Joel Keller
- http://www.joelkeller.com
Joel Keller is a freelance writer from New Jersey. He used to be an IT guy, but decided that writing about Gilmore Girls was more fulfilling. His writing has appeared in Jane, New Jersey Monthly, The New
York Times and Radar, among other publications and websites. He hopes he can write off an flat-screen TV as a tax deduction.
Posted Jul 18th 2008 8:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: TCA Press Tour, Weeds, Reality-Free
Some quickie news from Showtime, presented by entertainment president Bob Greenblatt:
- Ilene Chaiken is developing a spin-off for The L Word, which will feature a yet unspecified character from the original show, whose upcoming season will be its last. There will be an open-ended plot in the season finale that Chaiken will continue online, then pick up if the spin-off comes to pass.
- Two more 13-episode seasons of Weeds have been ordered.
- A seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! has been ordered, making it Showtime's longest-running show.
- A reality/documentary show called Lock 'N Load has been ordered; it's filmed in a gun shop, and it shows the various people who purchase guns and "exploit their right to bear arms," according to the press release.
- Two new pilots have been ordered and filmed. The United States of Tara, produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Diablo Cody, stars Toni Collette as a suburban mother with multiple-personality disorder. John Corbett stars as her husband (yes... it's a comedy). The other pilot is tentatively-titled Nurse Jackie. It stars Edie Falco as a New York City nurse with a painkiller addiction who sometimes crosses moral lines to help her patients (no... it's not a comedy). Tara will begin airing in winter 2009, and Jackie will begin airing in late spring or early summer.
Posted Jul 18th 2008 5:26PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
After the executive session, it was CBS News' turn to face the critics and talk about their election coverage. Via satellite from their New York studios was
CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric,
Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer, senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, and CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus.
Right away, a reporter brought up Katie Couric's job status. "I'm glad you got right to it," Couric joked. "I thought [the speculation] had died down considerably." She said she "can't control what media writers write. We live in an echo chamber," with media reporters more fascinated by her status than the general public is. "The attention befuddles me," she continued. She's concentrating on doing "the best job I can."
Continue reading As far as Katie Couric knows, she's staying - TCA Report
Posted Jul 18th 2008 3:26PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, TCA Press Tour, Moonlight, Reality-Free
The first day of the combined CBS / CW / Showtime part of the tour kicked off with the executive session from CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. Before she got on stage, the network showed a montage of their shows. It was then I realized, "Boy, I really
don't watch anything on this network, do I?" I mean, outside of the Monday comedies and
The Price is Right, there isn't one show on the Eye net that I tune in on a daily basis.
Anyway, she addressed the departure of William Peterson from
CSI, just about right off the bat, giving the gathered writers a clue as to the nature of the character who will be coming in to fill his void. Oh, and Tassler is studying to become a cantor. For some reason, a reporter asked her about that.
Continue reading CBS executive session: Peterson's CSI departure, Moonlight fans, and a different sensibility - TCA Report
Posted Jul 18th 2008 11:47AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, TCA Press Tour, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
I wanted to wait a bit before I posted about the ABC showrunner panel, because a) I already posted about the "news" from
Shonda Rhimes about Katherine Heigl's statements, and b) I wanted to think about why these panels seem to be so much more informative than the individual show panels?
We'll get to that more later. On the panel were Rhimes (
Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice), Marc Cherry (
Desperate Housewives), Silvio Horta
(Ugly Betty), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
(Lost), and Greg Berlanti (seemingly the rest of ABC's schedule). As you'd expect, Rhimes got the Heigl questions, Lindelof and Cuse got the most esoteric questions, and Chery made the most jokes. The funniest line, though, came from Horta.
Continue reading ABC show-runner panel: Heigl, Lost's endpoint, and musical theater - TCA Report
Posted Jul 18th 2008 10:44AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: TCA Press Tour, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, Reality-Free
The photo to the right is of
Dirty Sexy Money (and
Eli Stone and
Brothers & Sisters) EP Greg Berlanti, from the ABC show-runner panel. The reason why I post it is because ABC doesn't have any web-ready photos of either the
DSM or the
Private Practice panels for download, many hours after both panels. This despite promises that they would have web-ready pictures from the press tour up quickly. OK, cranky rant over.
