This season of Dexter has the most share of downs than seasons past, so much so that it's actually turned the audience against the strife and struggles of their longest running characters. But whoever thought that one of them would be sweet, lovable Rita?
Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker said in his most recent review at his "Watching TV" blog that the three things he wouldn't miss are the Batista/Laguerta relationship, Quinn's touchy relationship with a scoop hungry reporter and Rita, played by Julie Benz.
His issue isn't with Benz's performance, but he said he feels "dubious" about the fixes that have to be made to Dexter and Rita's relationship. All this talk of working out issues could turn an edgy show about a body chopping serial killer into an episode of The View with less screaming and violence.
I didn't think we'd seen the last of boozy old gleester April Rhodes, and now it's official. Kristin Chenoweth is reprising her role on Glee for at least one more episode, to air in early 2010. Creator Ryan Murphy didn't divulge any more info about her role, so there's no telling if she'll spend her time getting Kurt drunk again, or if she actually learned a lesson from her last visit and found happiness in Branson.
What's interesting is that Chenoweth has made no secret about her desire to return to Glee, perhaps in a permanent capacity, so could this second visit be paving the way for a place in the cast? Again, Murphy is keeping mum, but what if it is true? Where would they put April Rhodes? Do you really want her to be a member of glee club? Would she help Will coach? Will she form a love square between Will, Terri and Emma? After all, he did have a monster crush on her in high school.
Now this is a TV tour I can get behind: According to Entertainment Weekly, the cast of Glee could be going on a music tour, playing concerts across the country. While it's only in the discussion phase right now, it looks like we could be seeing the cast belting out "Don't Stop Believing" in person as early as spring of next year, when filming on their first season wraps.
It sounds like FOX boss Kevin Reilly has seen the moneymaking potential of his cast of moppets for a while, telling EW back in July, "Certainly if these kids become stars in their own right, who knows? Live appearances. Albums. There's lots of things that could happen." Can't you just picture him sitting in a tall chair in a richly paneled office somewhere, steepling his fingers and saying, "excellent," a la Mr. Burns?
That bastion of journalistic excellence, Entertainment Weekly, unveiled their new cover and (surprise!) Letterman made the cover. It features the Late Show host without pants, which in any other context would be the lowest selling issue of EW since Ernest Borgnine forgot to put on underpants.
My problem isn't with the picture, although it seems it probably should be. It's the headline. Is "Oh, Dave" the best they could do? Hell, "Where the Wild Things Are" would be ten times better and save a fifth of the print space. Write a better headline in the comments section below and we'll feature the best ones in a future post.
Entertainment Weekly Subscribers in New York and Los Angeles were treated to 40 minutes of video promoting the CBS fall lineup right in the pages of the magazine's Fall Preview this week, as Bob reported last month. But this groundbreaking movie got me thinking about how this technology could be used.
It's a potentially great development for the print medium. The player in EW is interactive, meaning that as you press on the page it's embedded in it responds. Click on The Big Bang Theory and you'll see the preview of the new season on that show. All those people who abandoned print for the interactive experience online can now get that in their favorite magazines as well.
The technology is a brilliant way for an advertisement to reach out to an even wider audience. These little players can be stuck just about anywhere, and loaded with 40 minutes or so of playback. Imagine picking up that DVD set of a TV show you've heard about and being able to watch clips of it right there.
If you're a Seinfeld fan, that is. If you're not a Seinfeld fan, please scroll up or down.
This week's Entertainment Weekly features a new photo of the cast for their Curb Your Enthusiasm guest appearances with Larry David. The cast will be in several episodes this season, playing themselves. The plot will have David getting them together for the Seinfeld reunion that fans want to see and we'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the fictional reunion and the fictional making of that reunion, which itself will be a real reunion.
Everybody thought that Chuck and Blair were going to be the Upper East Side's hottest couple on Gossip Girl this season, but it looks like we were wrong. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, the hook-up that everyone is going to be talking about won't be between Chuck and Blair, Dan and Serena, or even Nate and Vanessa/Jenny/Blair/Serena/random moms. It's totally going to be between two dudes.
While one of the guys in question is going to be a newcomer to the show, the other one is a character that Gossip Girl fans know very well. For all of you super spoilerphobes out there, I'll stop here, but for the rest of you, click through for more details.
When you think of print magazines, what do you want to see in them? More pages? More features? More color? Less advertising?
How about more advertising? How about video advertising? How about 40 minutes of video advertising? That's what CBS is putting in the September Fall Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly (in limited areas only). Here's the video.
Only 42 days to go. That's how long until the season premiere of NCIS. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, quoting exec producer Shane Brennan, the first minute of NCIS is a mindblower. What could this possibly mean? Will someone die, or will we discover what happened to Ziva? Was that her being beaten and tortured in the closing scene of last season's finale?
