If you haven't seen The Prisoner yet, you may want to skip the first fifteen or so minutes of this podcast, because we talk about the whole damn thing this week. Jason Hughes and Allison Waldman join me to talk about the AMC remake of the British cult classic, as well as these topics:
Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag, where we discuss the use of laugh tracks and why multi-camera shows are written differently than single-camera shows,
As usual, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick. Though I decided to add a small surprise at the beginning, a call-back to an interview I did a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it.
The James Franco experiment has begun on General Hospital. Actually, we have now learned that the movie actor, best known for Spider-Man and Milk and The Pineapple Express, has decided to do a two-month guest role on the ABC soap opera as part of a project he's doing with a filmmaker named Carter.
One thing I do know for certain is that ABC is taking Franco's appearance on GH very seriously. They're working around his schedule, giving him a strangely interesting character to play, and promoting it like mad.
To me, this means that not only can we count on the character of Carly being around for a long time to come -- and played by the same actress who has the most tenure in the part -- but also that GH will likely be around for four more years. Oh, sure, there's nothing guaranteed, but I'm an optimist and I choose to see this as a positive sign.
Wouldn't you love to know who's giving actor James Franco career advice these days? I'm not knocking him or her, but I'd love to figure out the strategy. Or maybe this is just Franco being Franco (like Manny being Manny, for you baseball fans out there)?
James has just started filming his two-month arc on General Hospital -- check out the first pic (right) -- and now Michael Ausiello reports that James Franco will do a guest spot on 30 Rock.
How's that for a career trajectory -- from box office bonanza (Spider-Man) to Oscar feature (Milk) to daytime soap (General Hospital) to Emmy-winning sitcom (30 Rock). He's like a human pinball machine looking for a perfect score!
(S35E04) I remember sitting down and staring at Gerard Butler as he made funny, smarmy faces at the camera. And then I blinked, only to see Butler was thanking the cast and viewers for a wonderful show. I looked on the computer screen. There were half-remembered notes haphazardly tapped out at some point.
Somehow, I had jumped forward ninety minutes. Had I finally mastered short-term time travel? Or did I just watch an incredibly forgettable episode of Saturday Night Live? Probably the latter. However, I vaguely recall a destructive robot adorably struggling through a wall. If that was actually a dream and not real life, please don't tell me.
In the biggest casting shocker since Elizabeth Taylor appeared on General Hospital as Helena Cassadine, movie star James Franco is joining General Hospital for a couple of months as a mystery man who comes to Port Charles. Although not confirmed by the show, it's likely that Franco will be playing Vlad Cassadine, another member of that evil family that vexes the citizens of Port Chuck. His first airdate is November 20.
Why would Franco, who's busy with movies and has appeared in Spider-Man, The Pineapple Express, Milk and other hits, take a role on a daytime soap? There's no word from the actor yet, but it could be that they threw a lot of money at him. There's also the possibility that he's a soap opera fan and thought it would be a lark. Ummm, I'm thinking it's more likely the former.
Freaks and Geeks is not only a cult classic among TV fans, but it's also one of TV Squad's favorite "Ol' Yellers". Those are the shows that were taken out back and shot down by the networks before they had a chance to fully develop, despite the crying, whimpering, snot-producing pleas of those who loved them most. It may not be clever, but it sounded a lot nicer than "stillborns".
So it's no surprise that the show made a cameo appearance in a recent AOL interview with mega-superduperstar Seth Rogen on the heels of his new movie Observe and Report about a rogue mall cop who is more tazer-happy than the campus police at the University of Florida.
If you haven't seen The Prisoner yet, you may want to skip the first fifteen or so minutes of this podcast, because we talk about the whole damn thing this week. Jason Hughes and Allison Waldman join me to talk about the AMC remake of the British cult classic, as well as these topics:
The 
There's a lot to be happy about if you're a fan of General Hospital. There's been some very good news from the soap. Things like 
Wouldn't you love to know who's giving actor 
In the biggest casting shocker since Elizabeth Taylor appeared on 
Freaks and Geeks is not only a cult classic among TV fans, but it's also one of TV Squad's favorite "Ol' Yellers". Those are the shows that were taken out back and shot down by the networks before they had a chance to fully develop, despite the crying, whimpering, snot-producing pleas of those who loved them most. It may not be clever, but it sounded a lot nicer than "stillborns". 
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Scrubs season nine -- An early look
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
