New York-related stories
Posted Oct 5th 2009 1:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Video, Casting, Reality-Free
Ever since the announcement that
All My Children was leaving New York, moving from the studios where it's been shot since the premiere in 1970, the big question among fans has been
who will be staying with All My Children when it moves west... and who won't.
The good news is that
Susan Lucci has decided to stay with the show, even if she's not giving up her New York home. Susan, as well as costar Vincert Irizarry, have decided to commute to Los Angeles, with
AMC arranging the schedule to make it more convenient for the veterans.
There's bad news, however, and it involves three big
AMC stars. Thorsten Kaye, who plays Zach, has decided not to relocate. In addition, Beth Ehlers (Taylor) and Aiden Turner (Aidan) have been let go. In other words, they have
not been invited to go west.
Continue reading All My Children fallout: who's in and who's out
Posted Sep 21st 2009 12:34AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Mad Men
(S03E06) What do disappointment, opportunities and snakes have in common? They're all themes in this episode of
Mad Men. The British, in the form of Powell, Ford and Mackendrick came to Sterling Cooper for a visit, but what that visit meant was anybody's guess. The visit wrecking holiday plans for the staff -- no Independence Day for you, colonists -- was obvious irony and true nonetheless. And the Guy walking into the ad agency, well, it would be a hollow joke after this tragedy. More after the jump.
Continue reading Mad Men: Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency
Posted Sep 14th 2009 12:56AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Mad Men
(S03E05) Time is moving on and the time's are a-changing. Sally has had a difficult adjustment to the loss of Grandpa Gene, so much so that Betty and Don actually have to act like parents and attend to her needs. The family was a big part of the episode, not just the Draper family, but the Sterling Cooper family, too. More on the latest
Mad Men episode and the changes after the jump.
Continue reading Mad Men: The Fog
Posted Aug 31st 2009 1:18AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Mad Men
(S03E03) It might be a Saturday, but there was work to be done at Sterling Cooper. At the Draper house, Gene was discovering that Sally could be both an ally and an adversary, and is certainly an interesting child. Was Betty like Sally as a child, you have to wonder? Meanwhile, Roger and Jane hosted a garden party on derby day which was a reason for some of the staff to rub elbows.
But not all. Peggy, Smitty and Paul were stuck working on Bacardi at the office, but that wasn't a reason not to party. Peggy's new secretary, Olive, seems to want to be a surrogate mother to Peggy. She worries over her, much to Peggy's surprise. More on that later.
Jane was a source of irritation for Joan when she appeared at the office, and if looks could kill, Joan had her slayed. You could just tell it was one of those, "It could have been me moments" for Joan.
Continue reading Mad Men: My Old Kentucky Home
Posted Aug 21st 2009 5:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebreality
I've been following the progress of this for a little while.
A&E has been working with Tony Danza to follow him as he spends a year teaching 10th grade English. Originally set up in Yonkers, New York, the show was shut down after the pilot was shot when the New York school board pulled out of the project. Adrift and without a home for awhile, the team stuck at it until Philadelphia came on board this past Wednesday and agreed to host the show.
This isn't a spoiled celebrity getting up to antics, though; Danza is serious about being a good educator to these kids. Before he got into acting, he procured a degree in education. In other words, this is a real-life documentary about a first-year teacher. He just happens to be Tony Danza.
The teaching profession is one of the most underpaid and under-appreciated professions in this country, so I applaud Danza for stepping into that arena so sincerely. I'm already more interested in his struggles in this arena than I will ever be about the pampered whining rich brats of [insert so many show names here].
Posted Aug 21st 2009 1:39PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S06E01) Project Runway is back! With few exceptions, the show seems remarkably unchanged by
the move to Lifetime, so those who were fearful that without the Bravo touch
Project Runway would cease to be...
Project Runway, your fears should be allayed. The one significant change, one I'm still not sure about, is the move from New York to Los Angeles. New York just screams fashion to me, the rag trade, and the buzz of Seventh Avenue. L.A. doesn't, but we shall see how it plays out.
Meanwhile, Heidi, Michael, Nina and Tim were there, the touchstones of the show, and as the new contestants were unveiled, PR was off and running.
In a smart programming move, Lifetime ran a
Project Runway: All Stars edition before the Season Six premiere. Seeing familiar faces from the Bravo years immediately sent a message to viewers that this was the same
Project Runway.
Continue reading Project Runway: Season premiere
Posted Aug 20th 2009 2:46PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S06E01) The producers of
Top Chef must have listened to the criticism from the last edition of the show, the one set in New York with the contestants housed in Brooklyn. Despite being in perhaps the most exciting culinary city in the world,
TC-NY was pedestrian. Well,
Top Chef season six, is in Las Vegas and judging by the premiere, the stakes -- as they said a few times -- have been set very high. The round-up of players was filled with James Beard awardees, Michelin star cooks, people who have restaurants already... and a couple of others who have something to prove.
