Posted Sep 17th 2008 2:02PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Early Looks, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
I got hooked on NBC's
Lipstick Jungle during its first season, and can't wait to see what happens with the girls in season two, premiering Wed., Sept. 24 at 10/9c. Look for my reviews of the show on
TV Squad, as well.
While I've already found my Mr. Right, I still identify with all three women in one way or another. Like movie exec Wendy (
Brooke Shields), I'm doing my best to balance career and family. Like Victory (
Lindsay Price), I have a whole bunch of dreams and goals on my list. And like Nico (
Kim Raver), I'm an overachieving workaholic. And if not for the aforementioned Mr. Right, I'd have a really tough time saying no to
Robert Buckley's bedroom eyes, too.
Continue reading Watch the Lipstick Jungle premiere online -- a week before it's on TV - VIDEOS
Posted Aug 5th 2008 1:20PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Industry, Programming, Boston Legal, CSI, Desperate Housewives, ER, House, Law and Order, Rescue Me, The Shield, The Simpsons, Smallville, Grey's Anatomy, Family Guy, Entourage, Prison Break, My Name Is Earl, Bones, Supernatural, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, King of the Hill, The Office, Dancing With The Stars, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, NCIS, Damages, Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Private Practice, Life, Dirty Sexy Money, Samantha Who?, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lipstick Jungle, Eli Stone, Reality-Free, Gossip Girl
It's coming. The table is set, the players are on the field, the sails are raised, and the pretty maids are all in a row. Of course, I speak of the 2008-09 television schedule. In just a few short weeks viewers will be able to dine on a number of favorite and new dishes that are being served by the networks as well as the increasing number of cable channels who are delving into original programming.
While other fall seasons have come and gone with nary a whimper, this season may be different. Due to the prolonged Writers Strike many shows ended their seasons quite early. Programs like Life, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Heroes haven't aired original episodes since the end of 2007. Heck, there hasn't been a new episode of The Shield since June of last year! So, the beginning of the 2008-09 season will be a second chance for some of these shows, particularly the ones that premiered last season, to show their worth to fans and the networks.
Continue reading TV Squad presents the 2008-09 fall schedule
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 10:28PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Sports, TCA Press Tour, Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Today was the very last day of the press tour here in Beverly Hills. It was "TCA Day," with members of the association (including me) going to the Warner Brothers lot to visit the sets of
ER, Pushing Daisies, and
Chuck, where we spoke to cast members and producers (Oh, we went to the set of
America's Best Dance Crew, but let's just forget I mentioned that one). Then we bused it over to the Fox lot, where Joss Whedon showed us around the set of
Dollhouse, and the entire cast of
King of the Hill gave a table read of their 250th episode. All this fun will be in upcoming posts later this summer.
Despite some of the griping you may have seen from me, it's been lots of fun. It's just a very tiring experience. Case in point: On Monday, NBC decided to close out the press conference portion of the tour by having us sit through ten panels, five of them after lunch. Here's a wrap-up post that goes over some of what went on yesterday that I haven't already covered.
Continue reading NBC wrap-up: Slater's split personality, and Selma Blair's a wise-ass - TCA Report
Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
When
Lipstick Jungle comes back for the new season on Wednesday, September 24, we already know that Wendy's life will be impacted by the appearance of her challenging, iconic mother Joyce, played by television great
Mary Tyler Moore.
Now comes news via E! Online that things will be getting more complicated for the
Lipstick Jungle with the addition of two more name stars;
Latino talents Carlos Ponce and Rosie Perez are both booked for guest roles.Continue reading Lipstick Jungle casting news es muy caliente
Posted Jun 18th 2008 7:07PM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: TV Royalty, Celebrities, Casting, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Television icon
Mary Tyler Moore guest star on NBC's Lipstick Jungle. She will play Wendy Healy's (Brooke Shields) mother Joyce, a retired high-powered executive. Joyce will force Wendy to question whether or not she can have it all: the successful career and the happy family. A trailblazer for working women back int he 1970s, Joyce's concerns for Wendy leave her overachieving daughter in a tailspin.
