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Posts with tag Six Feet Under

Ten awkward TV moments

The Office Last week's episode of The Office now ranks high on my list of Awkward TV Moments. It got me thinking about other all-time great awkward TV moments. Sure, we've all seen the episode where a disheveled Mary Richards shows up at the awards banquet wearing one fuzzy pink slipper. And the one where Frasier and Roz nearly do it on a cruise ship. But let's take a look at a few recent awkward TV moments.

1. Jan heaves a Dundee at Michael's flat-screen TV.
Okay, we'll start with last week's episode of The Office, in which Michael coerces Jim and Pam into attending a couples-only dinner party at his and Jan's condo. The entire episode is one long awkward moment, from Dwight showing up with his former babysitter as his date to Pam realizing she'll be held hostage for three hours, thanks to Jan's poor culinary planning. But the topper is when Michael and Jan's love spat escalates into a huge fight, ending with her heaving one of his treasured Dundee awards at his new (and tiny) flat-screen TV. The cops show up after the neighbors report a disturbance, and Michael ends up going home with Dwight.

Continue reading Ten awkward TV moments

NBC has found The Man of Your Dreams

Michael TruccoAnd it's Michael Trucco (Battlestar Galactica). Once this pesky strike gets over with, NBC will start production on its new comedy The Man of Your Dreams, starring the aforementioned Trucco as Larry, a womanizing man who uses the knowledge he's gained to help romantically troubled women. He is joined by Constance Zimmer (Boston Legal) as his sister, who is a single mother running a wedding-planning business. Her business partner is played by Justina Machada (Six Feet Under). Christina Chang (CSI: Miami) is a proud gold-digger while RonReaco Lee (Committed) plays a Star Wars "buff," who is Larry's protégé.

Continue reading NBC has found The Man of Your Dreams

NYTVF: TV Criticism on the Web

Alan Sepinwall and Tara ArianoI sometimes look around the internet and am amazed by the sheer volume of content. People can write about almost anything -- especially when they're obsessed with a specific topic. And a lot of people seem to be specifically obsessed with television.

Not that I can judge. I'm TV addict who writes for TV Squad. But I sometimes wonder if it all really matters. Is anyone listening to any of us? And more importantly, do we have any influence on the television world at large with our opinions and criticisms?

As a devoted TV addict, I headed out last week to cover the New York Television Festival (NYTVF) and listened in on a panel discussion which looked at the explosion of blogs and TV fan sites and questioned their impact (if any) on the industry.

Continue reading NYTVF: TV Criticism on the Web

Lauren Ambrose joins Jezebel James cast

Lauren AmbroseExcellent news for Gilmore and Six Feet Under fans. Lauren Ambrose, Six Feet's Claire, has been cast in Amy Sherman-Palladino's upcoming project The Return of Jezebel James as Parker Posey's younger sister. The pilot focuses on juvenile lit publisher Parker Posey and her relationship with her estranged sister. (Jezebel James is the name of the publishing house's popular franchise for pre-adolescent girls.) This is pitch perfect casting. Having read the script, I can tell you that Lauren's character is essentially the person you'd expect Six Feet Under's Claire to be after a couple of years in New York with less chemical experimentation perhaps, but the same amount of artistic ennui.

You'll also be happy to know that the pilot episode is pure Amy Sherman-Palladino. She's back in the game with a script that reads like the best Gilmore episodes against an urban backdrop. It's quick-witted, modern and now perfectly cast.

[Thanks to Lauren R. for the tip.]

Casting News: Christopher Titus, Carrie Ann Moss, Billy Baldwin, more

Christopher TitusIt's that time of the year. People are being cast in pilots left and right and some interesting stuff has been announced. At ABC, Christopher Titus (Titus) has landed one of the lead roles in an untitled project from Warner Bros. The show focuses on CEOs and also stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Michael Vartan (Alias). McDermott and Vartan as CEOs is an easy sell. But Christopher Titus, Senior VP Harvard graduate? That's different, and something I look forward to checking out.

Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) is set to star in ABC's Suspect. The show is a procedural that will solve crimes by tracking suspects through a lineup. She's joined by Eric Palladino (ER) and Kathleen Munroe (Beautiful People). The ABC track record for procedurals is less than impressive, but the addition of Guy Ritchie (Snatch) as director is intriguing enough to give this one a look.

Continue reading Casting News: Christopher Titus, Carrie Ann Moss, Billy Baldwin, more

Anna Paquin snags lead in HBO vampire series

anna paquinAlmost Famous and The Piano actress Anna Paquin has signed on to the lead role in a new series for HBO from Alan Ball. That name should ring a bell for all fans of Six Feet Under (Ball also wrote American Beauty).

This time around, Ball is diving into the world of vampires. His new series, appropriately called True Blood, is based on the "Southern Vampire" series of novels by Charlaine Harris. In the story, vampires don't have to kill humans for their blood because the Japanese were kind enough to invent a synthetic blood that does the trick. Paquin will play a non-vampire waitress who hooks up with a vampire.

Paquin is also appearing in an HBO mini-series about the displacement of Native Americans, called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

24's Balfour gets cop drama

Milo Pressman on 24Eric Balfour, who plays CTU analyst Milo Pressman on 24, is slated to star in a new CBS cop drama, Protect and Serve, set in suburban Los Angeles, according to the web site Zap2it.

Balfour's character Milo was seen in CTU offices early in season one of 24, but then he disappeared for several years. He resurfaced this season not only in CTU, but as Chloe O'Brian's ex-boyfriend and constant irritant to another Chloe ex, Morris, also a CTU employee.

Aside from appearances on 24, I know Balfour best for his role on Six Feet Under where played troubled teen Gabe Dimas for a dozen episodes.

Thank You for Smoking to become NBC series

Thank You for SmokingFormer West Wing and Six Feet Under producer Rick Cleveland is on board to translate Christopher Buckley's best-selling book and recent film Thank You for Smoking into a single-camera television series for NBC.

The television show will pick up where the film left off - with spin doctor Nick Naylor opening his own firm. It's a great idea for a series in that Naylor can have a never-ending array of clients. Nick will, of course, always be on the politically incorrect side of whatever big business or political issue is thrown his way. The producers have discussed Naylor repping fast food companies, environmental polluters and politicos in Mark Foley-esque situations.

Continue reading Thank You for Smoking to become NBC series

The Office's Rainn Wilson to kick ninja butt

Rainn WilsonRainn Wilson will finally put all that Office martial arts training to work in his screenwriting debut Bonzai Shadowhands. Wilson, who plays purple belt sycophant Dwight on The Office, will star in the film as a once-great ninja who is now down on his luck.

The film, to be directed by Ivan Reitman's son Jason, is described as a comedy with serious overtones. "It's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Midnight Cowboy." (No word on whether Wilson will have any "hustler in the city" scenes or not. "You know what you got to do, cowboy.")

Continue reading The Office's Rainn Wilson to kick ninja butt

New TV on DVD releases today

  • Get SmartThe Adventures of Superman - Seasons 5 and 6
  • The Bugs Bunny/Loony Tunes Hour - Golden Collection, Vol. 4
  • CSI - Season 6
  • Columbo - Seasons 6 and 7
  • DuckTales - Vol. 2
  • Family Guy - Vol. 4
  • Friends - Complete Series
  • Get Smart - Complete Series
  • Home Improvement - Season 5
  • Homicide - Complete Series
  • Lois & Clark - Season 4
  • NCIS - Season 2
  • Northern Exposure - Season 5
  • Quantum Leap - Season 5
  • Reba - Season 4
  • Six Feet Under - Complete Series
  • That Girl - Season 2
  • Third Rock From The Sun - Season 6

Six Feet Under: complete series coming to DVD

six feet underI was never a fan of the HBO series Six Feet Under. While the show had a unique aesthetic I always felt the creators' attempts at unpredictable storylines and eccentric characters lacked any kind of purity. Every moment of that series felt like a cold, calculated decision, and I could never shake that feeling of manipulation when I watched it. I had exactly the same reaction to creator Alan Ball's American Beauty, another example of something that was pretty to look at but lacked any real substance, like an Easter egg filled with shit.

