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TV-on-DVD/Critic's Notes
'I'm Dickens... He's Fenster': The Collector's Edition
By Ed Bark, TVWorthWatching.com - Feb. 8, 2013

The title has always made me grin, and I've regularly used it as a throwaway punchline.

I'm Dickens … He's Fenster. Right up there with other short-lived sitcoms such as Holmes and Yo-Yo and Camp Runamuck.

Now it turns out that the first 16 episodes of Dickens/Fenster's only season are newly available in Volume One of a "50th Anniversary Collector's Edition."

Who knew? And the only reason I know is because the show was referenced in one of my recent tweets. And responded to by Jim Benson, congenial proprietor of tvtimemachine.com. It's the company behind the "First Time On DVD!" release of Dickens/Fenster, a three-disc set with the requisite "Bonus Features." Upon request, he sent a copy for review.

The series made ABC's fall 1962 prime-time lineup in a pretty tough Friday night slot opposite the second halves of CBS' Route 66 and NBC's Sing Along with Mitch. The latter unfortunately became a staple in our home. So as a kid I had about as much a shot of seeing Dickens/Fenster as I did Have Gun, Will Travel, which aired opposite The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights. These were primitive times, with one TV set in the house and no video recorders. And my live-in grandma, let alone my parents, weren't going to miss Mitch or Lawrence to placate their oldest boy. Bless 'em. They meant well.

The accompanying liner notes for Dickens/Fenster praise it as a before-its-time classic that rallied in the ratings too late to get beyond its 32-episode Season 1. That's right — 32 episodes compared to today's typical broadcast network order of 22 to 24 per season. And each of those episodes lasted about five minutes longer because of fewer and briefer commercial interruptions.

Dickens/Fenster starred John Astin as the married Harry Dickens and Marty Ingels as his construction worker pal and best friend Arch Dickens. Astin, now 82, went on to star in ABC's The Addams Family. Ingels, 76, went on to marry Shirley Jones of The Partridge Family fame. They're still together after 36 years.

Ingels oddly played both the elastic-faced comedy instigator and the ladies' man in Dickens/Fenster. Astin, appreciably better looking, was cast as both a worry wart and a homebody with wife Kate (the late Emmaline Henry). But that didn't stop Harry from ogling virtually every woman Arch brought to their house. In the four episodes I watched — including one with guest star Ellen Burstyn — Kate comes off as way too understanding of her husband's constant flirting. Harry often got knocked down on the job in a comedy replete with sight gags. His wife should have decked him, too. At least once.

The show's creator, Leonard Stern, wrote for The Honeymooners, The Phil Silvers Show and The Jackie Gleason Show before becoming a show-runner in his own right. His biggest hits were Get Smart and McMillan & Wife. His flops included the aforementioned Holmes and Yo-Yo.

Filmed entirely in black-and-white, Dickens/Fenster can still be amusing in spots. The "Harry the Father Image" episode includes some funny stuff with high-powered kitchen magnets. "The icebox cometh," Arch cracks after it advances on him.

Astin in particular tends to shout out his dialogue as though he's emoting in a 5,000 seat theater without any microphones. In the "Father Image" episode, he loudly tries to juggle Arch's other arriving girlfriends while his stewardess fiancee, Joan (Burstyn), is in a very nearby bedroom taking an inordinate amount of time to put on some of Harry's wife's cologne. How could she not hear him?

A later episode, "The Acting Game," includes guest star Harvey Korman as the representative of a tool company that wants to cast real-life workers in its commercials.

A clenched-up Harry just can't seem to say "Banner Hammer," instead spouting "Banana Banner." He also can't stand the thought of Arch getting the bigger part, but continues to blow his lines. "Hello, I'm Harry Work. I'm proud of my Dickens," he says climactically before fainting. Very broad and a fairly risque line for its time.

The "Bonus Features" disc includes Astin talking about some of the unintentionally painful falls he took during filming. "For many weeks I had the imprint of a hammer on my butt," he remembers.

Ingels' commentary on the first episode includes a warm remembrance of co-star Emmaline Henry, who died of brain cancer at age 50. "She was a big talent," he says of an actress whose major TV credit was a co-starring role on I Dream of Jeannie as the wife of Air Force base psychiatrist Alfred Bellows.

Ingels also marvels at his bouncy initial entrance on Dickens/Fenster while noting how crazed he was in real life.

"See that energy," he says. "That's anxiety bipolar hyperkinetic sickness."

I'm Dickens … He's Fenster never got that deep. Nor was it a classic. But it's still good for some laughs as a prime-time TV artifact that arguably deserved a longer life.

For my selfish purposes, the title alone is still the gift that keeps on giving. And the super-goofy opening theme song is also a big help. Have a listen and a look: [CLICK LINK BELOW TO SEE CLIP]

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/BlogPostDetails.aspx?postId=4267

TV Notes
Grammy show aims for high notes and high rating
By Edna Gundersen, USA Today - Feb. 8, 2013

LOS ANGELES — On Sunday night, the Staples Center stage will echo with 2012's hottest sounds, fine-tuned, reimagined or radically overhauled for the 55th Grammy Awards (CBS, 8 p.m. ET/tape delay PT).

The music industry's annual pageant of platinum hits, golden trophies and sterling performances opens with Taylor Swift's frolicsome spectacle, the show's biggest production, and wraps up with an all-star finale that tilts sharply more contemporary than last year's Abbey Road medley led by Paul McCartney.

Executive producer Ken Ehrlich, at the drawing board since nominees were announced Dec. 5, has framed 3½ hours of wall-to-wall-of-sound entertainment by some of music's biggest acts.

"The nominations this year were younger and more diverse," he says. "Our challenge every year is to present a broadly based show that introduces some of these acts to our audience. We focus on what we do best, building a show about music."

Typically, fewer than a dozen awards are dispensed on air, setting the stage for a sonic boom.

Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, fun., Jay-Z, Kanye West and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys lead this year's race with six nods each. While anticipation builds for announcements in such key categories as best album, record, song and new artist, viewers tend to tune in for the tunes.

Who's likely to ignite water-cooler chatter and Twitter eruptions?

Critical favorite Ocean may wake up the mainstream. American Idol alums Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have the chops to galvanize. Best album underdog Jack White could set off sparks. Mumford, The Lumineers and fun. should prevail with youthful accessibility. Fans who favor Wiz Khalifa's mix of Miguel's Adorn will relish the chance to see the pair deliver it live. Colombian rocker Juanes may surprise the uninitiated.

And no doubt hearts will melt when children from Newtown, Conn., tackle Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe.

Unnominated Justin Timberlake, promoting upcoming album The 20/20 Experience, is sure to raise pulses with an appearance that may entail a certain hip-hop collaborator.

"This is a mature but very hip Justin," says Ehrlich, who admires the singer's undimmed enthusiasm 13 years after his first nomination (he's had 28 and six wins). "Some people never lose it. One of the joys for me is the newbies. I worked with fun. three times this year. They're terrific kids and they feel a genuine thrill about being on the Grammys."

Historically, Ehrlich's imaginative pairings, or "Grammy moments," tend to outshine the stand-alones. On tap this year:

--Grammy host LL Cool J will take part in a fusion of rap, rock and electronica with Public Enemy's Chuck D, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and DJ Z-Trip.

--Bassist Stanley Clarke, pianist Chick Corea and saxist Kenny Garrett will pay homage to the late jazz great Dave Brubeck.

--Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley will entwine voices in a combo of her Over You and his Home. "It's lovely how they weave together," Ehrlich says. "That one's going to score."

--Maroon 5 will perform Daylight alongside Alicia Keys' Girl on Fire. "If they do this right, it's almost like an M.C. Escher painting: Do the steps go up or down? They fit together magically."

--Performing a song from best album contender El Camino, the Black Keys will be joined by members of Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Dr. John, aka Mac Rebennack, 72. "I haven't performed with the Black Keys per se but they're good guys and we're going to try to make it work," says Rebennack, whose Locked Down, produced by Keys singer/guitarist Auerbach, is up for best blues album. "You have to do something different sometimes. That's what musicians do. It might be completely off the hook and unexpected."

He's hoping to catch a replay of their performance but it won't be on his DVR. "I don't own a television," he says. "I don't want one."

--Elton John, a mashup regular who brought down the house in past Grammy appearances with Eminem and Lady Gaga, will perform with Ed Sheeran, 21, a first-time Grammy nominee whose The A-Team is up for best song.
"Elton rung me up and asked if I wanted to do it," Sheeran says. "I'm quite excited, and it's going to be cool. It puts a stamp of approval on me."

The British singer/songwriter, stunned when "a long stream of texts" signaled his nomination, was even more wowed by the invitation to perform.

"As Elton put it to me, 'By performing, even if you don't win, you still win,' " says Sheeran, who says he's also thrilled at the possibility of bumping into Jay-Z backstage. "The Grammys are a big deal worldwide, and it's a big opportunity for me."

--This year's In Memoriam tribute gathers Elton John, Mumford & Sons, Zac Brown, Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard and Mavis Staples for a salute to the late Levon Helm, with T Bone Burnett on board as musical director.
"I resisted In Memoriam for years, but once we did the first one, I knew we weren't going back," says Ehrlich, who inaugurated the segment in 2003 to honor Joe Strummer, with Bruce Springsteen leading an all-star band through The Clash's London Calling. "This year it's going to be incredibly emotional."

Brown, whose Uncaged is up for best country album, signed on without hesitation.

"I looked at the royalty that's going to be on stage," he says, dubbing the Grammys the Super Bowl of award shows. "(Helm's) music has meant the world to me and helped shape my music. It's a giant honor. It's more exciting to do that than to play one of our own songs. Everyone is usually so busy doing their own thing, so with everyone in L.A., why not pull people together to collaborate?"

--Ehrlich is especially pleased with a Bob Marley tribute starring Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Sting and an as-yet-unconfirmed combination of Marley descendants that may include Ziggy, Steven and Damian.
"I'll readily confess I have my favorites and they're people who understand the dynamics of live performance and deliver," Ehrlich says. After LL Cool J's somber acknowledgement of Whitney Houston's death on last year's show, "Bruno picked the house up off the floor with his James Brown impersonation."