The week before the American Idol gigantic-mahunga-godzilla two-hour-plus finale aired, Simon Cowell predicted it would be a "ding-dong finale." Of course, that brilliant prognostication was hype personified, but Simon did his job. The finale drew 28.8 million viewers. Ironically, the buzz in the biz when those figures were revealed skewed it as a bad thing. It was the lowest-rated American Idol finale ever. But it still drew a tremendous amount of eyeballs, so why is it being characterized as a flop?
The answer is simply this: American Idol is competing with itself. It's expected to exceed its highs year after year, and generally speaking in television, that just doesn't happen. Older shows decline, and yes, even superhits like American Idol can't stay on top forever. Look at ER or CSI.
Attention, Rosie O'Donnell: Simon Cowell promised that next week's American Idol will be a ding-dong finale. Break out the Drake's Cakes! Actually, Simon wasn't referring to Rosie's favorite chocolate cake treat, he was using perhaps the strangest euphemism he could come up with to hype the finale which he anticipates -- and rightfully so -- a great showdown between two singers who could both be deservedly crowned the winner of American Idol.
Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen might seem like a heavyweight versus a bantam weight, one guy who's already been splashed on magazine covers -- last week's Entertainment Weekly -- as the presumptive champ, while the other was nearly knocked on his butt by the judge's song choice that was so bad that Simon faulted Kara and Randy for setting him up to fail.
And yes, I am probably the 50th person to use that headline for this story. Thank you.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting (from various sources he has skulking around the television world) that FOX is just about to cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The ratings haven't been great for the sci-fi show. FOX paired it with Dollhouse on Friday nights and there has been no reason to keep the show alive for another season (ratings-wise, anyway - I'll leave it to the fans to judge the quality of the show itself). Things don't look that great for Dollhouse either, but that's another story.
Officially, the network won't announce its fall schedule for another month or so, at their annual upfront presentation. Unofficially, you probably shouldn't look for the show on that fall schedule. Now I guess we'll just have to wait for the premiere of the movie where Christian Bale yelled at everyone.
No one's accused the cast of How I Met Your Mother of having a collectively crummy sense of humor. Quite the contrary; every time I've seen them either in person or in a behind-the-scenes video, they always seem to be goofing around and having fun. At the very least, I'd imagine that neither Jason Segel nor Neil Patrick Harris allows things to get too heavy on the set.
So when Entertainment Weekly asked the cast to pose as various celebrities in a "The Best of 2008" pictorial, I'm sure they didn't need much time to say yes. In the pictorial, the cast portray the Olympic 4x200m relay team, the Jonas Brothers, and the cast of the Indiana Jones and Sex and the City movies. Finally, Segel and Alyson Hannigan pose as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, respectively, during the VP debate. It might have been more interesting if they reversed roles in that photo, but I guess Segel didn't have the legs for it.
Tired of hearing about Comic-Con? Figured all the talk was over? Sorry to disappoint you, but due to an untimely vacation (vacation untimely? Wha...how?) and a bit of reflection on my first trip to the big 'Con, I was able to get this last bit complete for you.
The Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly Party
Man did it feel good to have gone to my last panel. I had much sympathy for Rich, who had another nearly-full day ahead of him on Sunday. So, we went out to finally get a decent meal at an actual restaurant downtown before we had to head off to the party. We had no idea at all what to expect from the party -- would there be food? Free booze? Who would be there?
Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive news about two new characters that are coming to the Lost world. No word yet on whether these characters will be on the island or off of the island, but they sound intriguing.
One is a man in his late 30s/early 40s named Caesar, who is described as "dangerous, physical, and extremely intelligent" and that he's "as skillful at charming people as he is at killing them." Sounds like an assassin type, no? The other character is Ilanna, a female in her late 20s/early 30s who is described as European, intelligent, dangerous, and "used to getting her own way." Except for the European part, that sounds like a lot of the women I've dated.
Lost starts filming its new season in less than two weeks, so we'll have the answers soon enough. And by answers I mean "more questions." This is Lost, after all.
This season of Dexter has the most share of downs than seasons past, so much so that it's actually turned the audience against the strife and struggles of their longest running characters. But whoever thought that one of them would be sweet, lovable Rita? 
Now this is a TV tour I can get behind: According to Entertainment Weekly, 
That bastion of journalistic excellence, Entertainment Weekly, unveiled their new cover and (surprise!) Letterman made the cover. It features the Late Show host without pants, which in any other context would be the lowest selling issue of EW since Ernest Borgnine forgot to put on underpants. 
If you're a Seinfeld fan, that is. If you're not a Seinfeld fan, please scroll up or down.
The week before the 
Attention, Rosie O'Donnell: Simon Cowell promised that next week's 
And yes, I am probably the 50th person to use that headline for this story. Thank you.
No one's accused the cast of 
Don't worry, their names aren't Nikki and Paolo.
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
