Boston-related stories
Posted Nov 19th 2009 3:31PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Reality-Free, Fringe
One of the great TV characters right now is the mysterious bald Observer on FOX's
Fringe. And he's popped up in other places as well, including FOX baseball game coverage.
This pic was taken this morning at South Station in Boston (larger version
here). Many mysterious bald guys standing around. Also, they were
handing out these. I wonder if this freaked anyone out after that
Aqua Teen Hunger Force promo fiasco.
[thanks to Jeff for the tip]
Posted Apr 14th 2009 10:19AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
I recall a scene from the movie
To Be Or Not To Be, in which Mel Brooks tells the Nazis they aren't backing down from continuing an anti-Nazi sketch. He quite adamantly trumpets "We are not backing down!". The Nazis then in retaliation threaten to close his theater, to which he responds "We're backing down."
The same thing just happened in Boston to that NBC affiliate that
wanted to replace the 10 PM Leno slot with a local news broadcast.
WHDH has relented to the network after being threatened with the loss of their NBC affiliation. Obviously, this is a sign of concern at the local level that a 10 PM Leno show would lose advertising dollars. Or perhaps the owner just doesn't find Leno to be that funny.
I can see this as an HBO movie in the future. It would be called something like "Lenogate" and have the subtitle: "Thou shalt honor thy parent company." If this does end up on HBO, be sure to give me proper credit.
Posted Apr 6th 2009 8:12AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Industry, Programming, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
We told you the other day about Boston station WHDH and their
decision to show another local newscast instead of Jay Leno's new show at 10PM. Now NBC says that
the new show will air in the Boston market, no matter what.
The network says that four other stations in the area could air the show. One of them is a Telemundo station owned by the network, and the other three are independent stations. Even if they do find another station for Leno's show, NBC will probably still strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. WHDH says that they can't do that, but NBC says that the contract with them says that they can't pick and choose programming like this.
Continue reading Leno's new show WILL air in Boston, says NBC
Posted Apr 3rd 2009 2:26PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Industry, Programming, Music and Variety, Reality-Free
Well, here's a plot twist I didn't see coming.
WHDH, the NBC affiliate in Boston (I'm watching it right now) says that
they're not going to show Leno's new 10PM show. Starting in September, the station is going to show local news at 10PM instead!
NBC is fuming (I'm sure Leno isn't happy either - he's from Boston). The network is threatening to strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. WHDH says that they have a certain deal that allows them to not show an NBC program if they don't want to. Apparently they asked NBC if they could show Leno's show at 11PM instead but NBC said no. I would have said no too. I mean,
The Tonight Show starts at 11:35, so how could they show Leno's hour-long show without it eating into that? I don't think pushing
Tonight back to midnight would have been an option.
Continue reading NBC's Boston affiliate isn't going to show Leno's new show
Posted Mar 10th 2009 3:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free
I guess everyone is getting laid off because of the economy.
Eddie Doyle, the famed Boston bartender who worked for 35 years at the bar that inspired the TV show
Cheers,
has been laid off. The bar used to be called The Bull & Finch but was changed to
Cheers after the NBC show went off the air in 1993.
I wonder, exactly, why he was laid off. Sure, it's a bad economy, but Doyle was a big draw for the place, very well-liked, and they're going to keep paying him until the end of the year anyway. Reading the comments at the link above, it looks like a lot of patrons won't be going back to the place. The bar is going to have a party for him in April.
Doyle was involved in many charities over the years. He says he's now going to work on his house and maybe even write a book about his experience at the bar.
Posted Nov 5th 2008 2:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Reality-Free
The other day, Les Moonves said that CBS is a network where the good guys win. That's part of the reason for the Tiffany net's success, even if their programming is sometimes deemed too traditional. Well, a great CBS star is coming back to the fold to play a good guy in a movie series that fans embrace.
Tom Selleck will returns as Jesse Stone in his sixth TV movie based on the Robert B. Parker character.
The new TV movie is called
Jesse Stone: No Remorse. Stone, a small-town cop with a checkered past and a troubled personal life, hits a major roadblock in his career when the town council suspends him. He takes a job for an old friend, going to Boston to investigate a series of murders in Boston.
Continue reading Tom Selleck returns as Jesse Stone
Posted Oct 26th 2008 12:45PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Reality-Free, Mad Men
So how are you celebrating the season finale of
Mad Men tonight? I'm doing it the same way I do it every single Sunday night at 10, with a
Mad Men party! Of course, my party consists of me and an alcoholic beverage, but still!
There are a lot of people who having parties tonight, including the cool ladies over at
Basket of Kisses, who are
throwing a bash at Phoenix Park in New York City.
Noir Bar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA is having a season finale party, too, with retro drinks and snacks and even a lookalike contest with prizes. I bet there are a lot of bars in your local area that are having parties as well, so I'd check if you feel like dressing up and going out instead of being plopped on your couch tonight.
Continue reading Lots of people are having Mad Men parties tonight
Posted May 14th 2008 1:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Reality-Free
Former New Kid on the Block singer/actor Donnie Wahlberg is heading back to series television.
Wahlberg will team with and director/producer Jon Avnet for a new TNT series called Morse Code. The title may change, but the set up is Donnie as a war hero who becomes an officer for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). His beat is Boston, Donnie's hometown. The show is being scripted by Walon Green (
Law & Order) and Avent will direct the pilot.