Ehrlich approached Mars to perform Locked Out of Heaven this year, but since the single and his album, Unorthodox Jukebox, arrived after Grammy's eligibility cutoff, the singer initially begged off.

Ehrlich recalls, "Bruno said, 'It's not my year. I want to come back next year and do a great job.' I said, 'Bruno, we're in the music business. There's no next year. There's next week.' "

He returned to Mars with a proposal for a reggae theme after locking in rabid Marley fan Rihanna and Sting, who will contribute Walking on the Moon to the medley.

"It's going to be a real highlight," Ehrlich promises.

Adventurous matchups helped the Grammys evolve into "a must-see for a huge fan base," says Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy for the past 10 years. "It's the kind of show you want to see in real time."

A decade ago, Portnow told Ehrlich he wanted more of "those moments where you pair the unpredictable and unexpected and even educational."

It was music to Ehrlich's ears.

"We've marched down that path quite successfully," Portnow says. "And because of our track record, the creative community has developed trust and confidence in the team that puts this show together."

A slate of impressive performances wouldn't be possible without a strong list of nominees to draw from, and in recent years, "we've been applauded for getting it right," Portnow says. "That reflects the vibrancy of our membership."

This time, the academy's 12,000-member voting body, which has grown younger and more diverse, selected nominees in 81 categories from a record 17,500 submissions.

"The nominees are consistently looked upon as intelligent and savvy and forward-thinking, and that's a result of developing the membership," Portnow says. "It's by design, not accident."

Last year's Grammys drew 39.9 million viewers, beating the Academy Awards' audience of 39.3 million. The explanation is simple, says Ehrlich: "The Oscars didn't have any music."

He does concede that Houston's death the day before the Grammys heightened interest in the telecast, which served as an impromptu wake, forcing last-minute changes that included Jennifer Hudson singing I Will Always Love You.

"You'd have to be naïve to think the Whitney factor didn't have an effect," he says. "But I believe we would have had a big audience anyway because of Adele, the Beach Boys, the buzz about Bruce Springsteen opening. We had a lot of heat going into that show before Saturday afternoon. I do think we are on an upswing."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/02/07/grammy-awards-show-sunday-cbs/1897769/
Edited by dad1153 - 2/7/13 at 11:12pm

TV Review
You Won the Prize, Now Get to Work
By Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times - Feb. 8, 2013

“The Job,” CBS’s awful new post-Super Bowl schedule filler, does have one redeeming aspect: It makes clear why so many Americans are unemployed. Some of them, it turns out, don’t know how to make themselves worthy of hiring.

In the show, which begins on Friday night, five contestants face a potential employer in a ridiculously tarted-up competition format that results in a job offer for one of them. And in the two episodes provided for review it is evident that when it comes to job seeking we are a sorry lot indeed.

One candidate turns up for an on-the-job tryout as assistant manager at the flagship Palm Restaurant in New York, underdressed even by Burger King standards. Another, seeking a job as an editorial assistant at Cosmopolitan, has pretty clearly not looked at a recent edition of the magazine. Two of her competitors can’t spell.

Yes, it’s tough being an employer with jobs to fill, even the not exactly top-shelf jobs offered in these two episodes. (The assistant manager position at the Palm is preposterously described as “one of the most coveted jobs in the restaurant industry.”) But the poorly prepared candidates aren’t nearly the most painful thing about this show, whose unfortunate host is Lisa Ling, a woman with some decent journalism on her résumé.

The really insufferable part is the format, which tries desperately to invest the awarding of an unspectacular job with drama and pathos. Five candidates are judged by representatives from the employer of the week, first based on a cursory tryout in the job in question, then with a silly quiz. (“What ‘Avatar’ actress became the first-ever cover girl of the new Cosmopolitan for Latinas?”)

Since none of that is very exciting, the show co-opts a gimmick from “The Voice” to add tension: Three alternate employers are standing by and can try to steal the best candidate with a job offer of their own. Also, a few of the candidates have the obligatory hard-luck stories, which here just seem exploitive.

It’s all coated in a veneer of public service that includes no-brainer tips like, “When you’re interviewing for a job, make sure you don’t start off with asking, ‘When is my first vacation?’ ” And don’t apply to Cosmo without reading the danged thing first.

All this might be less embarrassing if the jobs at stake were substantial — head of reality programming at CBS, for instance. That’s not to minimize the plight of people who can’t find even an entry-level position, but spending an hour of prime time trumpeting a job like editorial assistant as if it’s a career-crowning achievement somehow diminishes what’s happening in the real employment world. Heck, this show can’t even claim to be microscopically reducing unemployment, at least not directly. Some of these candidates already have jobs.

Try as it might “The Job” can’t hide what it really is: an hourlong advertisement for the Palm, Cosmopolitan and whatever other employers have signed up for an episode.

THE JOB
CBS, Friday nights at 8, Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central time.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/arts/television/the-job-reality-show-on-cbs.html?ref=television
Edited by dad1153 - 2/7/13 at 11:14pm

Q&A
‘Walking Dead’: Glen Mazzara talks war, revenge, hope as show returns
By Gina McIntyre, Los Angeles Times' 'Hero Complex' Blog - Feb. 6, 2013

When word came down that “The Walking Dead” would be renewed for a fourth season, it was hardly a surprise. The AMC zombie series has become a pop culture touchpoint, bringing in record-breaking ratings and introducing mainstream audiences to the type of expertly crafted horror movie gore that once only devoted genre fans cheered.

Far more shocking was the news that Glen Mazzara would leave his post as show runner, a reportedly amicable parting of the ways that resulted from creative differences between Mazzara and the network. (Mazzara, of course, is the second show runner in just three seasons to part from “The Walking Dead” under mysterious circumstances — series creator Frank Darabont left the show during the production of Season 2.)

The experienced producer is remaining in his position to see through the conclusion of the season, though, a 16-episode arc that translates the story of Rick Grimes’ confrontation with the Governor, the tale first told in Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” comic book.

Hero Complex sat down with Mazzara earlier this week for a detailed conversation; in part one of the interview, he discusses the direction of the upcoming run of eight episodes, which kicks off Sunday at 9 p.m. with an installment titled “The Suicide King.” Mazzara also addressed his departure from the series and what lies ahead for him creatively — look for those comments in the next installment.

And beware, some spoilers lie ahead for anyone not fully caught up with the episodes that have previously aired.

HC: At this point, watching “The Walking Dead” is really an emotionally harrowing experience.

GM: It’s supposed to feel real, like there are no good choices in this world, and any choice you make could be the difference between life and death. That’s why I think it keeps people on edge. We don’t give you an out. Once in a while we’ll throw something in there — one thing we did in the first half of the season was Daryl holding the baby. If you think of all the horror that we had in the previous episode, with Carl having to put down his mother, his mother with the C-section, we don’t give you any breathing room in that episode. Then in the next episode, Rick is trapped in the tombs, as we call them. At the end of that episode [the scene] of Daryl holding the baby [shows that] it can be OK. Some people thought it was sentimental, but I thought it was earned. If you take out that moment, it’s an incredibly bleak world. It was a little break in the clouds.

HC: There has to be some measure of hope.

GM: I want to show it, I don’t want them discussing if there’s hope. I want to show these little moments of human connection between the characters that show this is a life worth living, that it’s not just people are surviving for the sake of merely surviving, that if Rick’s group comes together they can build a life, they can get on the road to recovery in a sense.

HC: Does that mean the baby might survive? She obviously does not in the comic book, but seeing her die on screen would be devastating — and potentially alienating to some viewers.

GM: If you think about it, that baby’s a huge problem because that baby cries. The baby doesn’t live in the comic book. That’s all I’ll say. So far, so good for the baby.

HC: What can fans actually expect from the second half of season 3?

GM: We’ve had a lot of fun introducing all these elements that fans know and love from the comic book, Michonne, the Governor, the prison, Woodbury, all that’s up and running. The stage is all set, now it’s a matter of having our characters bump into each other and show a lot of character development, show those character dynamics and show people having to make choices. Now the Governor only has one goal in mind, vengeance against Rick and against Michonne. That puts a lot of pressure on Rick at a time when his sanity is in question and he’s breaking, how much is Rick willing to sacrifice his group to save a woman that he just met? As we see in the midseason finale, Michonne realizes she can’t survive on her own, it will be a miserable existence and sooner or later she’s going to lose that fight. So she wants to join Rick’s group. There are other people who want to join Rick’s group, Tyrese and his group. Rick has a terrible track record with letting people into his group – he’s actually been able to keep this core group alive but now with his sanity in question, it’s a challenge for him even to keep doing that. All of this stuff is in play in surprising ways. The Dixons are their own factor, Daryl is caught between his brother and Rick’s group. Tyrese’s group is another factor. The Governor is yet another. Andrea is caught between the Governor and the innocent people of Woodbury and her loyalties to this other group who on some emotional level she believes abandoned her. It’s odd to think of Michonne going over to a group that Andrea used to be a part of. Everything’s in flux.

HC: Are the people of Woodbury truly innocent? They seem to me to be fairly bloodthirsty to so eagerly accept the notion of brothers being forced to fight to the death.

GM: You can see how they’re manipulated. That’s an army the Governor is trying to raise. If those people are being manipulated and lied to by the Governor and they’re at some point possibly marching on the prison, Rick and his group have to defend themselves against innocent people. That’s an interesting dilemma. Is that a fight worth taking? In a way, if there’s a war coming, how does Rick decide who he’s fighting against? Do these people have anything to do with it? Well, they’re being told one thing. It’s interesting that nothing is as it seems and nobody has a complete picture. Rick sees these people as threatening, Andrea sees these people as being manipulated by the Governor. What does that mean for Andrea, how does she take action to try to stop this coming tragedy? What is Rick’s part? Not only are we faced with the questions of how to stop this war, but all of these complicated interpersonal dynamics are in play. The Andrea/Michonne relationship, the Merle/Daryl relationship, Glenn and Maggie. He wants revenge on the Governor for a personal reason that could compromise the welfare of the entire group. All this stuff is on the table. Now it gets complicated.

