Drama-related stories
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 9:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
I haven't been as interested in
The Real Housewives of Orange County this season, and now I'm about to check out permanently. My favorite wife has left the show.
Jeana Keough said an on screen "adios" to the Real Housewives of Orange County. She's not actually moving, but she's off the show by choice.
Jeana Keough has always impressed me as the smartest, most normal and down-to-earth housewife of the bunch. She had a completely insane marriage to Matt Keough, an ex-Major League Baseball pitcher for the Oakland A's, but she worked to keep it together. Her kids were a handful.
They were all grown up and in high school or post-high school life, but Jeana was supportive and interested and tried to be a positive role model. In her finale, she was able to show her kids pursuing their lives and bringing her pride. I think Jeana's "pal" Vicki Gunvalson wishes her children were as loving to her as Jeana's are to her.
Continue reading Jeana says goodbye to Real Housewives of Orange County
Posted Sep 26th 2009 3:40PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Cancellations, Reality-Free
While a lot of shows seem to be thriving in cable, in the last couple of days, two series have bitten the dust.
TBS dumped The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons, and now
A&E Network has canceled The Cleaner, opting not to give the drama series another year. Hmm... does that mean Benjamin Bratt is available to return to
Law and Order?
Probably not. Been there, done that, you know. But the TV pro is now unemployed although I doubt that'll be for long.
The Cleaner just never really clicked for A&E. It was as intense as the network's hit reality show, Intervention, but it wasn't nearly as compelling.
Continue reading A&E cancels The Cleaner
Posted Jul 15th 2009 3:26PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, 24, House, Lost, Awards, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men
Talk about a wealth of choices! When it comes to the Primetime Emmys in the supporting actor and actress categories for drama, there are a plethora of worthy candidates. Some shows, like
Mad Men or
Lost, for instance, have multiple choices in the supporting ranks, especially since these ensembles seem to have a hard time determining who's really the lead.
Earlier, I shared
my wish list for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama nominations, and I mentioned that Chloe Sevigny from
Big Love would be a deserving selection. A TV Squad reader let me know that Chloe has actually been submitted in the supporting category. Good to know, and with that in mind, I'll start my wish list by talking about that category. (Remember, there are six nominees per category.)
Continue reading Emmy Wish List: Supporting Categories - Drama
Posted Jul 15th 2009 9:06AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Awards, Emmys, Reality-Free
Let's assume that there will be six nominees in the Best Drama category again this year, shall we? It wouldn't surprise me that five out of the six series that were nominated last year are once again nominated this year. Let's face it,
Damages, Dexter, House, Lost and
Mad Men are still powerhouse drama series and didn't let us down too much this past season.
Since
Boston Legal, which was nominated last year, was canceled, it leaves space for another drama series to make its way to the nominees list. Which drama should get the spot?
Continue reading Emmy Wish List: Outstanding Drama Series
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 12:30PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Law and Order, Casting, Reality-Free
"You always made me feel safe, John."
Perfect. Beautiful. That line was delivered by Carol Kane to Richard Belzer on last night's season finale of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A bit of history. Kane played Gwen Munch, the conspiracy-minded ex-wife of Belzer's Detective John Munch. The last time the two of them played those roles was more than a decade ago, not even on the same show.
When last Detective Munch fans saw the pairing, it was in 1997 on
Homicide: Life on the Street. And they picked one hell of an episode to bring her back. Fans of Belzer know he was having fun with the black helicopter crowd before he brought that particular obsession to his character, and last night's episode was tailor-made for him, even if he wasn't really in the forefront of the plot.
Continue reading Carol Kane and Richard Belzer - Together again on Law & Order: SVU
Posted Apr 24th 2009 1:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free
The answer to one of last season's big questions on
Big Love was answered the other day when the cast and creators of the HBO drama met the press at the Paley Festival in L.A. You may recall that a certain prophet by the name of Roman Grant was left for dead after Joey Hendrickson had reached his breaking point. When I wrote about the
season finale, I wondered if we had actually seen the last of Roman?
You don't have to wait till next fall for the answer, after the jump I'll tell you what executive producer Mark V. Olsen revealed, and it's not only about Roman. There's
big news about Big Love.
Continue reading Big Love's plans for season four...and what happened to Roman
Posted Apr 13th 2009 3:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Web, Reality-Free
So it's Monday afternoon and you're just in the mood to watch a movie where viking women battle big sea monsters or one where a girl gets involved with the men who race souped-sports cars (and one that doesn't have "fast" or "furious" in the title). What are you to do?
Well, AMC has come to the rescue! Besides putting great original shows like
Mad Men and
Breaking Bad on TV,
AMC's web site is now streaming old B sci-fi, monster, biker, western, horror, comedy, and crime flicks.
Continue reading AMC.com is showing B-movies for free
Posted Jan 31st 2009 3:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
There's an interesting article online about the networks' attempt to combat the recession. It suggests
cutting the number of episodes per season, following the British model for scripted fare.
The writer is referring more to the British scripted dramas rather than comedies. In England, comedies are (usually) written by the creator(s). As a result, a British comedy usually has only six episodes per season. This both helps keep costs down and presents no haggling over ownership rights since there are fewer writers.
