MauraTierney-related stories
Posted Oct 9th 2009 11:11PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Casting, Reality-Free
It's official. As of today,
Lauren Graham will replace Maura Tierney in Parenthood, the NBC mid-season family drama. After the
talk of Helen Hunt getting the role of a divorce mom struggling to get by, the former star of
Gilmore Girls has landed the role... just like
Bob wrote.
Hip-hip-hooray! Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to Maura Tierney who had to drop out because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wish her a speed recovery and a great role in another series after her treatments are successful. And Helen Hunt might have been a lovely choice, too. But I am a major
Gilmore Girls fan. I'm thrilled to pieces that Lauren is coming back to series TV.
Continue reading Lauren Graham officially cast on Parenthood
Posted Sep 15th 2009 9:33AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
When
Maura Tierney had to leave Parenthood because she needs to undergo treatment for breast cancer, there was speculation about who might replace her since the NBC project would be resuming. Well, the name that's come to the fore as Maura's replacement is a good one. Oscar and Emmy-winner
Helen Hunt is in discussions for Parenthood, and usually if they're talking and it's in the trades, it's close to being a done deal.
If I were advising her and she cared about what I think, I'd tell Helen to take it. While Helen's TV experience was in a sitcom,
Mad About You, she's better in dramedy. That's what
As Good As It Gets was, and it got her an Oscar!
Continue reading Helen Hunt may take on Maura Tierney's Parenthood role
Posted Sep 11th 2009 10:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Casting, Reality-Free
Actress
Maura Tierney has been forced to abandon Parenthood, the NBC ensemble series in which she was cast last spring.
Tierney had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery and now must have treatment – chemotherapy and radiation.
The producers had pushed back production when Tierney's health crisis arose in July, but now that her condition requires prolonged treatment, she's walking away from the project and they will move on without her.
Maura released a statement saying that she was disappointed about not being able to do
Parenthood, but she was confident that she would recover and resume her career after her treatments are complete.
Continue reading Maura Tierney exits Parenthood
Posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:04AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Early Looks, Upfronts, Reality-Free
NBC seems to be sending out their screeners in dribs and drabs, so I'm making my way through their fall offerings very slowly. I've already given you previews of both
Community and Trauma, and now we've got
Parenthood, a new series based on a movie that was already turned into a series nearly twenty years ago. Who says Hollywood is out of ideas?
Parenthood is basically a less-melodramatic
Brothers & Sisters. It follows the Braverman clan, a family in Fresno made up of four siblings: Adam (
Peter Krause), Crosby (
Dax Shepard), Sarah (
Maura Tierney), and Julia (
Erika Christensen), along with their children and parents, played by
Craig T. Nelson and
Bonnie Bedelia. They all have their share of drama, but at the end of the day, they're all brought together in the most suburban of pursuits: Little League. Say it with me now: "awwww."
Continue reading TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 2)
Posted May 4th 2009 9:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free
This leak appears to be unauthorized, but still pretty solid. It looks like the television remake of Ron Howard's 1989 film
Parenthood has been picked up by NBC for next season. Peter Krause (
Six Feet Under, Dirty Sexy Money), Maura Tierney (
NewsRadio, ER) and Craig T. Nelson (
Coach) are on board to star, and that's a pretty solid foundation right there.
The original
Parenthood movie starred everybody who was anybody in the late '80s, including Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards, Jr. and Mary Steenbergen and Steve Martin. It was like
Crash with an extended family, following multiple story lines that all ultimately connected.
Continue reading Now new show pick-ups are leaking out of NBC camp
Posted Dec 24th 2008 10:02AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, CSI, Saturday Night Live, Smallville, Doctor Who, Casting, Reality-Free
William Peterson is out and Lawrence Fishburne is in. That's the plan, anyway, over at
CSI central.
Peterson's decision to say goodbye to
CSI was one of the big stories of 2008. The actor's onscreen phase-out started earlier this month with the introduction of Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Raymond Langston, but he's not really saying goodbye. Peterson will remain on the hit CBS show as an executive producer and will likely appear as a guest star in future episodes. His final ep airs January 15.
Since
CSI is one of those ever-lasting franchises, like
Law & Order, I wouldn't rule out a complete return for Peterson a few years from now. Maybe he'll spin-off another show. I'm sure fans wouldn't mind seeing
CSI: The Gil Grissom Chronicles.
Me, I don't really care. I don't watch
CSI (I guess I'm not that intrigued by forensic science). So let's talk about the 2008 TV star departures that meant something to me.
