SeasonPremiere-related stories
Posted Jan 6th 2009 9:32PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S08E01) It's interesting how much attention
Scrubs gets from us TV-loving types, considering how little attention it gets from everyone else. Why is it?
Well, partially it's because of Bill Lawrence and the cast, who have been entertaining to cover and very press-friendly. But mostly,


it's because of the comedic potential the program showed over it's first couple of years, which included the ability to go from comedy to high drama in an instant and make it look easy.
The eighth(and final?) season premiere was more comedic than dramatic (the second episode of the night, "My Last Words," demonstrates this balance quite well), but it showed that Lawrence was serious when he told critics that he was going to dial down the silly and get back to what made people like the show to begin with.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Jerks (season premiere)
Posted Sep 30th 2008 9:01AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Life, Reality-Free

(S02E01) Ten months. That's how long its been since we've seen a fresh episode of Life. After the last episode aired in November there was nary a word about the show, save for reports of its renewal and a bit about casting changes. This left fans of the show in a bit of a tizzy. For Life wasn't just a dime-a-dozen criminal procedural, but a show with an underlying story about conspiracy and the search for justice. By the time the show ended its very short first season we were cheering Detective Charlie Crews as he was able to get a semblance of his freedom back.
Now we enter season two. And, as usual, the following question comes to mind: did it carry on the spirit of season one? Well yes, and possibly no. Click ahead to find out.
Continue reading Life: Find Your Happy Place (season premiere)
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 Sep 24th 2008 12:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S06E01) All summer long,
NCIS fans have been simmering about how the team was broken up in
the season finale. It was bad enough that Jenny had died and a new director -- well, actually, the acting director -- was named to take her place, but then his first action was to reassign DiNozzo, McGee and David and give Gibbs three new agents. As the ads for
NCIS reminded us, "breaking up is hard to do."
Well, I'm relieved to report that the team may not be together, but they're still intact. It's not as confusing as it seems and if you watched tonight's return, it was clear that the powers that be knew what they were doing with the storyline. Picking up 126 days since the break up, you got the sense that Jethro was nearly as vexed about the changes as Abby, even though he was refraining from putting pictures and postcards on the bulletin board.
For more about how all the pieces of the puzzle have come together so that those that are scattered can still be whole, read after the jump.
Continue reading NCIS: Last Man Standing (season premiere)
Posted Sep 17th 2008 9:10AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps

(S05E01) "This is Dr. House. He's too brilliant for introductions." -- Thirteen to House's patient of the week
Another season of House, another patient with a mysterious ailment. If there is one thing that has not changed in the five seasons that this medical procedural has aired it is the fact that someone is going to enter Princeton-Plainsboro with an illness that can't be determined until the very last minute. It's why House is still on the air. Well, there's that, and then there's the fact that Hugh Laurie is a damn fine actor. Oh, and the others on the show don't do so badly themselves.
So, what can one viewer look forward to for this new season? If you think same-old, same-old then you would be absolutely, totally....incorrect. Because things are a-changing in Greg House's universe -- actually have been changing since the death of Amber in last season's finale -- that he can't, or won't, stop. The result? Well, I would be writing my own death sentence if I revealed it to you here. So, come and join me for a recap of this week's episode.
Continue reading House: Dying Changes Everything (season premiere)
Posted Sep 13th 2008 12:05PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Reality-Free

There's no way that the creator/executive producer of a new series walking away from the show before the season premiere can be a good thing. In fact, it's down right ominous. Therefore, the news that
Diane Ruggiero has walked off The Ex List before the October 3rd premiere does not bode well for the comedy-drama. It's not like the prospect of succeeding in the dreaded Friday at 9 P.M. ET on CBS (the place where
Moonlight died) was a sign of good things to come, but having seen the pilot, I was keeping my fingers crossed. Now, I'm worried.
Reportedly, Ruggiero unexpectedly quit
The Ex List on Friday morning. Rick Eid, executive producer of the show, will continue on in her place as showrunner. However, the writing staff will have to continue without their guiding light because make no mistake, the heart and soul of the main character -- Bella Bloom -- was a reflection of Diane Ruggiero. She's a strong writer with a distinct voice, one she lent to her other success (with Rob Thomas)
Veronica Mars.
Continue reading Diane Ruggiero exits The Ex List - VIDEO
Posted Sep 3rd 2008 10:08PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Bones, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(S04E01) Hullo Guv! Welcome to the fourth series premiere of Bones. It has been a summer of anger and anticipation for most fans of the show. Anger, as many felt creator Hart Hanson bollixed the whole thing up by making Zack Addy a bit potty. Anticipation, because those same fans are curious to see how Hanson and his writers will fill the gap and how the rest of the blokes at the Jeffersonian will adjust. And, of course, there's also the unanswered question as to the state of Bones and Booth's relationship: will they shag or not this season?
None of those questions were answered in this two-hour series premiere, althouth Zack's fate was briefly mentioned. What we did get was a trip to Londontown by Temperance and Seeley (hence, the British slang), and some significant relationship changes amongst the Squints. So, grab a pint, some fish n' chips, and your favorite duck, and let's begin.
Continue reading Bones: Yanks in the UK (seson premiere)
Posted Aug 28th 2008 9:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Chuck, Reality-Free