Anyway, the panels for the two sophomore Wednesday shows didn't reveal all that much in the way of new info. We found out a little about what both Berlanti and
PP creator Shonda Rhimes have in store, and how they deal with returning from such a long break (ABC held back the two shows and
Pushing Daisies after the strike, making plans to restart in the fall).
Continue reading Dirty Sexy Money and Private Practice panels: Lots of resetting going on - TCA Report
Posted Jul 18th 2008 10:34AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Desperate Housewives, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
Thanks to Marc Cherry and Shonda Rhimes, the ABC show-runner panel was a good way to start the afternoon. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there, as the panels for
Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, and Desperate Housewives were surprisingly dull, especially considering the fact that Cherry and Rhimes returned for the
DH and
Practice panels, respectively.
Even something Cherry said that seemed like it would be news -- that he's going to end
DH after the seventh season -- turned out to be old hat, as he
announced the very same thing at the Winter 2007 tour. "Yeah, I've made the decision that after seven years, I will probably keel over in a hump and die," he said. "I love my baby, you know. I love working with these gals, but the idea of letting anyone else take the show from me kind of makes me sad and sick to my stomach."
Continue reading Desperate Housewives panel: Five years older, and surprisingly dull - TCA Report
Posted Jul 17th 2008 6:13PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Grey's Anatomy, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
The always lively ABC show-runner panel just ended. Included on the panel were Shonda Rhimes, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Marc Cherry, Greg Berlanti and Silvio Horta. Lindelof made some jokes, and Cherry tried to translate sports metaphors to musical theater metaphors. But we knew one question would come up a few times: How Rhimes reacted to Katherine Heigl's remark about removing herself from Emmy consideration for her work on
Grey's Anatomy this season.
What I didn't know was that the most interesting answers would come from my questions.
Continue reading Shonda Rhimes: Heigl requested lighter story in second half of season - TCA Report
Posted Jul 17th 2008 3:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
For some reason, reporters were kicked out of the ballroom so ABC could set up for this press conference. But all I saw when I walked in an hour later was palm trees and 1973-era ABC signs (like in the picture above). Wonder why I had to abandon my laptop for that?
Anyway, because many of the critics were fans of the BBC original, the gathered throng of testy TV watchers were eager to question the panel for ABC's version of
Life on Mars. It was a relatively small panel, with executive producers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, and stars Jason O'Mara and Michael Imperioli. You have to realize that having no pilot to base questions on makes us critics a cranky bunch, and the fact that the show is undergoing a show-runner change (from David E. Kelley to the Applebaum and Nemec), a massive recasting (all of the original pilot's cast, except for O'Mara, is being recast as we speak) and location change (LA to New York) only fuels more questions.
All things considered, the critics took it relatively easy on the panel.
Continue reading Life on Mars panel: A new mythology ... and many more choices - TCA Report
Posted Jul 17th 2008 2:22AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Game Show, TCA Press Tour, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
The remaining panels on ABC's first day were for
Eli Stone, the Ashton Kutcher-produced game show
Opportunity Knocks, and a panel for the upcoming Country Music Association events on the network. For the latter panel, Julianne Hough, who has twice partnered with the celebrity champion of
Dancing with the Stars, sang a few songs from her current country album. Pretty girl. Nice voice. Dancer's body. But that's all I can say about the panel, because I bolted shortly after she was done singing.
The
Eli Stone panel featured the entire cast along with executive producers Greg Berlanti (who seems to be producing two-thirds of ABC's scripted dramas) and Marc Guggenheim. Surprisingly enough, there was only one question about the presence of
Katie Holmes as a guest star this season. The reason why she's there is a shock -- they brought her in to get ratings! Will wonders never cease?
Continue reading ABC wrap-up: Eli Stone, a DWTSer sings, and Ashton Kutcher hates my question - TCA Report
Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Scrubs, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
By far, the funniest panel of ABC's first day at the press tour -- one that had Jimmy Kimmel question the network president and had Ashton Kutcher and his fellow producers bring up critics to play a miniature version of
Opportunity Knocks -- was the one for
Scrubs, which will air its eighth season on the network.
A panel with Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, and John C. McGinley couldn't
help but be funny, right? But if you've ever read interviews from the show, you'd know that creator Bill Lawrence is usually the one who steals the show. This time around, though, he had an assist from Neil Flynn, who had a few good zingers thrown in for good measure. One of them came when someone asked him if he knows the name of his character, which for seven years has always been known as "The Janitor."