Continue reading Top Chef: Las Vegas (season premiere)
Posted Aug 11th 2009 10:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Watercooler Talk
A week ago on the hit Bravo reality "thang"
Real Housewives of Atlanta, if you tuned in you got to see the ladies who lunch take it outside for a beat down, but you also saw one of the fakiest, mushiest love scenes yet on the
Real Housewives' franchise. Former, pro football player Ed Hartwell cooked a special dinner, spread rose petals to spell "I love you," played massage therapist, and finally took a bubble bath with his wife while murmuring the words, "Let's go make some babies."
The ick factor was set on 11 on the
Spinal Tap scale. That was then.
Ed and Lisa Hartwell have been foreclosed upon and now that bathtub for two is the bank's property.
Continue reading Recession and the Real Housewives of Atlanta
Posted Aug 8th 2009 7:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
First,
Paula Abdul walks away from American Idol (or was she shoved out by the producers a bit?), now comes news that
Susan Lucci's not sure about sticking with All My Children when the ABC soap relocates to Los Angeles in December. My thought was there's no way La Lucci was going to pass on the chance to keep on working, but she's saying it's a tough decision. "I don't know ... I love the show and I love playing Erica, but I'm just now going to have a couple of days off. It's a lot to think about."
Could Susan truly be thinking anything but, "Yes, I'm going"? Seriously,
All My Children has been her mainstay for 39 years. That's right, nearly four decades of continuous employment in essentially a starring role.
Continue reading Is Susan Lucci quitting All My Children?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
For nearly a week, ABC denied that there was any truth to the rumor that
All My Children was moving to the West Coast. Then yesterday the network just announced the cross-country relocation. ABC Daytime released a statement explaining that this December,
All My Children -- which has been produced in New York City for 39 years -- is going to Los Angeles. And
One Life to Live, also a New York soap, is getting
All My Children's studio. Yes, a hand-me down facility, but just don't think of it that way.
While the move for
AMC and
OLTL will mean better facilities and more space, what about the casts and crews? Will all the actors on
AMC make the move west -- or is this a way to cost cut and drop a few players along the way? Susan Lucci is a given; she'll go west.
Continue reading All My Children and One Life to Live on the move
Posted Jul 28th 2009 2:30PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Daytime, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free
There will be no reprieve from the governor, no last minute miracle save. No, the end is approaching and
Guiding Light will stop filming the week of August 3. The CBS soap opera will air its last show on September 18, 2009, and the 72-year-long run of America's most enduring daytime drama will officially wrap.
Fans have been hoping that somehow, someway
Guiding Light would find a new home, but neither CBS nor Procter and Gamble have been able to save the show. Soapcentral.com has reported that efforts have been made to no avail. "We have not been able to secure an outlet to carry the show moving forward. We are extremely disappointed with this outcome, but we are confident we have exhausted every possible option," said TeleNext Media SVP Brian T. Cahill.
Continue reading The end is near for Guiding Light
Posted Jun 11th 2009 1:06PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
Variety has an article up about how many of the TV pilots
are fleeing L.A. to film in other locations such as New York and Canada. Could this be the start of a bigger trend? Is Hollywood losing its grip on the entertainment industry?
Obviously, the biggest factor is cost. At first, the expense of filming in New York City didn't quite compute with me, then I read about the 30% tax credit given by the state, along with an additional 5% for filming within the city.
Continue reading Nobody wants to film in Hollywood anymore
Posted May 21st 2009 3:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd
Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter behind such cinematic mind#*$#s as
Being John Malkovich,
Adaptation and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has gotten fed-up with the narrow-minded fickleness of film.
It's gotten so bad that he is "seriously thinking" about working for the narrow-minded fickleness of television.
Kaufman told
The London Paper that the filmmaking process has infuriated and frustrated him so that he may make the jump to TV.
Continue reading Charlie Kaufman wants to return to television
Posted Apr 17th 2009 11:08AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Office, 30 Rock, Chuck, Reality-Free, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory, TV Squad Ten
If we all lived in the box -- you know, the TV box -- life would be a hell of a lot easier. Taxes would be paid with ease. Mortgages would be managed. And even the lowliest job would be more than enough to maintain a respectable lifestyle, one that looks quite comfortable in fact.
Despite the grim economic news we hear every day, the characters on television have been able to survive -- indeed, thrive -- in some of the crappiest jobs in the universe.
An editorial assistant at a fashion mag, like
Ugly Betty, finds a way to keep a Manhattan studio apartment, and commute home to Papi in Queens. Running a gym is a breeze for
Old Christine, because she doesn't really work. And even without an income,
Samantha Who? is never without her Jimmy Choos.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Low-paying jobs that apparently pay great on TV
Posted Apr 4th 2009 8:19AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Law and Order, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
This doesn't come as a surprise, does it?
NBC has ordered an 11th season of Law & Order: SVU. It isn't a surprise because of all the shows on NBC's roster – not including
ER, which just had a celebrated swan song – are struggling in the ratings.
Law & Order SVU is the lone exception, still drawing nearly 10 million viewers and at least keeping NBC challenging in the Tuesday night ratings.
It's not as strong as it once was, but what show is on NBC? It would have been network hari-kari to let
SVU hit the road.
Continue reading NBC commits to more Law & Order: SVU
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