Wahlberg starred in the 2002 NBC drama,
Boomtown, a highly touted series that never lived up to the network's expectations. That was the first time Donnie worked with Jon Avnet. More recently, in 2006, he was the star of
Runaway for The CW. He received good notices for Spike's
FX's The Kill Point in 2007, co-starring John Leguizamo.
Continue reading Donnie Wahlberg set for new TNT drama
Posted Apr 1st 2008 3:00PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, TV Squad Lists
I wanted to like it. I really, really wanted to like it. I graduated high school with the co-creators, Mike Bernier and Chris Pappas, and this week's guest star was a high school buddy of mine (Hi Jeff!).
But what has gone from a show with promise has developed some traits that could send it right to the dumpster. Read on for my lists of reasons why
Unhitched could sizzle, and why it may fizzle.
Reasons Unhitched could sizzle1. The episodes that the creators wrote were funny. No, I am not biased because we went to high school together. The first two episodes really were the funniest ones. You know you loved Kate's dates -- the Celtics mascot and the air guitar champion -- and I know I need say no more than "shrimp." Although the subsequent episodes each had some funny situations, overall, they just fell flat. So Mike and Chris, keep writing and your show has a better chance of succeeding.
Continue reading Unhitched -- sizzle or fizzle?
Posted Jan 22nd 2008 12:55PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, TiVo
Sure, it's been over a month since we started hearing reports that Boston area Comcast customers have been
able to sign up for TiVo software on their Motorola set top boxes. But now TiVo and Comcast have gone and made the whole thing official-like by issuing a press release (not yet available on either company's web site) and
getting the news in the papers.
The advantage of getting TiVo service from your cable provider is that you get the TiVo program guide and services like Season Pass, WishList, and search while hanging onto services from your cable provider like video on demand. Comcast currently offers 10,000 On Demand titles, including 1300 movies.
On the other hand, you don't get some of the features that make standalone boxes like the TiVo Series2 or Series3 attractive like TiVoToGo or online media.
Comcast will bill customers $2.95 per month on top of their regular DVR and cable fees. The service is currently available only to customers in the greater Boston area, but is expected to roll out in other parts of the country soon.
Posted Dec 7th 2007 11:20AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Site Announcements
Last Friday we held the first ever
TV Squad meet-up in Boston (well, technically Allston). We just wanted to finally take time to thank everyone who came out to meet up with us, have some free beer, food and pool (yes, free, thanks to SlingBox makers, Sling Media) and walk away with bags (bags, I tell you!) of TV shows on DVD, all courtesy of Paramount Home Video and HBO Home Video. One lucky woman even walked away with our grand prize (well, only "prize," really) of a
SlingBox Solo and
SlingLink Turbo.
I didn't have a whole lot of time to myself to take pics of the event, but there are some in the gallery below. We're hoping for another one in the near future, most probably New York. Hope you can make it then!
Posted Nov 23rd 2007 2:00PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Site Announcements
This is just a quick reminder that a week from today is TV Squad's first (of what we hope to be many) meet-up of readers and writers, sponsored by
Sling Media. You can
read full details on our original post as far as time and location.
Just a quick update: I've got a good amount of TV shows on DVD to give away, thanks to Paramount Home Video and HBO Home Video, as well as some TV Squad T-shirts. We're not sure yet how we're giving it all away, but we'll come up with something. Hope to see you there!
Posted Jun 4th 2007 7:23PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Web, The Office, Celebrities
We all know B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard on The Office (he's also a writer and associate producer on the series). However, long before that, he was sharpening his comedic skills on the unsuspecting patrons of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Give Me My Remote has the scoop, straight from Novak's MySpace: while in high school B.J. and his brother decided to swipe the cassettes used for audio tours at the museum and replace them with their own tour, complete with Chinese music and everything (the tapes were for the Chinese art exhibit). The boys recruited fifteen of their friends to sneakily replace the regular cassettes with the new ones, thus giving museum goers a tour unlike any other.
You can download the Novaks' audio tour via iTunes by clicking here. Trust me, it's worth it. This is one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.
Posted May 16th 2007 11:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Via Adult Swim HQ comes news that the charges against the two men who placed various Aqua Teen Hunger Force displays around Boston have had the charges against them dropped.
Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens were hired by a marketing firm in New York to place various light boxes around Boston that featured a Mooninite giving the finger. They have since been performing community service as part of their plea.
Cartoon Network set up a guerrilla marketing campaign in several major cities to drum up interest in the movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. It was in Boston, however, that that the marketing stunt backfired when the displays were mistaken for bombs and the two artists subsequently arrested. By the time it was all over, the president of Cartoon Network had resigned and Turner broadcasting had paid two million to the cities of Boston, Somerville and Cambridge.
Posted Apr 12th 2007 4:45PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
If you live in the Boston area and were afraid you might miss out on the premiere of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, you can rest easy. Despite Mayor Thomas M. Menino asking theaters not to screen the movie after the publicity stunt turned "bomb" scare that resulted in Turner paying two million in damages to the city, and the resignation of the head of Cartoon Network, local theaters have decided to go ahead and show the movie anyway.
Continue reading Aqua Teen movie will screen in Boston
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