ABC's Lost was the most watched TV show online in May, ranking up more than 36.4 million total video streams, according to Nielsen VideoCensus. Another ABC show, Grey's Anatomy, was the second most watched show online with the network's Desperate Housewives rounding out the top three. All three ABC shows brought in about 80 million online viewers for the month.
Variety posits that May's season finale cliffhangers put the ABC shows on top of the list. That's a fine theory, but here's another one – ABC led the online pack because Nielsen VideoCensus doesn't count any viewing done via Hulu, arguably the most popular site for streaming free online video content from TV networks.
Steven Spielberg, the man behind sci-fi movie classics like E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is producing an alien-invasion drama pilot for TNT. The unnamed series would potentially take place on Earth six months after evil aliens wipe out most of humanity.
We still don't know if Spielberg will direct the pilot, but the award-winning filmmaker reportedly wants to cast Noah Wyle to play the potential series' lead. The former E.R. star would play the leader of a group of human rebels trying to bring down the big bad aliens.
Greek seems to be one of those shows that has a fairly big following but no one really talks about. Maybe it's because it's on ABC Family or maybe it's because there are other similar dramas on other networks that get more attention. But last night was the season finale of the show. So Casey has a lot to think about after...falling into a manhole?
When I first heard that there was a show coming up called The Philanthropist (which isn't an easy word to type out, by the way), I thought it was another reality show. Maybe something where a contestants compete to see who wins more money for charity or something. But it actually stars James Purefoy as a rich guy who goes around the world helping people. It also stars Jesse L. Martin and Neve Campbell. Here's a scene from the pilot. It starts June 24.
(S05E02) How could a gruesome, blood-splattered murder scene in a Lincoln Town Car leave no trail of blood outside the vehicle? Why would a kidnapper ask for the unlikely sum of $1,190,476.19 as a ransom? Who was putting the zip in Provenza's step after his hound dog attitude about love last week? All that and more was covered in the episode, and after a rather worrisome venture into the random plot devices in the Season Premiere, The Closer was back on track with a nifty mystery.
In the midst of solving the crime, which alternated between being an abduction/kidnapping or a murder, Brenda was also caring for Kitty. If you've wondered if Brenda had a nurturing side, wonder no more. Brenda's ministering to her pussycat involved an IV drip and injections for kidney troubles. Brenda also enlisted Will as her helper in treating the pet. When it comes to Brenda, Pope still has a soft spot and she can get him to do just about anything -- and Brenda knows it, too.
(S01E02) Nurse Jackie is such an interesting show. Just about every scene has both drama and humor, though sometimes it leans more one way than the other. Like the opening scene with Jackie cutting her hubby's hair that ends up with them having sex on the kitchen floor:
Kevin: "What am I rolling around on down here?" Jackie: "Fruity Pebbles." Kevin: "Feels more like Cap'n Crunch."
You do have to wonder how Jackie is able to function so well doing all those drugs. I guess she's built up a tolerance level, but it sort of drove the point home when hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus accidentally swiped some of Jackie's Percocet-laced Sweet-N-All and ended up loopy.
I wasn't a Melrose Place person (my nighttime soap was Knot's Landing), though I did watch that episode where it blew up. Now The CW has a new version of the show, and it's filled with a few characters from the old FOX show and many new faces. Oh, and if you were wondering, there seems to be an abundance of sex, drugs, parties, fast cars, loose women, backstabbing, affairs, and loud music. Here's an extended preview.
I'm three episodes into season two of The Wire. I tried watching it online as Usama suggested in last week's Jane After Dark comments (thank you for that awesome site!), but decided to just buy the DVDs, because I stop and start a lot and need easy access to it. So I looked around town and found a fairly reasonably priced season two at FYE. It's new; no one seems to have any used sets, which makes me think - as you all have suggested - that no one ever gets rid of their DVDs of The Wire. They keep them around to watch again and again. I'll probably just buy each season as I work my way through the series.