HC: Andrea does appear to be on the verge of stepping up in some interesting ways.

GM: She’s thrown into a leadership position. The easy solution is for her to leave Woodbury and go over to the prison, but then what happens? She knows the Governor’s coming for them. Can she affect him in some way? Does she have a responsibility to try to save these innocents? Andrea will be faced with a lot of moral dilemmas. I’m happy to say there’s no big speeches about morality, but she has a lot of interesting moral dilemmas coming up. We have a few episodes with her as the focus.

HC: At what point do you bring the actors into the process, to let them know about what’s in store for their characters?

GM: Very early on. This is something that Shawn Ryan did on “The Shield” and I’ve used it on every show I’ve worked on. At the beginning of each season before we start shooting, the writers will bring in each actor, sit down with them for a few hours to talk about last season, and then we’ll sort of talk in general terms about the emotional arc of the upcoming season. We won’t tell them specifics but we’ll give them specific starting points. Then they realize that contrary to how it feels when you’re getting a script every week that there is a big picture. I invite all the actors to provide feedback on every script and their arcs and to say what feels right and what doesn’t feel right.

HC: The cast is really remarkable. It’s surprising in some ways that “The Walking Dead” hasn’t been as recognized in terms of awards attention as some other series.

GM: I think they’re fantastic and deserved to be acknowledged. That show is grounded because of their performances. There are other shows that are recognized that I’ve read press saying that those other shows don’t feel as grounded as the zombie show. As long as we’re connecting with the fans and our audience is as excited as they are, those awards, they’re nice but that’s not why we do this.

HC: What is it about the series that people connect so strongly with?

GM: I think what’s fun about the show is that it really taps into why people originally went to the movies. There’s a communal experience in a theater where people are sitting down and watching something that’s larger than life and yet connecting to it emotionally. People watch this show together, they watch it with their families, their friends, their co-workers, their boyfriends and girlfriends, and they talk about it. They go online about it, there’s a communal experience because it’s emotional. I think it’s being part of a larger thing that makes it fun. People feel very personally affected by it.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/tv/walking-dead-glen-mazzara-talks-war-revenge-hope-as-show-returns/#/0

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Feb. 8, 2013

MOYERS & COMPANY
Public Television, Check local listings
This weekend’s show sounds like an especially fascinating one. One of Bill Moyers’ guests is Susan Crawford (pictured), President Obama’s former special assistant for science, technology and innovation – and she explains that if Americans think they have the cheapest and fastest Internet speeds, they should think again. Compared to many other countries, the U.S. both favors and gouges the rich, and disregards and hampers the poor. Then, in a separate interview, journalist Nick Turse discusses the eye-opening facts he uncovered while investigating the Vietnam War for his new book, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. Moyers & Company airs from Friday to Sunday on local public TV stations; to find it in your local area, click the BillMoyers.com website.

TOUCH
Fox, 8 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: As this Kiefer Sutherland series begins Season 2, the setting changes from the East Coast to the West, and former recurring guest star Maria Bello, playing the mother of another child with special abilities, continues to hang around with Sutherland’s Martin and his son, Jake, played by David Mazouz. This series has gotten more complex, with more subplots and antagonists, but that may not be enough to solidify its direction – or its audience. But if you stayed with this series throughout last season, here it comes again. Reach out and Touch.

SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: Tonight’s final two programs in this thoughtful series which has done a solid job examining some of William Shakespeare’s works, are the best of the bunch. First is former Doctor Who star David Tennant, who himself tackled the title role of Hamlet a few years ago, acting as the guide to Shakespeare’s most famous play of all. Two moments really stand out. One is when Tennant is given a look at the so-called “Bad Quarto,” the first surviving copy of Hamlet, and delights at the differences between that and later versions. (“To be or not to be,” he reads with undisguised excitement, “I there’s the point!”) The other is when Tennant sits down with another ex-Hamlet, Jude Law, and the two swap ideas, approaches and interpretations. Then, at 10 p.m. ET, veteran Shakespeare director Trevor Nunn deconstructs Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, with the passion and insight of a superbly committed professor. Check local listings.

ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
NEW TIME SLOT: Beginning tonight, Rock Center moves to Fridays – the unofficial graveyard for most series the networks no longer support, though this series may well find a home here. It’s certainly a good enough prime-time newsmagazine to deserve another chance. On NBC, though, being a show of quality seems to count against, not for, your chances for survival. Among tonight’s scheduled reports: Harry Smith visits the Game Show Network to chat with GSN’s Jeff Foxworthy, the host of The American Bible Challenge, and talk about that show’s unlikely success. It’s a good story – one that our own Ed Bark, in Uncle Barky’s Bytes, first reported last August. Holy scoop, Bark-man!

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s show is as close as Maher gets to an all-star lineup. Julian Assange is one of Maher’s guests tonight – and another is Tina Brown. You don’t need more than that to have a very vocal hour, but there’s also Martin Bashir, and more.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/
Edited by dad1153 - 2/7/13 at 11:35pm

TV Notes
'The Walking Dead,' 'Big Bang Theory' coming to a theater near you...during PaleyFest
By Sandra Gonzalez, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Feb. 8, 2013

The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead are coming to theaters — but there’s a twist.

The shows will be the first to have their panels broadcast in select movie theaters during the upcoming PaleyFest, which is put on by the Paley Center for Media and takes place every year in Los Angeles.

Additionally, The Big Bang Theory’s panel will feature an interactive element that will allow fans to submit questions to the cast and producers via Twitter. That event will take place on March 13.

Meanwhile, The Walking Dead panel, which is being moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick, will be recorded on the opening night of the festival (March 1) and broadcast in theaters on March 7.

Information on participating theaters and ticket info can be found on the event’s website.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/02/07/the-walking-dead-big-bang-theory-coming-to-a-theater-near-you-during-paleyfest/

Critic's Notes
Why It Doesn't Matter Whether You Like 'Community' -- or Tons of Other NBC Shows
By Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Bastard Machine' Blog - Feb. 7, 2013

The reason I've written in the past that NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt deserves to gloat about the network's dramatic rise to No. 1 from No. 4 is very simple: In this day and age, running a broadcast network is extremely difficult, and exactly how you climb out of the muck -- NFL games, riding a big singing show like The Voice, getting lucky here and there -- doesn't matter. You did it. And it was damned hard.

It also was written to be fair. Every network president eventually will stumble and be questioned or criticized. And these days Greenblatt must be looking at his assembled series and muttering the Tina Fey as Liz Lemon proclamation: "What the what?"

Because NBC has tumbled back down to earth -- or under it, depending how you look at it. The ratings are gone. New shows have flopped; Deception and Do No Harm were not only lousy dramas but spurned by viewers. Worse for Greenblatt -- because it's his pet show -- Tuesday's second-season return of Smash hit the earth like a wayward meteor, down 71 percent in the demo from its series premiere and 39 percent from its season one finale.

That's why the word "repudiate" is in the dictionary.

Hell, Do No Harm went below Rock Center numbers, which is really saying something. Even Go On, a modest hit that's basically Community in a more broadly palatable form, is bleeding viewers. One of NBC's biggest fall success stories was Revolution, but it doesn't return until March 25 and will have been off the air for nearly four months -- which, for a serialized show, is really testing viewer loyalty.

And now Community returns, the first episode from its new showrunners after Dan Harmon was relieved of his duties -- running the show he created. For a brilliant little series with a very small but loyal fan base, the switch at the helm and NBC's constant pushing back of the premiere has led to little flares of anxiety and exasperation on the Internet. The buildup of online chatter as Community returns Thursday night has been impressive for a cult show.

Look, I happen to love Community. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you hate the new direction. It doesn't matter if you're pleasantly surprised that you can't really tell the difference. It doesn't even matter if you're just happy it's back.

Because it's dead. You must have known that. And if not, here's your reminder: Community is dead.

NBC has much, much bigger worries than Community, a series it essentially gave up on long ago. (If you want to see a similar pattern of network behavior, look into the ABC/Cougar Town archives and see how that ended.) No doubt the first thing Greenblatt is looking at with a certain panic are those Smash numbers. It's like the poster series for "hate watching" couldn't even generate that crowd to watch. Was Tuesday's premiere some weird aberration? If the numbers stay in nadir territory -- or worse -- Greenblatt will have his toughest decision as a broadcast network chief. On cable, where Greenblatt rose to prominence at Showtime, you can nurture the little ponies. At the network level, you're running horses. And if they don't win?

Bang! Glue.

This is the decision that will haunt and/or define Greenblatt. If Smash truly implodes, will he dump it and continue searching for a hit? Or will he take up a precious hour on the schedule for a show that can't be saved?

See, NBC needs to overhaul its lineup. No tinkering. No patience. Before the upfronts in May, it's spring cleaning time in Burbank. Do No Harm and Deception will be gone, as will Community, the retiring-past-its-sell-by-date Office, the wretched Guys With Kids (one would hope). Already 30 Rock has had its swan song. Outside of The Voice and NFL games, what's truly untouchable on the NBC schedule? If you went from fourth to first and back to fourth again, you'd do some soul searching. And one would assume that soul searching would lead to, "We need to blow it up."

Personally, I love Parks and Recreation -- it's one of my favorite shows, and I hope it stays on forever. I also like 1600 Penn, Grimm and Parenthood. But those are not exactly hits, so there's worry.

Chicago Fire is not a show I'd watch regularly, but it does what it was designed for, and NBC needs to stay in the procedural game. Despite the star power in the sitcom Up All Night, the viewers never came, and NBC's decision to switch to a multicamera format with a live audience is a little bit like the crying doctor who keeps trying to resuscitate a patient who has flat-lined. Whitney and The New Normal? Betty White's Off Their Rockers? These are not keepers, people. These aren't shows that redirect a network skyward.

Dateline? The Celebrity Apprentice? The Biggest Loser? A little long in the tooth.

