that they are pushing it -- I am just not sure how many of the TV Academy voters actually read TV Guide -- especially online.
But we'll see.
TV Review
TNT's 'Saved' and 'The Closer'
Heroes With Tics, Flaws and Trouble at Home
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times June 12, 2006
"Saved," (10 PM ET Monday) a new TNT drama about paramedics, has something rarely seen on television or in movies: a handsome young hero with bad teeth. It's an admirable attempt at realism in an era when even drug dealers and serial killers have smiles as bleached and bright as bathroom tile.
Like "The Closer," (9 PM ET Monday) a TNT police drama about a prickly female homicide detective that returns for a second season, "Saved" fills a gap between "Law & Order" (NBC) and "CSI" (CBS) and rougher cable offerings like "The Shield" or "Rescue Me" on FX.
In "Saved," which has its premiere tonight, Wyatt Cole (Tom Everett Scott) is a medical school dropout with a gambling problem (and poor oral hygiene), but he's not a coarse, corrupt policeman or a middle-aged, emotionally frayed fireman. He is a confused young man who hates pressure from his wealthy, snobbish family but loves the adrenalin and life-and-death stakes of his job as a paramedic.
And that puts him on about the same moral plane as Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), who on "The Closer" brings more personal tics and back story to her job than most network police detectives but is nevertheless a stand-up heroine. Her worst sins are a complicated love life, brusque manners and an addiction to sweets. (Though you couldn't tell from her teeth.)
A crime series is one of the easiest genres to put on the air and the hardest to pull off well. It requires a fresh, jarring approach to the comfortingly familiar.
"The Closer," for example, works because it recasts a classic television archetype — the Columbo-style detective — along modern, feminist lines. Brenda is known as the closer because her unusually personal, intuitive interrogation style always seems to elicit a confession. Her office manner is rude and abrasive until it suits her to turn syrupy and solicitous, and part of her charm is that she is so easily disliked.
In the new season, beginning tonight, she is more accepted by her subordinates and peers than she was when transferred from Atlanta to Los Angeles to head up a special high-profile crimes unit; it took a while for them to accept her bossy ways and Southern wiles. But the first case — a Los Angeles police officer is found dead next to the body of a major drug dealer — brings Brenda a fresh wave of resentment from the dead officer's comrades, who are angered by her handling of the investigation.
Ms. Sedgwick's Southern accent is unconvincing, but her character overcomes that distraction: she is a complicated single woman who uses her own neuroses to deconstruct suspects' behavior and motives. In every episode, she fishes out a personal weakness that escapes her male colleagues. She is also a single woman who once had an affair with her married boss, Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J. K. Simmons), and is skittish about commitment to her latest boyfriend, Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), an F.B.I. agent.
"Saved" is a medical show not a police thriller, and cards not candy are the protagonist's weakness, but Wyatt is supposed to have the same kind of flawed but endearing personality as Brenda.
He is first seen at a high-stakes poker table, where his smart-aleck style lands him in a fistfight so fierce his opponent requires emergency care. "I am 911," he says while examining the wound he just inflicted.
The series has an interesting gimmick: each new case is introduced by a brief, grainy flashback that shows, in a quick montage of images, what led to the emergency call. (A heart attack victim is shown overeating after a love affair and later collapsing on the stairs.)
But Wyatt's story falls together a little too neatly. He is the charming black-sheep son of a prominent doctor and still has a thing for his old girlfriend, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser), who is dating a more reliable doctor. His best friend, Sack (Omari Hardwick), his partner in the ambulance, is a divorced father.
The episodes focus as much on their troubled personal lives as on the lives they try to save. Wyatt is a more conventional television protagonist than Brenda, but "Saved," like "The Closer," seeks a new way into oft-told stories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/arts/television/12save.html?pagewanted=print
Washington Notebook
Stevens Modifies Telecom Bill
Cable RSNs would be made available to Satellite
By Ted Hearn Multichannel.com 6/11/2006
Phone companies could enter cable markets within 90 days under streamlined franchising rules and cable incumbents could opt in to the new licensing regime when existing agreements expire or when phone companies arrive in the market, according to new telecommunications draft legislation from Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) obtained by Multichannel News.
On network neutrality, the new 151-page bill is no different from the original (S. 2686) released May 1. It would require the Federal Communications Commission to study the Internet market and file annual reports to Congress over a five-year period.
Stevens is holding a hearing Tuesday on his Communications, Consumer's Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006. He hopes to vote it out of committee June 20 despite strong opposition by Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) -- the panel's top Democrat -- to the net-neutrality language.
Last Thursday, the House approved a cable-franchise bill that would let phone companies enter new markets within 30 days and that vests the FCC with authority to police discriminatory conduct by broadband-access providers. But net-neutrality proponents consider the House bill insufficient.