Reducing an episode order in the United States would reduce costs, and if it resulted in an increase in quality then I doubt people would mind so much. It could also give the networks more broadcast time to experiment with new types of programming. Perhaps we would even see the return of the mini-series.
Since DVD sales represent a huge chunk of the profit of a given series, it would even help DVD profits by reducing related costs. The American public has already had a taste of the reduced season size during the writer's strike. So what do you think? Would you watch a network show if it had 13 episodes instead of 22?
Posted Jan 27th 2009 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E11) "It's what you do. When you're a hammer, everything in the world looks like a nail." -- Pope to Brenda
Did you notice, as I did, that Brenda was more distressed and unfocused while making decisions for the wedding than she was working on the case? By the end of the episode, Brenda finally settled on the when, the where and the how, so all things considered, it was a good day for Brenda...except for that little thing that happened to Daddy.
Meanwhile, returning after a few months off, the cliffhanger was resolved early on and priority homicide was back at work. However, when is an apparent suicide not a suicide? More on that and the cliffhanger after the jump. Also, Clay Johnson.
Continue reading The Closer: Good Faith (winter premiere)
Posted Dec 19th 2008 12:35PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Casting, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
She's been Glinda, the Good Witch (
Wicked) and Olive Snook, the itty-bitty, lovable waitress (
Pushing Daisies), comic strip cutie Sally Brown (
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), a PR pro on
The West Wing, and now she's going to be Skippy Pylon. Skippy the lawyer, and she's heading to the courtroom.
Kristin Chenoweth will star in Legally Mad, a new drama series for creator David E. Kelly for NBC. This is by far the smartest, best news out of NBC in months. (Could Jeff Zucker be reading TV Squad? Have we gotten under his skin?)
You can't see me but I'm doing the dance of joy and happiness about this casting. I have been in the dumps over
Pushing Daisies not being picked up by ABC. The network hasn't even said whether it will air the last episodes, and
Kristin Chenoweth has been the one star out there who's really expressed her disappointment that the show has come to an end. Therefore, I'm extremely glad for her that ABC's loss will be NBC's gain.
Continue reading Kristen Chenoweth is now Legally Mad - VIDEO
Posted Nov 28th 2008 5:01PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
What the hell is going on here? Have we entered the bizarro world? Is up now down? Has black become white? Was
The Simpsons canceled after the first three episodes while
The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer went on to become the longest running and most award winning series in the history of television?
Variety reports that while the big four networks are cutting back on their sitcoms and dramas for more reality fare, cable networks have been ramping up their dramas, comedies and dramadies and are now in a position to compete for some real ratings.
And it's not just in quantity where cable has tipped the scales.
Continue reading Has cable become credible?
Posted Sep 4th 2008 12:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Reality-Free
Spinoffs are nothing new in TV. Some of the biggest hits of all time were spinoffs --
Frasier, Boston Legal, Private Practice, The Jeffersons, The Andy Griffith Show, Rhoda, Maude, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI...the list goes on and on.
The news today that
TNT is backing a spinoff from The Closer is no surprise. It makes sense.
The Closer is the top drama on cable in the ratings and has garnered Emmy notice. That kind of success demands replication, and TNT has empowered the brains behind
The Closer, creator James Duff to make it happen.
Continue reading TNT plotting spinoff to The Closer
Posted Aug 5th 2008 2:22PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Video, Entourage, Reality-Free
The fifth season of Entourage returns in just a little more than a month on September 7th, and HBO has been running a short promo for a few weeks now. Don't get too excited though. For a season that's going to feature appearances by
Jeffrey Tambor,
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Bennett, Phil Mickelson, Fran Drescher, and Bow Wow (there's even more that I'm not listing), you'd hope for a small taste of that in the promos. Nope. Business as usual - parties, cars, girls, and lots of Drama. Don't take that as me not being excited though. I read that
this season is going to feature a Johnny Drama melt-down on
The View. That right there is reason enough to tune it. Video is after the jump.
Continue reading HBO's new Entourage promo - VIDEO
Posted Aug 5th 2008 10:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"You didn't do it for the justice system. You did it to close your case."
(S04E04) Nobody would ever doubt that Chief Brenda Johnson is a smart woman, but how smart was it of her to use Fritz the way she did? That's the question I came away with after seeing this episode. Is closing a case so important for the closer that she'd mess up her personal relationship?
Fritz was rightfully incensed by Brenda's tactics, and yet I could see it from her point of view, too. I guess that's why
The Closer remains such a good drama -- the conflicts are real and there are no easy answers.
Continue reading The Closer: Live Wire
Posted Jul 31st 2008 5:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
If you like strong women on TV, the kind you've been seeing on TNT in
The Closer and
Saving Grace, you'll be happy to hear that the network has more formidible females on tap.
TNT has given the greenlight to a new drama called Time Heals. And with the kind of top notch talent behind the scenes, I can't imagine this drama not making it to air.
The guy who is creating the show, John Masius, is an Emmy-winning writer, having grabbed two Emmys when he worked on
St. Elsewhere. So, yeah, this is sounding better and better because Masius knows about medical drama and
Time Heals is the story of Nancy Hawthorne, a single mother who is the head of nursing at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. She's the type of woman who really cares about her patients and becomes emotionally involved in her job.
Continue reading TNT okays single-mom/nurse drama
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