And speaking of starting and stopping, The Wire does not get any easier to watch while doing something else at the same time. Whenever I try to do that, I end up replaying those parts again, because there's way too many subtleties to be only half-paying attention.
Just because CBS is changing where the new medical drama Three Rivers will be filmed, doesn't mean the show is in trouble. After all, a lot of shows are retooled once the pilot is filmed. However, they recently dumped the leading lady, Julia Ormond, too. To me this says that Three Rivers is shifting focus, and I don't mean by filming in a Pittsburgh hospital set that they're building in Los Angeles instead of the real thing in Pennsylvania.
It could well mean that CBS is thinking about making Three Rivers a star vehicle for Alex O'Loughlin. CBS has The Mentalist in mind for Three Rivers, with Alex becoming the next golden pin-up, just like Simon Baker. I mean, take a look at this publicity picture. That's a muscle shirt more than a surgical scrubs top. And don't get me wrong, Alex has the body to pull it off.
It's getting hard to remember all of these TV shows, isn't it? Right now we have both The Mentalist and Mental, and this fall we'll have CBS' Miami Trauma, which shouldn't be confused with another show, NBC's Trauma. And then there's The Good Wife, which isn't the same as The Goode Family.
We have about 27 new medical shows to keep track of this fall. Here's the other NBC hospital show coming this fall, Mercy. It stars Michelle Trachtenberg, James LeGros, Delroy Lindo, Jaime Lee Kirchner, and Taylor Schilling and follows each story through the eyes of the nurses. Maybe they'll like this show more than they like Nurse Jackie.
Brian Austin Green won't be fighting Skynet or returning to prime time soaps next fall.
Last week, we reported that the former Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star was in talks to join the The CW teen drama One Tree Hill. Nerds like me, who came to love Green as TSCC's badass, cyborg-killing Derek Reese, were crushed. But it's time for those nerd hearts to heal. It turns out Green's reps didn't make a deal, and he won't be moving to One Tree Hill.
Instead, OTH has turned to Lipstick Jungle's Robert Buckley, who recently showed up on the network's much-praised but still canceled drama Privileged. Buckley will play the young, sexy sports agent role that was offered to Green.
I've talked at length in the past about how much I've loved all the creative taglines Entourage has featured over it's previous five seasons. They're short and witty, yet the brevity always gets across the point of the season too. The latest promotional campaign for Entourage's upcoming sixth season is no exception:
"Life changes. Friends don't."
When we last left Vinny and the boys, they were gearing up for Marty Scorsese's Great Gatsby re-imagining and it began with moving home to Queens. Speculation seems to be leaning towards Vince finally getting his due and being recognized for what's sure to be a stand-out performance in a Scorsese classic.
The Shield may have wrapped its run this past year, but that doesn't mean creator Shawn Ryan is done with FX. The network did let his vision run its course to completion, so I'm sure he's quite comfortable there. I know I am. This time, he's executive producing with Ocean's Eleven scribe Ted Griffin on the new dramedy Terriers, about a detective who teams up with a young hot-shot. FX has already greenlit Terriers, and Griffin has turned in the scripts so it's down to casting.
OK, I have to admit that I was a little uneasy watching David Carradine's performance last night. Maybe it's the fact that he died just last week, but watching him in a wheelchair, unable to move and just staring into space, that was a little strange.
I also have to say I'm not a fan of this show's hero. What's up with that evil smile at inappropriate moments and his overall weird demeanor? Is he always like that?
ABC will kick off its upcoming fall season in earnest Sept. 21 with three nights of Dancing With the Stars. The hit show – that continues to gain viewers no matter how much I wish it would die and stay dead -- will lead off the network's prime time schedule on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays before being reduced to two nights a week to make room for a pair new comedies.
There's still no word on exactly when Lost will return, but the new mystery drama Flash Forward will bow Sept. 24 at 8 p.m., right before the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy.
The new seasons of Ugly Betty and Supernanny will debut in October with several new and renewed shows – like Scrubs, Brothers & Sisters, Eastwick and Private Practice – expected to show up on the network schedule later.