So, yes, enjoy Community tonight (or not). Pretend it's a wake. There's a reversal of course coming to NBC, and the only show to monitor for clues about how deep the cuts are going to be is Smash.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/nbc-overhaul-series-coming-soon-419216

TV Review
'Touch': New season is more fun
By Verne Gay, Newsday - Feb. 6, 2013

THE SHOW "Touch"

WHEN | WHERE Friday night at 8 on Fox/5

WHAT IT'S ABOUT There are 36 "righteous" people in the world, and little Jake Bohm (David Mazouz) is one of them. He can read the future (and much else) and has led his father, Martin (Kiefer Sutherland), to Los Angeles, to locate another of the righteous, now missing. They meet up with her mother, Lucy (Maria Bello), who is also searching for her lost daughter. What does giant energy company Aster Corp. have to do with this, and why does it want to gather all the righteous ones? There's your second season...

MY SAY We are all connected. Where you begin, I end (and vice versa). No matter how hard we try to control it, nothing is really what it appears to be. And finally, "Touch's" Martin Bohm is a much cooler dude when he channels Jack Bauer, which he does on a few occasions tonight.

Buy all this stuff, and you'll buy the two-hour second season launch of Fox's smart but still-struggling-to-find-a-consistent-tone drama about a father with an autistic son who has a whole lot to say, but refuses to say it. (These first three statements? Jake's grand philosophy, spoken in voice-over, though he'd probably prefer his dad to be the same old dull Martin from last season.)

"Touch's" move this season to L.A. should also be a welcome venue change for viewers, if only for subliminal reasons -- wasn't that building in the second act the same one that blew up in the third season of "24"? In fact, tonight's two-part opener is much more action-adventure, much less back-story mythology, about numbers and Far Eastern philosophical diversions concerning red strings of fate, and how we're all interconnected, etc.

Instead, you have plain old smashmouth elemental TV story devices -- good guys, bad guys, evil corporations, a family unit, and a headlong rush toward the Truth, whatever that may be. Plus this special bonus: Intimations of Jack Bauer. So far, it all makes the second season of "Touch" -- what's the word that was missing last year? -- fun.

BOTTOM LINE Whoopee! Jack -- er, Martin is back and on the attack. "Touch" feels a little more like "Punch."

GRADE B+

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/beauty-and-the-beast-review-just-bad-1.4096949

Technology/Business Notes
Reappearing on YouTube: Illegal Movie Uploads
By Amir Efrati, Wall Street Journal - Feb. 7, 2013

Google Inc.'s YouTube has a familiar problem: Plenty of illegally uploaded movies are finding their way onto the website.

Hundreds of full-length feature films including blockbusters from Walt Disney Co. and Sony Corp.'s Columbia and Tristar studios have been illegally uploaded to the world's most popular video site, generating hundreds of millions of views over the past year.

Why the movie studios didn't block the films by using a special YouTube program—called Content ID—for identifying their copyrighted content is a mystery.

On Thursday, after inquiries by The Wall Street Journal, Disney used Content ID to successfully block some of the classic animated films that have been on YouTube for as long as a year, including "Peter Pan," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and "Fantasia."

Representatives of Disney, Sony, MGM Studios and Warner Bros. declined to comment on the situation or why they haven't blocked the films using Content ID.

A YouTube spokeswoman said the site "invested heavily in copyright and content management tools to give rights holders control of their content on YouTube" and that more than 4,000 media companies use Content ID. The site is continually improving the technology behind Content ID, she said, adding that to date it has identified more than 200 million copyrighted videos that were uploaded.

Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade group that represents film studios in copyright matters, said: "We are aware of the issue and are concerned about it. Our member companies have raised the issue with YouTube and hope they will work cooperatively with us to fix it."

The return of the problem shows how piracy continues to pop up for YouTube, even after it took steps to eradicate the issue and the problem had lain largely dormant over the past five years.

YouTube, acquired by Google in 2006, was sued in 2007 by Viacom Inc., which owns TV channels such as MTV. Viacom claimed there were thousands of unauthorized clips uploaded to YouTube and Google was liable for copyright infringement.

YouTube said it is protected from liability by a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and that it took down infringing content when it received notices. The suit is still pending.

Google in late 2007 launched Content ID, which helps identify copyrighted material so content owners can block the content from appearing on the site altogether, or in certain geographical markets. Alternatively, content owners can choose to let YouTube sell online advertisements that appear next to or on top of the videos while they play. Content owners get the majority of the ad revenue.

Some of the full-length films uploaded by individual users within the past year, including some produced by MGM Studios such as the 1990 hit "Misery," currently appear with ads.

Content ID helped curtail the piracy issue, some media executives have said. Since then, Google has struck deals with Disney and other studios to host some of their TV content on YouTube or sell movie rentals of full-length feature films.

The recent problematic uploads may have undercut the rental effort. Movies produced by Disney's Touchstone Pictures, such as "I Am Number Four" and "Shanghai Noon" are available free on YouTube, even though the studio struck a rental deal through the site.

To be sure, illegally uploaded movies could easily become unavailable if the content owners attack the problem.

Some individuals who uploaded films using pseudonymous accounts wrote in the video description box on the Web page that they don't own a copyright. Others provide written instructions to other YouTube users on how to download the illegally uploaded films from YouTube using certain software.

People who have used Content ID at media companies said the system works well, but that some individuals who illegally upload videos to YouTube have been able to manipulate the soundtrack or video to avoid detection by the system. These people add that some media companies don't always use the system properly and forget to block some illegal content.

On social media sites such as Twitter, many people have expressed surprise about the full-length films and are posting links to their followers.

Kailey Fry, a high-school student near Toledo, Ohio, said she previously saw written notices on YouTube pages that pirated content had been removed due to copyright claims. But several months ago, a friend told her that YouTube had a growing array of full-length films.

Last week, Ms. Fry discovered and watched the 1957 film, "The Three Faces of Eve" on YouTube. Since then she has watched other films and organized a sleepover for friends to watch "Halloween," the 1970s horror flick, on YouTube using her laptop. "I'm going to use YouTube a lot more," the 16-year-old said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906004578290321884631206.html

TV Review
‘Something Borrowed,’ good fit for few
TLC series offer a slight twist on the bride-picks-a-gown theme
By Tom Conroy, Media Life Magazine

In all of the many reality shows about preparing for weddings — whether they’re about the most beautiful dress, the most extravagant reception or the most psychotic bride — one thing is usually missing: any sense that the most important thing in the whole process is the bond between the bride and the groom. Often the shows lack any real emotional connections at all.

TLC’s new series “Something Borrowed, Something New” somewhat makes up for this lack. In it, a bride-to-be is asked to choose between a wedding dress that has sentimental value and a brand-new one that may be more fashionable.

So the woman has at least some emotional stake in the process. This makes “Something Borrowed, Something New” a slightly fresh variation on the many other gown-shopping shows. But even with the novelty, the show’s appeal will likely be limited to those who already fans of the genre.

In the premiere episode, airing this Friday, Feb. 8, at 10 p.m., a 32-year-old professional opera singer named Maricela, who lives in Austin, Texas, consults the show’s two hosts with her mother, Diana. Diana wants Maricela to get married in Diana’s wedding gown, a subdued pastel dress with an empire waist. Maricela says she wants to be “a classic bride, but with Latina flair.”

One of the hosts, Kelly Nishimoto, a fashion designer, is in charge of making something new out of the something borrowed. She explains what parts of the dress she can use and then proceeds to rip it apart. Making her job harder is the fact that Diana’s dress is a size 2 and Maricela says it’s too small to fit around her thigh, never mind her torso.

Maricela nonetheless thanks her mother for her curves. When Diana puts up her hand for a high-five and Maricela ignores her, Diana says, “Don’t leave me hanging.” Further proof that even older people have learned how to be reality-TV jackasses.

The show’s other host, Sam Saboura, a stylist, has the easier job. He takes Maricela, her mother and her two bridesmaids to a shop, where he has the bride try on three different gowns. The only details Maricela stipulates is that she doesn’t want a strapless dress and she doesn’t want mermaid style. Sure enough, as Sam predicts will happen, she winds up raving about dresses with both.

The three looks are all quite glamorous. We’re prompted to guess which one she’ll pick to go up against Kelly’s creation. The suspense is minimal, but guessing is always fun.

The borrowed dress actually captures the feel of the original despite its nearly complete reconstruction. That is to say it’s a little dowdy. Arguing in favor of the dress is the fact that if Maricela turns it down, she’ll be rejecting not only her mother but also Kelly.

The narrator puts it differently, saying, “Will Maricela’s deep love of family and tradition win over the new vision she’s seen of herself?”

But we’re not talking nail-biting suspense here either. In order to remain involved, viewers will have to bring to the experience some interest in prices, styles and discussions of the relative aesthetic and practical merits of strapped and strapless.

Maricela repeatedly sings lines of dialogue. One hopes the producers encouraged her to do this, because it gets tiresome before the half hour is over. If she does it in real life, it’s surprising she can find two friends to be bridesmaids.

In one pre-commercial-break tease, we see Maricela singing, “Nooooo!” while modeling a gown. The moment turns out to have been taken completely out of context.

The producers needn’t have bothered trying to stir up drama. People who will like “Something Borrowed, Something New” are pre-sold.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/something-borrowed-something-new-nah/
Edited by dad1153 - 2/8/13 at 12:09am

TV Reviews
Leave the Latte at Home
By Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal - Feb. 8, 2013

You don't have to be interested in an assistant manager's job at a Palm steakhouse or one as an editorial assistant at Cosmopolitan magazine to be bedazzled by the requirements of both as presented in "The Job," a strikingly sophisticated series that regularly delivers valuable information and advice. For instance, that it's not a good idea to waltz into a job interview with a latte in your hand or your water bottle, sunglasses on top of your head, etc. All that is meant to be secondary to the drama that show creator Michael Davies has conceived here, in which five contestants vie for a job they consider the route to a glorious future. Parodoxically enough, that drama often feels secondary compared with the hard-nosed intelligence the show provides.

These are contests, as episode one reveals, for which candidates can come conspicuously unprepared. As in the case of the confident, large-size male—a contestant for the job of assistant manager at New York's renowned Palm restaurant—who dressed for the first big night of his tryout draped in a loose white shirt. His problem wasn't only his attire. He failed to recognize the co-chairman and co-owner of the Palm Restaurant Group, Wally Ganzi, whose picture was plastered all around. The restaurant executive would note that on his arrival he had asked the jacketless contestant whether his party was there. And, "he tells me, 'Why don't you go look for them?'" A detail delivered in calm tones that did nothing to diminish its blood-freezing effect.