More after the jump, including an episode spoiler...
Continue reading Scrubs panel: funny lines, backhanded remarks, and a "name" for the Janitor - TCA Report
Posted Jul 16th 2008 6:25PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Lost, Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, TCA Press Tour, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Reality-Free
After
Jimmy Kimmel left the room, ABC Entertainment Steve McPherson got on with the business of facing the press at his executive session. I kicked it off with a question about
Scrubs, following up on
what Bill Lawrence told me in May about a possible "next generation" ninth season.
"We do think there's an opportunity after (this eighth season)," said McPherson. "If any or all the cast is a part of that, I think there's a growth (opportunity) there. It's a show that, despite being moved around into like 17 time periods and really never being given the marketing support, has really performed unbelievably well on NBC." He went on to say that they hope "it won't be a one-season situation."
Other than that, most of the conversation revolved around the network's returning shows, which makes sense, since the network is only debuting a few new shows (none of which had pilots that the network thought were suitable for preview) this fall.
Continue reading ABC president: We're prioritizing returning shows, and Heigl is staying - TCA Report
Posted Jul 16th 2008 2:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, Industry, Talk Show, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
A funny thing happened at the beginning of the ABC executive session this morning. After ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson got on stage, said some opening remarks, and opened the floor to questions, someone got up and identified himself as Tom Weinerman of the
Sarasota Star-Herald Tribune. That was a bit unusual, as the reporters here never identify themselves before asking questions.
But then, people started recognizing the voice, or turned in the direction of the questioner, and realized what was going on: It was Jimmy Kimmel, and he had some pointed -- and funny -- questions for McPherson about the possibility of Jay Leno coming to ABC.
Continue reading Jimmy Kimmel asks ABC president about Leno - TCA Report
Posted Jul 16th 2008 2:02AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, The Shield, TCA Press Tour, Damages, Reality-Free
The FX panels on Tuesday were pretty uneventful,
aside from the news from network president John Landgraf. There was supposed to be a panel for
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that was mysteriously dropped from the schedule. I'm guessing that the boys figured they'd get too hammered at the FOX party the night before to handle questions from the reporters. Indeed, I witnessed Rob McElhenny and Glenn Howerton try to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl at the Santa Monica pier right after they pounded a couple of beers. Maybe canceling the panel was a smart idea.
Anyway, the three shows that paneled were
Damages, Sons of Anarchy, and
The Shield. More on what transpired after the jump.
Continue reading FX Round-up: Shield finale, Sons of Anarchy, and some words from Ted Danson - TCA Report
Posted Jul 16th 2008 12:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
I wasn't going to write an individual post about Monday's Fox News session, but a few things happened near the end of the panel that compelled me to write a bit about it, even if it's more than a day later. The panel, which consisted of
Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, former Bush administration guru and current Fox News analyst Karl Rove,
Harold Howard Wolfson, a newly-hired Fox News analyst who worked as the communications director on Hillary Clinton's campaign, and Fox News executive vice president John Moody.
I figured that the presence of Karl Rove on the panel would have had the drooling critics in the crowd ready to pounce. But, for the most part, the press conference started very cordially. Things started to get testy near the end though. What is surprising, however, is that the reporters didn't have more problems with Chris Wallace than Rove.
Continue reading Chris Wallace rips MSNBC... and us - TCA Report
Posted Jul 15th 2008 12:46PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Programming, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Pickups and Renewals, TCA Press Tour, Damages, Reality-Free
FOX's second day on TCA was given over to FX, and network president John Landgraf had some news:
- They are ordering an additional 19 episodes of Nip/Tuck. The show will be end its run in early 2011 with an even 100 episodes. Show-runner Ryan Murphy wil stay through the end of the run.
- Michael J. Fox will appear on a four episode arc of Rescue Me next season. He'll play Janet Gavin's new boyfriend, who is confined to a wheelchair.
- Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden will be a regular on second season of Damages.
- The network has ordered 39 more episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is in addition to 13 currently being produced for the upcoming season.
- They are ordering 13 episode of new comedy series Testees, created by Kenny Hotz (South Park - Kenny vs Spenny). Its about two friends in their early 30's who earn living as medical guinea pigs.
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