Nevertheless, despite my aversion to the series and my poetic use of simile to describe it, I know Six Feet Under had its fans, and I thought you'd like to know the complete series will be released on DVD November 14. That's plenty of time to put it on your holiday gift list and to convince your family and loved ones it's worth spending around $280.00 on. My parents were actually fans of the series, and I have fond memories of watching it with them and having them tell me to shut the hell up and stop complaining about it while they were trying to enjoy it. I should really visit home more often, those memories don't make themselves.

Dexter -- An early look

Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan

The Premise: Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under fame) plays Dexter Morgan, a forensic investigator and blood-spatter analyst for the Miami-Dade Police Department. But that's only his day job. Beneath his chipper attitude is a dark secret, one that harbors his disgust for those who do wrong. When he isn't investigating a murder for the boys in blue, Dexter takes matters into his own hands. An efficient killer, he hunts down and brutally murders the horrible people (child molesters, rapists, other serial killers) that actually deserve to die. When he isn't chopping up his latest victim, Dex deals with the rest of his mundane life: mentoring a sister who's also a cop, fending off sexual advances from his boss, and trying to figure out a girlfriend who he doesn't really want to sleep with.

Continue reading Dexter -- An early look

Peter Krause signs on to SciFi mini-series

peter krauseFormer Six Feet Under actor Peter Krause just agreed to play the lead role in a SciFi Channel original mini-series, or as SciFi calls it, "limited series". Whatever. The series is called The Lost Room, about a motel room that contains mysterious power and all the objects in the room are charmed. Krause will play the detective who stumbles upon a key to the room, opens it up, and heaps a world of trouble on himself. His daughter, who disappears in the room, will be played by Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota. Filming for the series begins next Wednesday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but no air date has been announced.

Flockhart, Pantoliano, Livingston among big names in TV casting

ron livingstonNow that pilot season is wrapping up, it's casting season in L.A., where mega-stars or yet-to-be-discovered actors sign on to all sorts of new shows in hopes that the networks will pick them up for the fall line-up. There are a lot of big names this time around. Check it out:

  • Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) will star in the ABC drama pilot Brothers & Sisters, a soap-style drama about adult siblings.
  • Heather Locklear is in negotiations for a leading role in the ABC comedy pilot, Women of a Certain Age. Locklear would play a recently widowed woman who starts a new life with her two best friends.
  • Ron Livingston (Sex and the City, Office Space) is one of two leads in a FOX drama called Primary, which is about a male and a female hostage negotiator who balance their love lives with their jobs.
  • Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos) has agreed to star in CBS' Waterfront, as the charismatic and "ethically-challenged" mayor of Providence, R.I.
  • Steven Culp, previously known as Rex Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives, will appear in the ABC drama, Traveler, about three Yale graduate students who become a national security risk when one of them frames the other two for an art museum bombing.
  • Swoosie Kurtz will take on a supporting role in the CBS comedy, Play Nice, which stars Timm Sharp and Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect) as a brother and sister who run a toy company.
  • Jonah Lotan, who has been playing Spenser Wolff this season on 24, will take on a role on the FOX thriller, Beyond, which is about the space race.
[Via The Hollywood Reporter]

Was Daniel a dud?

Despite all the publicity leading up to Friday's premiere of The Book of Daniel on NBC, it still didn't do so hot in the ratings. The two-hour premiere, which aired from 9-11 pm on Friday, averaged about 9 million viewers. That's fewer than Close to Home, Numb3rs, In Justice, and 20/20, which all aired against Daniel on CBS and ABC. In Justice and 20/20 barely beat Daniel, each with a little more than 9 million viewers.

I watched The Book of Daniel out of pure curiosity. I like Aidan Quinn and I wanted to give the guy a chance. Plus, I wanted to see whether all the ruckus was justified. It wasn't.

Continue reading Was Daniel a dud?

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