Still, for all the tension, the atmospherics are nothing if not civilized, occasionally touched by an inevitable mawkishness. But a kind well under control. Episode one, at its best, is all business—the business of the job itself, the running of a storied restaurant, its traditions, requirements: the drama that underpins and much of the time outshines that contest of five job applicants.

The same is true of episode two, set in the precincts of Cosmopolitan magazine, whose revered traditions are made amply clear to the five aspirants for an editorial assistant's job. In another regard, Cosmopolitan exhibited a difference worth noting.

It was obvious from the outset that the series—which claims a keen consciousness of the many Americans in dire need of jobs (12.3 million )—was likely to limit its roster of prospective employees largely, if not exclusively, to the unemployed young. We weren't about to see at the Palm a contestant for the job of assistant restaurant manager who even approached the 50-plus age category—the hardest hit and most hopeless of all the nation's unemployed.

Youth-oriented Cosmopolitan, on the other hand, included a 50-year-old woman applicant for the job of editorial assistant—an impressive deviation. A kind, one had the strong feeling, not likely to be seen again in this series.

Of all that was impressive in the Cosmo episode—and that would include the nerve-shattering finale—nothing equaled the lessons, delectable in their astringency, that the magazine's editors delivered. Inability to spell, editor in chief Joanna Coles informed the applicants after a look at their written reports, was not an option. Someone had described a thing as being "chalk full" of something. How could that have made any sense? A question Ms. Coles asked with a genuine sense of wonder.

But it was also brought home to the applicants that a job at Cosmopolitan required deep immersion in popular culture, celebrity news. They were quizzed. Who was the actor who divorced Scarlett Johansson in 2011, only to marry Blake Lively a year later? (No worries anybody was going to be asked who the U.S. secretary of state was.) The candidate failed to answer correctly the identity of this Hollywood cad.

Another, asked about a kind of cropped pants with a notch on the side named after a Mediterranean island, desperately replied that would have to be Cargo. As in Cargo pants, he meant. Had he, Ms. Coles was driven to ask, ever heard of any Mediterranean island called Cargo?

Sharp-tongued, ambitious, highly seductive—a TV series that has, it can be said, done the job.

THE JOB
Begins Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. on CBS

* * * *

In its pursuit of seduction, "Zero Hour" begins with the reliable—jackbooted Nazis marching through darkened streets, crowds heiling, swastikas everywhere and, over all, a menacing gloom. The year is 1938. In a church cellar where clockmakers are engaged in their work, mysterious figures in religious garb share a secret—that the Nazis have made a breakthrough and end times have come. End times and Nazis—an irresistible draw. The link between the two will connect with ancient mysteries and current dire threats that grow more complicated by the minute in this series starring Anthony Edwards as Hank Galliston, a present-day magazine editor and professional debunker of the irrational.

Hank is catapulted into the greatest of all mysteries—on whose outcome humanity's fate now depends—by the kidnapping of his wife, purchaser of an antique clock from a Brooklyn flea market. A clock, we understand, related to the menacing Nazis of the opening scenes and the terrible power they had unearthed. It's a measure of the skill brought to this script by Paul Scheuring that a first episode so awash in multiplying complications manages to maintain its coherence and even a significant measure of suspense. It doesn't hurt, of course, that Nazis and images of Nazis keep showing up, along with suggestions that Hank has a past he knows nothing about. We await further developments with interest, if not driving hunger.

ZERO HOUR
Begins Thursday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. on ABC

* * * *

"Alpha Dogs" was filmed at the Vohne Liche Kennels in Indiana—a facility for the training of K9 dogs meant to serve with Special Forces, sniff out weapons and bombs, and attack aggressors. There can be problems—a dog, for instance, that hasn't successfully absorbed that its job, after bringing down an enemy, is to go and find the bomb that enemy made. This dog, instead, wants to find another enemy to bring down. The trainers, the sternest of teachers, will graduate no dog that hasn't proved its skills in combat, learned to tolerate gunfire—a process the series reveals in spectacular detail.

ALPHA DOGS
Begins Friday, Feb. 8, at 9 p.m on Nat Geo Wild

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324590904578289762918628432.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_6
Edited by dad1153 - 2/8/13 at 12:09am

NBC to Broadcast 2014 Olympics a Day Early

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/sports/olympics/nbcs-2014-olympic-broadcasts-to-begin-a-day-early.html?ref=television&_r=0

Too late.

Bah. Oh well, it's Friday .

Can't wait for Banshee

Edit: Friday would be a lot cooler if there was beer added. ha

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/02/08/drama-pilots-2013-2/

Robot cops, international conspiracies, spinoffs, and illegal love are just a sample of what networks are cooking up for fall. Only the best (and most marketable) shows will get on the air. Can you pick the winners based on these titles, writers, and loglines? Here’s the current list of broadcast drama pilots (we’ll post the comedies next week):

ABC

S.H.I.E.L.D. (Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen). Based on the fictional and secret law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Universe as seen in the film The Avengers. Marks Whedon’s return to series TV, also expected to resurrect Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg).

The Returned (Aaron Zelman). What happens when the people you have mourned and buried suddenly appear on your doorstep as if not a day’s gone by? The lives of the people of Aurora are forever changed when their deceased loved ones return. Based on a novel by Jason Mott.

Betrayal (David Zabel). A beautiful but unhappily married female photographer begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. When he turns out to be defending a murder suspect who is being prosecuted by her husband, the relationship and the case begin a spiraling series of betrayals with cataclysmic results for everyone involved.

Big Thunder (Jason Fuchs). When a brilliant, late 19th century New York doctor and his family are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relocate to a frontier mining town run by a powerful, but mysterious tycoon, they quickly realize that not everything in Big Thunder is as it seems. Based on the Disney theme park ride.

Venice (Byron Balasco). From producer-director McG, a soap about the haves and the have-not’s of California’s most seductive city, Venice. Venice will focus on two rival families and a forbidden and dangerous romance emerging between them as the two families battle for control of Venice.

Reckless (Chris Black). When his wife is unjustly imprisoned during a political uprising overseas, resourceful problem solver David, desperately pursues every legal option to secure her release. But when he’s stymied by the US government in the name of diplomacy, David is forced to consider less-than-legal options – entering a world of political intrigue, dangerous alliances and high emotional stakes.

Divorce: A Love Story (Mike Sikowitz & Daniel Lappin). A multi-camera comedy revolving around Kenny and Robin, a recently divorced couple, who were bad together but discover they’re even worse apart and can’t seem to stay out of each others’ lives. Based on the Israeli format, Life Isn’t Everything.

Lucky 7 (David Zabel, Jason Richman). From a producing team that includes Steven Spielberg, a show about seven employees of a service station in Queens whose lives are changed in many unexpected ways when they win the lottery jackpot.

Murder in Manhattan (Maria Maggenti). Hour long dramedy set in NYC centering on a mother and daughter who team up as amateur sleuths.

Gothica (Matt Lopez). A sexy gothic soap set in present day that weaves together a mythology that incorporates the legends of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray among others.

Killer Women (Hannah Shakespeare). It’s hard to fit in when you’re the only woman in the notoriously male Texas Rangers, but that doesn’t stop Molly Parker – our ballsy, beautiful badass who knows how to get to the truth and isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers on her way there. Based on the Argentine series Mujeres Asesinas.

Influence (Kyle Killen). Provocative workplace ensemble centered on the complicated relationship between two brothers who head a unique agency designed to attack their clients’ problems using the real science of human motivation and manipulation.

Doubt (David Shore): A former cop who’s now a cunning, but charming low-rent lawyer uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons and wooing his ex-wife.

FOX

Wild Blue (Taylor Elmore). ER, The West Wing and Top Gun collide in this young ensemble about the working men and women on board a US Aircraft Carrier. Equipped with a 500 foot landing strip, a nuclear reactor and 6000 souls on board, Wild Blue is an upstairs/downstairs look at pressure-cooker lives of the US Navy. Producers include Graham Yost.

Gang Related (Chris Morgan). Follows a gang member who is sent in to infiltrate the San Francisco Police Department As he rises through the ranks, he must balance his obligations to his crime family with an increasing sense of loyalty to his new “family” – the SFPD’s Gang Task Force.

Boomerang (Davey Holmes). Focuses on the usual, everyday drama surrounding a family business — except this family is in the business of executing hits as assassins for the U.S. government.
Sleepy Hollow (Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci). Follows Ichabod Crane as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s local female sheriff to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil.

Delirium (Karyn Usher). Based on bestselling trilogy about a world where love is deemed illegal and is able to be eradicated with a special procedure. With 95 days to go until her scheduled treatment, Lena Holoway does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Emma Roberts stars.

The List (Paul Zbyszewski) Centers on U.S. Marshal Dan Shaker, who leads the hunt for the person who stole “the list” — a file with the identities of every member in the Federal Witness Security Program — after those in the program begin popping up dead.

Rake (Peter Duncan, Peter Tolan). Follows the chaotic and comedic life of criminal defense lawyer (Greg Kinnear). Brilliant, frustratingly charming, and with zero filter, Keegan is one of life’s great addicts. In addition to Keegan’s cases within the justice system, the show follows his personal trials and tribulations, including his ongoing battle against the IRS, his mounting debt to his bookie, overlapping affairs and liaisons with women, a hormonal son, an exhausted ex-wife and the evolving relationship between his two married best friends.

Untitled J.J. Abrams (J.H. Wyman). An action-packed buddy cop show, set in the near future, when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. (Formerly called Inhuman).

NBC

Wonderland (Whit Anderson). From producer Anthony Zuiker, seven years ago Clara’s life took an unexplained turn for the worse, but a mysterious stranger tells her there may be an explanation after all… an explanation that lies in the fantastical world of Wonderland. Determined to revive her dreams and get her life back on track, Clara agrees to wage war against the reigning but malevolent Queen, the woman we once knew as Alice.