Of the guest starring role, Moore has commented, "I'm fortunate to have had a front row seat to the evolution of working women on television. It's been great fun to watch the strong female characters of
Lipstick Jungle go at it week after week. I absolutely adore Brooke and I'm delighted to be a part of a show which is so well written."
Brooke Shields feels lucky to have Moore on her show, which goes into its second season this fall: "I am excited and extremely honored to have an actress of Mary Tyler Moore's stature and talent join our show."
Lipstick Jungle premieres Wednesday September 24th at 10-11 p.m. ET.
Posted Apr 15th 2008 6:00PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: In the Limelight, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Good chemistry between TV couples is a rare commodity, but when Robert Buckley and Kim Raver heat up the screen as Kirby and Nico on
Lipstick Jungle, there's some major fireworks flying around.
Much of that spark can be attributed to Buckley, who inhabits the role of Kirby so well that it hardly seems like he's playing a part. Buckley took over the role from Will Toale, who played the part in the pilot episode.
The 26-year-old actor really hasn't been on the TV scene all that long. He got his start playing two roles on MyNetworkTV prime time dramas: photographer Michael Bauer on 2006's
Fashion House; and Matthew Wakefield on 2007's
American Heiress.
Continue reading Robert Buckley: In the Limelight
Posted Apr 15th 2008 11:01AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, 24, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, TV Squad Lists, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Last week's episode of The Office now ranks high on my list of Awkward TV Moments. It got me thinking about other all-time great awkward TV moments. Sure, we've all seen the episode where a disheveled Mary Richards shows up at the awards banquet wearing one fuzzy pink slipper. And the one where Frasier and Roz nearly do it on a cruise ship. But let's take a look at a few recent awkward TV moments.
1. Jan heaves a Dundee at Michael's flat-screen TV. Okay, we'll start with last week's episode of
The Office, in which Michael coerces Jim and Pam into attending a couples-only dinner party at his and Jan's condo. The entire episode is one long awkward moment, from Dwight showing up with his former babysitter as his date to Pam realizing she'll be held hostage for three hours, thanks to Jan's poor culinary planning. But the topper is when Michael and Jan's love spat escalates into a huge fight, ending with her heaving one of his treasured Dundee awards at his new (and tiny) flat-screen TV. The cops show up after the neighbors report a disturbance, and Michael ends up going home with Dwight.
Continue reading Ten awkward TV moments
Posted Mar 24th 2008 2:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, CSI, House, Law and Order, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Lipstick Jungle, Eli Stone
The world of primetime TV are primarily set in the real world. The real world based on the fiction they create. So,
Law and Order -- in all its incarnations -- is set in New York City, but it's not the real five boroughs. The newspapers they read are not
The New York Times, the
Post or the
Daily News. For contemporary TV fiction, reality is on the margins of the storytelling because you can't really set those characters in a real world. However, when the two worlds intersect, the results can be magic. Here's 8 big-time, primetime examples:
1) Cowboy Up TimeRemember the episode of
Lost when Ben wanted to convince Jack that he was in communication with the world outside the island? To prove that he was telling the truth, he showed Jack a video of the Boston Red Sox winning the world series in 2004. You can't get more real than that, right? And yet it was used in one of the most out of this world shows on the air. In fact, using
Lost's own terminology, the Red Sox video is a constant truth in a universe that's a complete fiction.
Continue reading Eight real world moments in reel TV
Posted Mar 21st 2008 10:38AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E07) "When fortune knocks, offer a chair." - Lorraine, the writerNBC advertised this week's episode of
Lipstick Jungle as the "season finale." Yet, about a month ago,
they ordered six more episodes of the series saying that season one would get 13 episodes. NBC probably doesn't want
LJ to face shows like
Lost; so the network probably decided to air those six episodes next season in a less threatening timeslot. Let's face it, the series, even if it definitely got better over time, is not the best out there. It benefited a lot from the strike since it aired without much of competition.
Even if the season finale could have been more rocking, it was a satisfying episode that left viewers with a few questions such as: Was Charles really cheating?, Did Nico take the right decision?, Did Joe have a one-night stand or was this woman a "regular"?, Will Victory forgive Joe since, technically, he didn't cheat?, etc.