With regard to cable franchising, Stevens altered his position some in response to concerns by local officials. His original bill would have allowed AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to begin offering video service within 30 days.
Local governments won another change: Stevens modified his bill so that a video provider using the new franchising process would have to pay franchise fees based on a definition of gross revenue that includes commissions paid by home shopping channels. Cities argued that the original bill would have cut franchise fees by up to 20%.
While Stevens would not impose video-buildout requirements on phone companies, he would expose them to penalities for denial of service based on a group's income, race or religion. But phone companies could cite commercial infeasibility to defend against red-lining charges.
Under the Stevens bill, local governments would be required to use a simplified franchising procedure crafted by the FCC, in a concession to phone-company concerns that current local franchising system is long, tedious and a barrier to competition.
On program access, the Stevens bill would immediately close the so-called terrestrial loophole, which allows cable operators to withhold terrestrially delivered affiliated program from competing pay TV distributors. That provision is aimed at forcing Comcast Corp. to sell Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to competitors.
Stevens would also allow satellite carriers to file FCC complaints to gain access to regional sports programming not owned by cable operators but distributed exclusively by undefined "dominant" cable operators. But in a change made to the first Stevens bill, cable operators could not demand access to NFL Sunday Ticket, the National Football League's out-of-market package, to which DirecTV Inc. has exclusive rights.
On carriage of digital-TV stations, the draft bill was unchanged in requiring high-capacity cable operators, until Feb. 17, 2014, to ensure that the digital-TV signals of stations electing must-carry can be viewed on analog- and digital-TV sets. Signal downcoversion from digital to analog and from HD to standard definition is permitted at the cable headend.
Stevens added similar downconversion authority for satellite carriers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications Corp.
TV Notebook
Sedgwick savors her complex 'Closer' role
By Bill Keveney USA Today 6/11/2006
LOS ANGELES — Brenda Johnson, the police interrogator at the center of TNT's The Closer, is anything but simple, which is what persuaded Kyra Sedgwick to join the TV character in a transcontinental move.
The New Yorker plays an Atlantan transplanted to Los Angeles to become deputy chief of the L.A. police department. Johnson, an outsider whose politeness belies a steely professional resolve, spent The Closer's first season winning over her elite homicide division. As the second season premieres (tonight, 9 ET/PT), the unit bumps heads with the entire department.
Johnson's off-duty idiosyncrasies — messy relationships, a battle with her sweet tooth — contrast with her professional skills, which makes her appealing to Sedgwick and, she says, presumably viewers. The Closer finished its first season as cable's most-watched new series.
"She's not what you would expect," Sedgwick says over coffee at the start of one of her many long workdays. "I think we've created something really special, someone people can relate to."
Johnson represents a newer generation of professional women on TV, characters who can be skilled and confident in fields populated mostly by men without abandoning their femininity. The interrogator shows her greatest skill in the claustrophobic "murder room," where she can go instantly from amiable to antagonistic to extract a confession.
"I love that she's very much a woman and she doesn't apologize for her power. She wears skirts, she doesn't wear pants. She's very female and secure enough that she doesn't have to act like a man," says Sedgwick, 40.
This season also delves into Johnson's disorganized personal life, with a visit by her mother (Frances Sternhagen), a potential love triangle with her FBI agent boyfriend (Jon Tenney) and her boss and former paramour (J.K. Simmons), and a possible pregnancy.
When casting, executive producer James Duff initially didn't focus on Sedgwick, known primarily for movie roles (Something to Talk About, Phenomenon, TNT's Door to Door), because the role would require substantial time away from her husband, Kevin Bacon, and her family on the East Coast. Her feelings about temporary relocation changed when she saw the rich possibilities of Johnson, he says.
Duff, whose mother's Mississippi upbringing influenced Johnson's Southern nature, wanted to portray a character who defied the entertainment stereotype that "rarely is the person with the Southern accent the smartest in the room." Sedgwick is a New Yorker, but her skills have allowed her to become Johnson, he says. "She's a fantastic actress. Every part of her is in that performance."
The support of Bacon, who took a break from his acting schedule last season to be "a little bit of a stay-at-home dad" to Travis, 16, and Sosie, 14, made the series commitment possible, Sedgwick says.
Although acting means separation, it also has brought the family together. Loverboy, which opens June 16, was directed by Bacon and features Sedgwick and their teens.
Sedgwick says The Closer might have slipped a little too far into comic elements in one or two first-season episodes, but the drama and comedy now is balanced just right. The lighter side can be seen in Johnson's all-too-relatable battle with sweets.
"Unlike Brenda, I don't struggle with it, because I've learned to embrace it," she says, although her slim figure suggests she's more than holding her own in the fight.
She knows many others face that temptation. "I think there are very few people in America who don't look at a piec