After Hours (Gabe Sachs, Jeff Judah). More MASH than ER in tone, the show follows the San Antonio hospital night shift from 7pm to 7am and irreverent doctors who bring humor and rock-n-roll energy to the chaotic Level One Trauma Center, a hot zone for the worst and the weirdest cases. Led by adrenaline junkie T.C., this team of doctors isn’t your fresh-faced med school graduates, but instead, is composed of rogue ex-Army surgeons who have seen it all in the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Untitled Rand Ravich. When Washington’s most powerful players are pulled into an international conspiracy, an unlikely puppeteer will bring everyone from CEOs to The President of the United States to their knees by threatening the things they hold most dear. Forced together by dire circumstances these power brokers, the FBI and a rookie secret service agent must unravel the mystery to take back control of their lives.

The Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives (Sascha Penn). From producer Jerry Bruckheimer, secrets and lies within a tightly woven group of three couples and their families in the “idyllic” community of Saddle Hills, California.

Believe (Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Friedman). From producer J.J. Abrams, an unlikely relationship develops between a young girl with a gift and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.

I Am Victor (Mark Goffman). Based on Jo Nesbo’s forthcoming novel, is about an iconoclastic divorce attorney who helps clients embrace the hope and possibilities in their new lives. The series offers a modern look at love, marriage and relationships through the eyes of LA’s most sought-after divorce attorney.

Bloodline (David Graziano). From producer-director Pete Berg, Bloodline is a pulpy, highly stylized, thrill ride that catapults the viewer into the cheeky world of Bird Benson, a smart, irreverent and strong young girl who, due to an accident of birth, finds herself caught in the middle of an epic struggle between two warrior families set against the backdrop of modern suburbia.

Hatfields & McCoys (John Glenn). Set in present day Pittsburgh, a startling death re-ignites the feud between these two legendary families. Unleashing decades of resentment, the blue collar McCoys will put the Hatfields’ wealth and power at risk as they go to war for control of the city

The Blacklist (Jon Bokenkamp). The world’s most wanted criminal mysteriously turns himself in and offers to give up everyone he has ever worked with. His only condition is he will only work with a newly minted FBI agent with whom he seemingly has no connection.

The Sixth Gun (Ryan Condal). A drama that’s based on the best-selling supernatural graphic novel that follows the story of six mythical guns, each with its own other-worldly powers.

Ironside (Michael Caleo). From a producing team that includes David Semel and Teri Weinberg, a tough, sexy but acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city. Remake of the classic series; Blair Underwood to star.

CBS

Backstrom (Hart Hanson). Drama based on Swedish detective series of same name about an overweight, offensive irascible cop as he tries and fails to change his self-destructive behavior.

The Surgeon General (Samuel Baum). Medical show centered around America’s doctor: the Surgeon General of the United States.

The Ordained (Lisa Takeuchi Cullen.) The drama follows the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to get closer to his family’s enemies and prevent his politician sister from being assassinated.

Reckless (Dana Stevens). Sultry legal show set in Charleston, South Carolina, where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a Southern City Attorney struggle to hide their intense attraction while clashing over a police sex scandal.

Beverly Hills Cop (Shawn Ryan). Continuation of the movie franchise, centered around Axel Foley’s police officer son, who takes down the criminal elements of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Brandon T. Jackson and Eddie Murphy star.

NCIS LA Spin-off (Shane Brennan). The planted spinoff, will follow a small mobile team of agents, who are forced to live and work together, as they crisscross the country solving crimes. John Corbett to star. Will air as an embedded pilot in the NCIS: LA slot later this season.

The Advocates (Bruno Heller). A female lawyer and a male ex-con team up as “victim advocates,” going to the very edge of the law to right wrongs and fight for the underdog. Directed by pilot master David Nutter.

Anatomy of Violence. (Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, Alex Cary) A criminal psychologist with an expertise in sociopaths who partners with a young female detective with whom he shares a conflicted past.

Hostages (Jeffrey Nachmanoff). A family is caught in the middle of a grand political conspiracy that will change their lives forever. Stars Toni Collette.

Intelligence. (Michael Seitzman). Centered at the U.S. Cyber Command, which focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift, a microchip that has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

Second Sight (Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta). Based on the UK series of the same name by Paula Milne, Second Sight is a gothic psychological thriller about a detective who is suddenly afflicted with an autoimmune virus that causes hallucinations reflective of his subconscious. He discovers that catching the killer depends as much on insight as eyesight.

CW

The Tomorrow People (Phil Klemmer). Based on the original UK series, The Tomorrow People is the story of several young people from around the world who represent the next stage in human evolution, possessing special powers, including the ability to teleport and communicate with each other telepathically. Together, they work to defeat the forces of evil.

Blink (Vera Herbert). Warm, quirky, humorous drama about a family whose lives are forever changed, for better and worse, when the patriarch has a car accident resulting in a coma like syndrome where he cannot speak or move, but can see and hear all.

The Hundred (Jason Rothenberg). 97 years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, a massive spaceship housing the lone human survivors sends 100 juvenile delinquents with dark secrets back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing the planet.

The Selection (Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain). Set 300 years in the future, an epic romance centering on a working class young woman chosen by lottery to participate in a competition with 25 other women for the Royal Prince’s hand to become the nation’s next queen. Balancing her loyalty to family, true love, and kingdom, she must attempt to remain true to herself as she navigates the cutthroat competition and palace intrigue, all while a budding rebellion threatens to topple the crown. Based on the book by Kiera Cass. This marks the second time The CW has shot a Selection pilot.

Reign (Stephanie Sengupta & Laurie McCarthy). The previously unknown and untold story of Mary Queen of Scots rise to power when she arrives in France as a 15-year-old, betrothed to Prince Francis, and with her three best friends as ladies-in-waiting. The secret history of survival at French Court amidst fierce foes, dark forces, and a world of sexual intrigue.

Company Town (Sera Gamble). A scandal at a Naval base in Virginia touches the lives of both civilians and military personnel in the area, launching us into a multigenerational, multi-class, family and relationship series centered around two early 20something women who grew up together, were once best friends, but now are on opposite sides of the Townie/Military divide.

Oxygen (Meredith Averill). Passion and politics threaten the peace and an epic romance ignites between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind (The Orion 9) are integrated into a suburban high school ten years after they and hundreds of others landed on Earth and were immediately consigned to an internment camp where they’ve been imprisoned ever since.

The Originals (Julie Plec). The upcoming Vampire Diaries episode (airing 4/25/2013) would serve to set-up a potential new series in consideration for next season centering on the Original family, as Klaus returns to the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans — a town he helped build centuries ago — and is reunited with his diabolical former protégé Marcel. Elijah, intent on helping his self-destructive brother find redemption, must side with Marcel’s enemies in order to keep Klaus in line.

THURSDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media Insight's Blog

Nielsen Overnights (18-49)
A bump for CBS’s ‘Big Bang Theory’
Sitcom jumps to a 6.1 in 18-49s, up 13 percent from last week
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Feb. 8, 2013

CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” surged while Fox’s “American Idol” slid last night.

“Bang” jumped to a 6.1 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, up 13 percent over last week and well ahead of “Idol” in their shared half hour.

“Idol” averaged a 3.8 in its first half hour against “Bang” before growing a 4.4 in its second half hour. It averaged a season-low 4.1 for the night, off 9 percent from last week, when the two top-rated Thursday shows squared off for the first time.

“Idol” tied “Two and a Half Men” as the No. 2 show of the night behind “Bang.”

Elsewhere last night, CBS’s new drama “Elementary” didn’t get much of a Super Bowl lift. The show drew its best-ever rating behind Sunday’s game, a 7.8, but last night it was up only 5 percent from its previous Thursday episode, averaging a 2.3.

In fact, it finished second in the hour to ABC’s hot drama “Scandal,” which posted another series high with a 2.8.

The return of NBC’s “Community” improved on the show’s third-season finale last May. The fourth-season premiere averaged a 1.8 last night, jumping 38 percent from a 1.3 for its season ender.

It was also well above the 1.3 NBC had been averaging in the 8 p.m. timeslot this season.

Lead-out “Parks and Recreation” hit a season high with a 2.0 at 8:30 p.m.

But NBC’s 10 p.m. drama “Do No Harm” continued to struggle, posting a mere 0.7, off 0.2 from last week’s disastrous premiere. It probably won’t be in the timeslot much longer.

CBS led the night among 18-49s with a 3.5 average overnight rating and a 10 share. Fox was second at 3.1/9, ABC third at 2.4/7, Univision fourth at 1.7/5, NBC fifth at 1.4/4, CW sixth at 0.8/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.5/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-seven percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. CBS led with a 5.1 for “Bang” (6.1) and “Men” (4.1), followed by Fox with a 4.1 for “Idol.” NBC was third with a 1.9 for “Community” (1.8) and “Parks and Recreation” (2.0), Univision fourth with a 1.7 for “Por Ella Soy Eva,” ABC fifth with a 1.3 for a repeat of “Shark Tank,” CW sixth with a 1.1 for “The Vampire Diaries” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for “Pasion Prohibida.”

CBS was first again at 9 p.m. with a 3.2 for “Person of Interest,” while ABC moved to second with a 3.1 for “Grey’s Anatomy.” Fox was third with a 2.2 for “Glee,” Univision fourth with a 1.9 for “Amores Verdaderos,” NBC fifth with a 1.6 for “Office” (2.1) and “1600 Penn” (1.1), CW sixth with a 0.6 for “Beauty and the Beast” and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for “La Patrona.”

ABC took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.8 for “Scandal,” with CBS second with a 2.3 for “Elementary.” Univision was third with a 1.4 for “Amor Bravio,” NBC fourth with a 0.7 for “Do No Harm” and Telemundo fifth with a 0.4 for “El Rostro de la Venganza.”

CBS was also first for the night among households with an 8.8 average overnight rating and a 14 share. Fox was second at 5.7/9, ABC third at 4.9/8, NBC and Univision tied for fourth at 2.0/3, CW sixth at 1.3/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.7/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/a-bump-for-cbss-big-bang-theory/

* * * *

TV Notes
Best tube bets this weekend
By Louisa Ada Seltzer, Media Life Magazine - Feb. 8, 2013

FRIDAY

Best bet on broadcast: Fox, “Touch,” 8 p.m. Season premiere. The Kiefer Sutherland drama kicks off its season with a two-hour episode.