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Chapter Seven: Carpe Threesome (season finale)
Posted Mar 14th 2008 10:41AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E06) "It must feel like a really horrible surprise party" - Kirby to WendyI felt sorry for Wendy as I watched about 4/5 of the episode unfold. (I had to tape the episode and the VCR decided to not be my friend and stopped around 45 minutes in! Thanks NBC for complete recaps of the episodes.) Not only did Wendy go to a meeting she didn't want to go but she had the unpleasant surprise to learn that not only one of her best friend has been lying to her for weeks but that Nico also flew her boy toy half across the world for a booty call!
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Chapter Six: Take the High Road
Posted Mar 7th 2008 7:42AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E05) Well, I am certainly enjoying
Lipstick Jungle more than
Cashmere Mafia. I like it so much that I jumped at the opportunity to fill in for
Isabelle and review this week's episode.
Of course, lots of people expected the two shows to be almost the same (just different nights and channels). And the shows do have similarities: big stars with big paychecks (Lucy Liu, Brooke Shields), female characters in powerful jobs, stupid titles, etc. But as I sat through the first few episodes of
Lipstick Jungle, I knew it would be a much more gratifying show.
LJ is nowhere near
Sex and the City or
Desperate Housewives, but it certainly has potential.
Okay, enough preamble. After the jump, I'll talk about "Chapter Five: Dressed to Kill," I promise.
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Chapter Five: Dressed to Kill
Posted Mar 4th 2008 10:27AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, In the Limelight, Celebrities, Lipstick Jungle
While the casting for the ladies to play the power brokers on NBC's
Lipstick Jungle was imperative, no less attention was paid for the men with whom those women would be romantically entwined. For the character of Joe Bennett, the enigmatic, high-powered, complicated Prince Charming with a dark side, producers had to be looking for just the right combination of sexual appeal and sensitive undercurrent. They found the right guy when
Andrew McCarthy was cast. The former Brat Packer could be the find of the TV season; the new McDreamy.
Continue reading Andrew McCarthy: In the Limelight
Posted Feb 29th 2008 9:35AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Lipstick Jungle
(S01E04) "People like us are easy targets." - Hector to NicoIf we look at what
Lipstick Jungle offers us, indeed, people in the movie, fashion, or magazine business are easy targets. Wendy's ex-nanny wrote a book, Victory's career was destroyed by one bad collection, and Nico had to face a fake lawsuit that had some truth to it (even Nico admits that what she did could be seen as sexual harassment).
This week's episode closed the books on the lawsuit Kirby filed against Nico but it didn't end their relationship. Why did he really do it? Even if Mike was the snake behind the ordeal, Kirby agreed to go forward yet all he wanted was Nico...
Continue reading Lipstick Jungle: Chapter Four: Bombay Highway
Posted Feb 25th 2008 9:40AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Lipstick Jungle
NBC's
Sex and the City-like fashionable show
Lipstick Jungle received an order of six extra episodes. This means that the series will get a first season of 13 episodes.
TV Guide reveals that the series, based on the book of the same name written by
SatC author Candace Bushnell, is winning its timeslot among women of the 18-49 and 18-34 categories.
Continue reading More Lipstick for NBC
Posted Feb 24th 2008 2:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Law and Order, Pickups and Renewals, Ratings, Lipstick Jungle
The fate of ABC's
Women's Murder Club has been determined...at least for the rest of this season. After a shake-up in the production team early this month which resulted in co-creators/producers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, as well and exec-producer R. Scott Gemmill, all being dispatched, Robert Nathan (
Law and Order) has been named showrunner.
Nathan will produce three more original episodes this season to be aired as early as April. This is good news for fans of the
femme detective series based on crime novelist James Pattersons' bestsellers. The hour drama premiered last October to generally poor reviews, but did well enough in the Nielsens to encourage ABC that they might have a hit on their hands. As the week's passed, the ratings dipped. The ten episodes that aired averaged a 6.1 rating/11 share; 38th place overall. Not gangbusters, but pretty good.
Continue reading Three new Women's Murder Clubs to come
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