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: Star departures - VIDEOS
Posted Sep 29th 2008 1:07PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: OpEd, ER, Reality-Free
We all know that ER is famous for its deaths. Not only of the patients that are served by Chicago's County General but of its staff as well. Particularly in its emergency room. Fact of the matter is, there have been so many deaths of ER personnel that I'm surprised that a police investigation hasn't been opened to determined if they were natural or a bit suspicious. Some of these deaths have been shocking, such as Lucy Knight's during season six. Others were long in coming, like Mark Greene's peaceful death in season 8.
Continue reading Greg Pratt's fate on ER -- too soon?
Posted Nov 24th 2006 8:30AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, OpEd, ER
(S13E09) I'm with my brother Joel about new programming during Thanksgiving. Out of all the holidays we celebrate Thanksgiving should be the one that never has new episodes, even if it falls in the heart of the November sweeps. Why? Well, after ingesting so much sleep-inducing food it's hard to concentrate. If anything, Thanksgiving evenings should be reserved for three-hour long historical-period movies that feature plenty of silent scenes. You know, so you can get some sleep.
Okay, whining over, let's discuss this week's 'ER Event'.
Continue reading ER: Scoop and Run
Posted Oct 12th 2006 3:59PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, Industry, Programming, ER, Ratings
Just when you think a show is dying, it comes to life.
ER is currently in its 13th season, and NBC's original plan was to interrupt the run of the show for three months in early 2007 and premiere the new drama
The Black Donnellys. But
ER had to go and be one of the top rated NBC shows (it's always in the top 20 now), so
now the plan is to keep ER on the air throughout the winter and spring.
I'll say one thing: I swore up and down, right here on this site, that I was through with
ER and wasn't going to watch it anymore. But I find myself pulled back into it after checking in to see what happened to Jerry (he's OK, just on another show for now) and Abby's baby (it's OK,
as Rich has reported). So I guess if the show can keep a jaded veteran
ER watcher like me interested after so many years, it must be doing something right.
Posted Jul 31st 2006 10:52AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Talent, OpEd, ER, Celebrities
For some reason, Maura Tierney always struck me as a person who marched to a different beat. She's never been into the glamorous aspects of being a well-known actress, and her demeanor always made her seem like she'd be the hot drinking buddy men have wanted to be around since the beginning of time. Because of this, I always imagined that the
ER star was single, flouting society's conventions and going her own way because she just wasn't a traditional woman.
I couldn't have been more wrong. Turns out Maura's
getting a divorce from her husband of 13 years, actor Billy Morrissette. The reason is the old favorite, irreconcilable differences. This means that Maura has been married since before she started
NewsRadio, which was when my (and likely
Bob's) crush on her started. Actually, now that I think about it, I do recall something about a husband somewhere down the line. I guess I just wanted to block it out.
Posted May 21st 2006 7:27PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, OpEd, ER
Abby Lockhart has become the new Mark Greene.
As fans of the long-running ER know, Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) had some of the worst luck and unhappiness in the emergency room staff of County General. First, his wife leaves him, then he gets beaten up in the ER bathroom by a unknown assailant. Both his mother and father die in the same year, he's diagnosed with a brain tumor (which was successfully removed), his daughter feeds his newborn child Escasty, his brain tumor comes back, and he dies while in Hawaii. Needless to say, the man had no luck.
And now Abby (Maura Tierney) looks like she's wearing the albatross around her neck. Well, actually, she's been wearing it for several seasons now. It began when she was kicked out of medical school after her ex-husband failed to pay her tuition. Then, she had a rough set of relationships with Doctors Luka Kovac and John Carter. Her bi-polar mother stop taking her meds and her brother was diagnosed with the same mental disease as her mother. Last season she was kidnapped by a drug dealer who wanted Abby to treat an injured comrade.
Continue reading Why can't Abby be happy, for pete's sake
Posted May 20th 2006 11:31AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, NBC, OpEd, ER
(S12E22) I was sort of dreading this season finale. All week I had been seeing the coming attractions, and there was going to be yet another melee in the ER. Shooting, maybe an explosion or something, couldn't tell. This particular emergency room seems to get as much action as the front lines of a war.
But this episode was actually one of the better season finales the show has ever had. A bit crazy, but well done and rather suspenseful, with more than one plot twist I didn't see coming at all.
Continue reading ER: Twenty-One Guns (finale)
Six Mad Men characters who are in limbo after the finale
Fact or Fiction: Big Bang, Brothers & Sisters and CSI
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