Best bet on cable: TLC, “Something Borrowed, Something New,” 10 p.m. Series premiere. Brides-to-be choose between brand new dresses and older dresses with sentimental value. Read our TV critic’s take on the show here.

Top sporting event: ESPN, “NBA Basketball,” 8 p.m. Two of the league’s best teams, the Heat and the Clippers, face off in Miami.

SATURDAY

Best bet on broadcast: ABC, “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown,” 8 p.m. The annual special from 1975, followed by the newer “A Charlie Brown Valentine.”

Best bet on cable: Science, “Odd Folks Home,” 9:30 p.m. Series premiere. A look at unusual people, to put it nicely. Tonight one person shows off a taxidermy collection, while another details his obsession with an inventor (who is dead).

Top sporting event: ESPN, “College Basketball,” 9 p.m. A tough conference game for No. 11 Louisville at No. 25 Notre Dame.

SUNDAY

Best bet on broadcast: CBS, “Grammy Awards,” 8 p.m. LL Cool J hosts the 55th annual event, with performers including Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

Best bet on cable: AMC, “The Walking Dead,” 9 p.m. In the winter premiere, Rick makes a rescue attempt and a new group shows up at the prison.

Top sporting event: CBS, “College Basketball,” 1 p.m. No. 1 Indiana takes on Big Ten rival Ohio State in Columbus.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/best-tube-bets-this-weekend-365/

I assume Rake will be the US version of the Australian show, that runs on Directv: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Looking forward to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Yeah, really looking forward to S.H.I.E.L.D.

TV Notes
'Do No Harm' Pulled From NBC Schedule After 2 Episodes
By Tim Kenneally, TheWrap.com - Feb. 8, 2013

NBC's new drama "Do No Harm" has been pulled from the network's schedule after two episodes, the network said Friday.

The series got off to a very poor start in the ratings with its Jan. 31 premiere, drawing a 0.9 rating/3 share in the key 18-49 demo -- the lowest rating for an in-season scripted premiere in the history of the four networks. The show dropped another 22 percent to a 0.7/2 with its second episode Thursday.

The network will run repeats of "Law & Order: SVU" in its Thursdays at 10 p.m. timeslot for the next two weeks.

The "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde"-themed series starred "Rescue Me" alum Steven Pasquale as Dr. Jason Cole, a neurosurgeon with an evil alternate personality that emerges every night at 8:25 p.m. and stays around exactly 12 hours. Which, interestingly, is not that much shorter than the series lasted.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/do-no-harm-pulled-nbc-schedule-76936

* * * *

TV Notes
Christina Applegate Leaving 'Up All Night'
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - Feb. 8, 2013

Christina Applegate is leaving "Up All Night," the new-parent sitcom built around her and co-star Will Arnett, in what amounts to a no-confidence vote in its latest attempt at reinvention.

The departure comes as the Lorne Michaels-produced series was to have gone back into production this month with a new format. But Applegate has left before the show could resume taping.

“It’s been a great experience working on 'Up All Night,' but the show has taken a different creative direction and I decided it was best for me to move on to other endeavors," said Applegate, who begins filming "Anchorman 2" this month. "Working with Lorne Michaels has been a dream come true and I am grateful he brought me into his TV family. I will miss the cast, producers and crew, and wish them the best always.”

Applegate's exit may be the final blow for the stuggling comedy as NBC decides if it can or should be saved. It faces a series of difficult questions: Should it recast Applegate's role? Write off the mother of a newborn? Or just call it quits?

There was no immediate word from the network Friday.

The comedy has already been dealt a slew of changes, including the exit of creator Emily Spivey. It also increased co-star Maya Rudolph's role before it debuted in fall 2011, in part because of her role in the hit "Bridesmaids."

NBC announced in October that the series would shut down for three months and use that time to convert the show from a single-camera to multi-camera comedy.

It was scheduled to go back into production this month to shoot five new episodes that, for the first time, would have been taped before a live audience.

Other shows -- most recently CBS's "Two and a Half Men" -- have pressed on after losing lead actors. But most of those shows were hits. "Up All Night" has earned barely passable ratings since debuting last season.

In a Television Critics Association panel last month, NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke was asked why NBC didn't just junk the show and find a new vehicle for its cast, which also includes Maya Rudolph.

"There’s a lot of thought that went into all of that and conversation with all the talent involved," Salke replied. "That was a show that wasn’t performing the way we needed it to. We are not fools. We know that that talented cast of actors, they’re not growing on trees. They still felt like there were stories to tell in that world and were collectively really passionate about continuing to tell them, as well as Lorne Michaels and that group. So we started looking at the show and thinking what was the best format for it, given that they felt a little tied down by the format they were in and the creative direction of the show."

When NBC announced the format change for "Up All Night" in October, entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said the network and Michaels agreed it would "infuse the show with more energy."

Greenblatt noted that both Rudolph and Applegate had recently hosted Michaels' "Saturday Night Live" and "love the reaction from a live audience." He also said he believed the show could "make a seamless tradition to the new format."

He also suggested the change was essential to the show's survival, saying, "this will give us another show to consider for next season in this new format."

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/christina-applegate-leaving-all-night-76896

TV Notes
NBC’s ’1600 Penn’ Pulled For One Week
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Feb. 8, 2013

Do No Harm will not be the only NBC Thursday midseason series MIA next week. Fellow low-rated newcomer 1600 Penn will be benched next Thursday for a new Office. I hear the move was prompted by The Office Valentine Day episode, which NBC brass loved. It came in supersized, so a decision was made to expand it into two back-to-back originals.

For now the plan is for 1600 Penn to return the following Thursday, Feb. 21. 1600 Penn is coming off a series low 1.1 18-49 rating last night, down 15% from its previous original. It served as a lead-in to Do No Harm (0.7), which got the axe earlier this afternoon.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/nbcs-1600-penn-pulled-for-one-week/

Technology/Business Notes
Microsoft's nightmare is Dell and Apple's reversal
By Scott Martin, USA Today - Feb. 8, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's worst nightmare might go something like this: PC juggernaut Dell would become so downtrodden it would become private equity bait and Apple so rich investors would be fighting for its cash.

But that's just what's happened. The technology landscape's transformation came into ultra high-definition this week with Dell going private in a leveraged buyout after years of PC struggles, and Apple under assault by an activist shareholder for its huge cash pile.

Dell on Tuesday agreed to be picked apart in the $24.4 billion buyout of his namesake PC brand, the largest concession to date of a battered industry stricken with Apple envy. Experts say Dell -- whose deal now faces opposition from its largest investor -- is in slow retreat from the low-margin PC business and needs to lever up to refocus on another try.

While Dell needs money, Apple's apparently got too much. On Thursday, billionaire hedge fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital sued Apple in a battle to unlock greater dividends from its whopping $137 billion cash war chest.

One can now hardly imagine an era 16 years ago, in which Microsoft's then-CEO Bill Gates offered Apple co-founder Steve Jobs a merciful helping hand with $150 million and promises to ship future Office software to Macs. No less, on the stage at MacWorld to His Steveness.

Nor that Michael Dell and current Ballmer would emerge as two of tech's laughingstocks for later missing tech's biggest turns and ridiculing Apple along the way. Yet there were signs along the way of runaway hubris.

Apple's meteoric rise on iPhones needs no introduction. But Ballmer certainly missed that call. Laughing, he said of the iPhone's debut: "$500, fully subsidized, with a plan, I said man, that is the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard."

Founder Dell, whose company has suffered solid drubbings from iPads eating away PC market share, sounded off on Apple's reboot shorty after Jobs' company took the Microsoft investment. Here's what he said could be done to fix Jobs' Apple: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."

Now Dell is the one getting a helping hand from Microsoft -- to the tune of $2 billion in its leveraged buyout -- and is giving the money back to shareholders at $13.65 a share.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on Hewlett-Packard's future in PCs. So stay tuned for Nightmare on Ballmer Street, Part II.

And need one even say what Part III of this trilogy looks like?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/02/08/apple-dell-microsoft-iphone-ipad-steve-ballmer-bill-gates-einhorn-greenlight-capital/1903001/

TV Notes
'Supah Ninjas,' filmed in Pittsburgh, set to air
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Feb. 8, 2013

Nickelodeon's "Supah Ninjas" spent several months last summer filming its second season at 31st Street Studios in the Strip District, and these Pittsburgh-produced episodes will begin airing on the cable channel at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

A live-action, scripted adventure series, "Supah Ninjas" follows three teens -- Mike (Ryan Potter), an awkward high schooler who learns he's descended from a long line of ninjas; best friend Owen (Carlos Knight); and Amanda (Gracie Dzienny), Mike's longtime crush -- who receive guidance from a hologram of Mike's dead grandfather (George Takei, "Star Trek").

The series was created by Leo Chu and Eric Garcia. Mr. Garcia grew up in Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair, and he's a 1986 graduate of Upper St. Clair High School. He was excited to bring his TV series back to his hometown.

"Overall the experience was pretty fantastic," Mr. Garcia said in a phone interview last week. "Everything went smoothly, and we are very happy with the product. I think the crew there is truly fantastic. ... For me, personally, being from Pittsburgh, there's so much work ahead when you start that there's a kind of giddiness when you realize, I am really doing this: Shooting my show in my hometown. It was controlled excitement for four months."

While Pittsburgh has had pilot episodes and scenes from prime-time shows filmed locally, "Supah Ninjas" is the first TV series to be filmed locally that I can remember since the end of production on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" in 2000.

Mr. Garcia said filming outside a production center (New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto) posed no difficulties when it came to securing equipment. If anything was a challenge, it was finding clothing for the cast to wear.

"We have great seamstresses and a great team, but a lot of shows are done in California, and everything is available all the time," he said, noting that out-of-season clothes were more difficult to find in Pittsburgh. "You can get stuff online, but that's not the same as having a [production assistant] run out to get something in Orange County if you have to."