If you're of the belief that actions speak louder than words, than this move by NBC is proof positive that the network has great faith in
Chuck.
NBC has given Chuck an early full-season pickup.
The term is called a "back-nine" order, which means that the adventures of a geek-turned-reluctant super spy, will be on NBC for all of 2008-09. The vagaries of the demographics and Nielsens notwithstanding, NBC is betting on
Chuck.
The comedy-adventure is entering its sophomore season, returning on Monday, September 29, at 8 E.T. Apparently, the powers-that-be at NBC -- Ben Silverman -- have liked the shows that are currently in the can.
Assuming they're right,
Chuck will pick up right where it left off last year with sharp characters, funny stories and the right blend of action and laughs. It's not an easy mix, although when it works -- like
Chuck and
Burn Notice -- it makes for terrific TV.
Continue reading NBC gets behind Chuck in a big way
Posted Aug 27th 2008 7:53PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Saturday Night Live is about to kick off its 34th season, and they're determined to do it with a bang. Doing a smart job of quickly pulling in America's biggest star of the summer, the show has announced that super-crazy Olympian god slash merman
Michael Phelps will be hosting the premiere. It also looks like the musical guest will be Lil' Wayne, but who has time to care about that? Michael Phelps is swimming back to America and he's hosting!
Continue reading Michael Phelps to host SNL season premiere
Posted Aug 24th 2008 12:45PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free

Once upon a time, a new science fiction drama called
Star Trek premiered with an episode called "The Man Trap" rather than the pilot (actually the second pilot, the one that introduced Captain Kirk) on September 8, 1966. The pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," wasn't shown till the third week on the air.
NBC's decision to switch the episodes didn't help amp up
Star Trek's ratings in that first season, but network wisdom at the time was that "Man Trap" was a better starting point than "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
Cut to now.
Two current properties, CBS's Eleventh Hour and Fox's Do Not Disturb, have switched out their pilot episodes for another episode as the season's premieres.
You might recall that Brett wrote a month ago about this happening with
Joss Whedon's Dollhouse too.
On September 10, the Fox comedy
Do Not Disturb will present "Work Sex," about the workers at The Inn fooling around on the job, in lieu of the pilot, which will air sometime in the future. This may be a sign of trouble.
Continue reading CBS and Fox play pilot switcheroo
Posted Jul 14th 2008 9:30AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US), Episode Reviews, Episode Recaps

(
S10E01) We were spoiled this year with
Big Brother. The winter season of
BB was arguably the only good thing to come out of the WGA strike (if you're a sucker for low-brow television like me). And now it's back again in its regular summer schedule.
Speaking of schedules,
Jackie and I will be covering the show this summer. I'll be doing Sunday episodes with Jackie covering Tuesday and Wednesday. You can also count of TV Squad for Jackie's Live Feed Reports and I might post a few updates from
Big Brother After Dark which airs on ShoToo (I knew there was a reason I added Showtime to my cable bill. And I thought I was just getting
The Tudors and
Secret Diary of a Call Girl.)
Okay, let's get to what happened last night.
Continue reading Big Brother 10: HOH competition #1 (season premiere)
Posted Jun 10th 2008 11:04AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Arrested Development, Video, Retro Squad, Standout Episodes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.(S02E01) Here's the rundown. Michael and his son leave for Phoenix. Well, not really. Michael needs money so he ends up going back to his old life at the model home in order to track down the company check book.
While Michael tries to do something productive, the rest of the siblings are into the usual mischief. When she and Tobias decide to explore an open relationship, Lindsay falls for a real estate agent. Tobias readies himself to join the Blue Man Group, excited at this new acting opportunity. GOB, who has been put in charge of the company, finds the contracts with Saddam Hussein but inadvertently gives them to his father who is dressed up like Oscar, George Sr.'s twin brother. Buster reconnects with Uncle Oscar but gets enlisted in the army by Lucille.
And at the end of the day, the Bluths realize they all need each other. If they didn't, it wouldn't be
Arrested Development.
Continue reading Arrested Development: The One Where Michael Leaves (season two premiere) - VIDEO
Posted Jun 8th 2008 11:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E01) The season finale for
Army Wives last summer was a cliffhanger. It was an explosive, shocking and dramatic conclusion to a season filled with the characters' ups and downs, the good times and the bad, the yin and the yang of the lives of military families on Fort Marshall in Charleston, South Carolina.
This season two opener is no less stunning. It was a powerful episode, as the tribe, as the Army spouses like to call themselves, deal with the aftermath of a suicide bomber walking into the Hump Bar determined to fulfill his mission and take all of them with him. The watering hole was filled with patrons, and the question fans wondered since then has been, who survived the blast?
Continue reading Army Wives: Would You Know My Name (season premiere)
Posted May 23rd 2008 9:21AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, So You Think You Can Dance

(
S04E01) It's back! *sings terribly* "Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. With somebody who loves me!" I am psyched for
So You Think You Can Dance. We kicked off tonight with the L.A. auditions and a two-hour season premiere. There were a lot of Russians, a lot of pelvic thrusts, a lot of repeat dancers, and a lot of Mary Murphy's infectious/irritating laugh. I can't decide about that one. Some times I can't stand her and some times I want to sit next to her at the judges table. What about you?
But enough about Mary, let's get to the good stuff ... the auditions!
Continue reading So You Think You Can Dance: LA Auditions (season premiere)
Posted Nov 20th 2007 12:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming

How many of us wish we could just blur past four years of our lives as if they never happened? I know a couple people from college who did just that and aren't sure to this day if they ever attended college or not.
When the gang from
One Tree Hill left us last year, they were finally graduating high school and heading off for college, with new babies and careers on the horizon for some. These are some pretty important and pivotal times in a young person's life, but when the CW drama returns with its two-hour premiere on January 8, 2008
according to Zap2It.com, it'll be four years later and these moments have passed.
Continue reading One Tree Hill, four years later
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