One of the challenges for getting TV shows to film in Pittsburgh is that established actors often don't want to be away from their homes for nine months of the year. A cable show with a shorter episode order or a network series with a less experienced cast (that wields less leverage on decisions such as filming location) is probably an easier fit for a non-production-center city. "Supah Ninjas" fit neatly in both categories.

Mr. Garcia said the show's cast enjoyed its Pittsburgh experience, especially Ms. Dzienny, who was able to film closer to her hometown of Toledo, Ohio.

"We missed some of our favorite restaurants in L.A., but we all found some other new favorites in Pittsburgh," Mr. Garcia said. "It had a summer camp feeling."

He tried to visit his parents -- D.A. Garcia and Toby Garcia -- in the South Hills as often as possible, when he wasn't spending weekends rewriting scripts.

Mr. Garcia praised the show's locally hired actors, including some recent Carnegie Mellon University graduates, and local actor Randy Kovitz ("Parks and Recreation"), who served as acting coach for the young cast.

"He would help our kids run lines and just kind of guide them," Mr. Garcia said. "He's a great teacher and has great insights, and he was a joy to have on set for all of us."

Viewers should not expect to see a lot of Pittsburgh in "Supah Ninjas," which mostly filmed on the 31st Street stages. Filming outside, on location, tends to be more expensive and time-consuming.

Now Mr. Garcia and his team await word of a third-season pickup for the show.

"I'd love to do it again in Pittsburgh if we could manage that," he said. "Our job is to make a great show, and now it's up to the audience. We've got to bring the eyeballs and have them enjoy it and want more."

'BSG' prequel

Syfy's latest "Battlestar Galactica" spinoff, the prequel series "Blood & Chrome," failed, with the cable network opting not to order additional episodes beyond the pilot. The pilot already has been available online but now gets a cable airing at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Set after "Caprica" but before "BSG," "Blood & Chrome" follows fighter pilot William Adama (Luke Pasqualino, "The Borgias") on his first mission after he's assigned to Galactica as an ensign. Paired with a battle-weary officer, Coker (Ben Cotton, "Alcatraz"), Adama must escort a mysterious passenger to her destination.

"Blood & Chrome" has more action than the dull, meandering soap of "Caprica," but in this outing it's also less dynamic than "BSG." Quality-wise, it falls somewhere in between with loads of action, adventure and space battles, plus a cameo of sorts from one of the original "BSG" stars. But it feels less like a pilot than a one-off adventure. The film pretty much introduces just two characters who might be regulars, so where it would have gone in series is a mystery.

Written by "BSG" veteran Michael Taylor, the pilot was largely filmed against a green screen with settings inserted using computer graphics. This gives the show's backgrounds a desaturated, sometimes fuzzy look, but it's better than I expected it would be. Most importantly, it's not a distraction and gives viewers a sense of being right back on Galactica. (Scenes in the dark of Galactica's interior work better than some scenes on a bright ice planet that come off as less realistic.)

At the TV critics press tour last month in Pasadena, Calif., Syfy original content president Mark Stern said he hoped the "Blood & Chrome" TV movie would not be the end of the line for "BSG" programming on Syfy.

"It did really well [as an online streaming series on Machinima.com]. They were really pleased with it, and we're talking with them about possibly doing another season. We're airing it in February ... and I have a secret hope it takes off for us," he said.

Mr. Stern said Syfy opted not to order a "Blood & Chrome" TV series because it was expensive to produce and because of the ratings flop of "Caprica," the first "BSG" prequel series.

In addition to Sunday's airing on Syfy, "Blood & Chrome" will be released Feb. 19 on DVD ($29.98) and in a DVD-Blu-ray combo pack ($34.98) with deleted scenes and a 23-minute featurette on special effects.

TV on DVD updates

A long-awaited quality drama finally will be out this year on DVD: "China Beach" is now available for preorder from Time Life at chinabeachondvd.com.

A 21-disc set of the whole series sells for $199.95 and includes all 62 episodes plus 10 hours of bonus material, including new interviews with many cast members, including star Dana Delany. DVD box sets are expected to ship in mid-April. Later this year the "China Beach" DVDs will be sold via retail outlets.

In addition, a 25th anniversary collector's edition of "China Beach," including scripts from the series signed by the cast and four color photos, sells for $274.95 from Time Life via its online site.

"China Beach" was not offered on DVD earlier because of its extensive use of 1960s music. At the time the show was made (1988-91), TV shows were not released on DVD. So contracts for the use of music on TV shows contained no provision to allow for a DVD release. Time Life spent more than a year clearing almost 500 music copyrights so that the DVDs can be released with almost all of the original music.

For fans of TNT's "Southland," back with new episodes next week (10 p.m. Wednesday), a DVD box set that includes the second, third and fourth seasons of the cop drama is now available, retailing for $59.98. Special features include a tour of the show's filming locations in the Los Angeles area, unaired scenes and selected scene commentary. In addition, the 26 episodes are noted to be "uncensored," so presumably all the profanity that is bleeped on TNT will not be bleeped in the DVD release.

Another show I've gotten questions about is "Hit & Miss," which aired last summer on DirecTV's Audience Network. The British import stars Chloe Sevigny as a transgender contract killer, and it will be on DVD from BFS on March 5.

Channel surfing

CBS signed "NCIS" star Mark Harmon to a new deal and renewed his drama for the 2013-14 TV season. ... C-SPAN will air a new historic series, "First Ladies: Influence and Image" (9 p.m. Mondays beginning Feb. 18). ... A&E's inexplicably popular "Duck Dynasty" returns for a third season at 9 p.m. Feb. 27. ... Following this weekend's Justin Bieber-hosted "Saturday Night Live," Christoph Waltz will host on Feb. 16 with musical guest Alabama Shakes. ... USA's "NFL Characters Unite," featuring a segment with Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu mentoring two bullied Pittsburgh teens, airs tonight at 7. ... NBC's "Smash" was a ratings disaster in its second-season premiere, drawing just 4.5 million viewers overall and faring especially poorly in the advertiser-coveted age 18-49 demographic. ... John Corbett ("United States of Tara") will star in a proposed CBS spinoff from "NCIS: Los Angeles" that follows the "Red Team" as they solve cases all over America. An episode of "NCIS: Los Angeles" airing later this season will serve as a backdoor pilot. ... E! will air a docuseries this summer about British pop band The Wanted. ... USA Network will air "Schindler's List" commercial-free at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 with an introduction by director Steven Spielberg. ... Deadline.com reports that Cedric The Entertainer will replace Meredith Vieira as host of the syndicated "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the fall. ... Five months after airing on WQED, "Why We Dance: The Story of THON," about Penn State's IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, will air on cable's Big Ten Network at 10 p.m. Tuesday. ... Ricki Lake's attempt to revive her daytime talk show has failed. The show was canceled this week after one season. ... Canceled NBC prime-time game show "Minute to Win It" will rise from the dead this fall. GSN ordered 40 new episodes. ... "Downton Abbey" on PBS's "Masterpiece" rated No. 2 -- albeit a distant No. 2 -- behind "Super Bowl XLVII" Sunday night, drawing 6.6 million viewers compared to the 108.7 million who watched the big game.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/tuned-in-ninjas-filmed-in-pittsburgh-to-air-673884/

TV Notes
Super Bowl Power Outage Caused by Device Made to Prevent Blackouts
By Alexander C. Kaufman, TheWrap.com - Feb. 8, 2013

The power outage that left the Superdome in partial darkness for more than half an hour last Sunday during the Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers was caused by a device meant to prevent a blackout.

Entergy New Orleans, the electrical company that powers the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, said Friday that it traced the cause to an electrical relay instrument specifically installed to protect equipment in the event of a cable failure at the stadium.

Though the relay device functioned flawlessly during a number of high-profile events there -- including the New Orleans Bowl, the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers, and the Sugar Bowl -- the device wrongly signaled a switch to open, causing the power outage.

The device has since been removed and a replacement is "being evaluated," Entergy said.

“While some further analysis remains, we believe we have identified and remedied the cause of the power outage and regret the interruption that occurred during what was a showcase event for the city and state,” Charles Rice, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, said in a statement.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/super-bowl-blackout-caused-device-made-prevent-blackout-76951

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Feb. 9, 2013

THE WALKING DEAD MARATHON
AMC, 10:00 a.m. ET
The second half of Season 3 begins tomorrow night on AMC – and as a lengthy, gory, emotional prelude, AMC precedes it with a two-day marathon presenting all episodes from the beginning of Season 2. The action begins this morning, as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) leads his ragtag gang of survivors out of Atlanta and onto the open road. In their future, which is now the show’s familiar, impressive past: a farm and a prison. And as a bonus, enjoy this Video Worth Watching timely treat: an animated sampling of the Robert Kirkman graphic novel that inspired the series.

VIVA ZAPATA!
TCM, 8 p.m. ET
Here’s a trio worth watching any time, and all three of them are mavericks: Star Marlon Brando, writer John Steinbeck and director Elia Kazan, all teaming up for the same 1952 film version of the 1911 Mexican revolution.

THE GRAMMYS WILL GO ON: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY
CBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last year, Whitney Houston died one day before the Grammy Awards were scheduled to be televised – and backstage, producers and performers scrambled to react, eventually concocting a tribute led by Jennifer Hudson singing “I Will Always Love You.” This one-hour special, a teaser to tomorrow night’s Grammys, goes behind the scenes of last year’s hugely popular Grammy telecast, with participants interviewed about the chronology and impact of the last-minute revamp.

RIPPER STREET
BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET
Emma Rigby guest stars in this new episode as Lucy, a confident prostitute who applies for a job at Long Susan’s whorehouse – only to be turned away, and out on the streets, where things are a lot more dangerous. Seeking asylum, in her case, may indeed lead to an asylum.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
NBC, 11:29 p.m. ET
Justin Bieber is both the guest host and musical guest tonight. He’s been on SNL before, but this is his first time doing double duty. Whether that makes the prospects for this show twice as good, or twice as bad, depends upon whether you’re susceptible to Bieber fever.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Yay to the snowblower inventor....

Also tonite HBO 8:00pm:

I haven't seen it yet, looking forward to it.