It's with a big sigh of relief that I report that Michael Logan at TV Guide has confirmed that CBS has booked Guiding Light for one more year. That'll make it 72 years of continuous broadcasting -- radio and television. No program can match Guiding Light's longevity, and I would hate to see CBS cancel a show with this kind of legacy.
That said, Guiding Light needs to have a better year going forth than they've had looking back. In fact, since tying with The Young and the Restless last June as Outstanding Daytime Drama at the Emmys, the show has been going through major transitions. The new style of filming, shooting on locations in a New Jersey town that's being used as the fictional Springfield, began on February 29, and it hasn't been welcomed by the critics or viewers.
The waiting goes on. Kind of like that spinning planet that symbolizes As the World Turns. TV Squad reported recently that many fans of the soap are anxious to see the two gay lovers, Noah (Jake Silbermann) and Luke (Van Hansis), smooch on screen. There are web sites with a clock ticking, waiting for the next on screen kiss from the fellas. Now comes news that TV Guide's Michael Logan questioned Barbara Bloom, head of CBS Daytime, to find out if the show, the sponsor or the network is afraid to depict a homosexual teen love story in the same way they do a heterosexual one?
For the past two decades, give or take a year here and there, actress Martha Byrne has played the character of Lily Snyder on As the World Turns. That all ends next month. According the executive producer Christopher Goutman, "We made Martha an incredibly generous offer in hopes that she would remain. Unfortunately, Martha has decided to leave despite our best efforts to keep her." That's the show's side of the story. Michael Logan spoke with Martha Byrne to hear her side of the story.
Michael Ausiello at TVGuide.com has been playing with his calculator, or maybe it was an abacus. Anyway, Mike has used some oh-so-creative math to add two and two together to get a major revelation on a CBS sitcom. Okay, here's the scoop. Mr. Ausiello has gotten an exclusive casting tidbit from How I Met Your Mother.
Alicia Silverstone, star of Clueless on the big screen, Miss Match on the small, has been signed for a series of episodes, a mini-arc.
TV Guide has posted this chart to let the viewers know when their favorite TV shows have any new episodes left as a result. Because of the WGA Strike, most seasons for this year will have to be shortened or delayed.
Different networks seem to be taking different strategies with the episodes. Some shows have no new episodes left (Ugly Betty, 30 Rock) whereas some shows have as many as eight left (One Tree Hill, Lost). NBC seems to be the network which has already "shot its load" as it were. I suspect the ones remaining will be mostly used up during February sweeps.
Like I said yesterday, the press kits have started to come in to the TV Squad offices. Some of them are way cool, some are downright silly and some are nonexistent. Just last week I got one in from the TV Guide Channel for their upcoming red carpet coverage of the Emmy awards. OK, sounds reasonable, right?
When I opened the box and the hermetically sealed canister within, what I saw made me fear that I had just unleashed some unseen beast unto my unsuspecting family. As it turns out, only my dog was in danger.
It seems like Rob Thomas is going through a mid-career crisis. After his series Veronica Mars was not renewed by the CW network back in May, Thomas has been floating around the television world looking for a new venture. Back in early July he was picked to head up the new ABC series Miss/Guided. However, two weeks later he left his position as executive producer and showrunner under the "creative differences" umbrella (I wonder if I could use that line when I leave my IT position).
Now, according to our dear, dear friend Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide, Thomas has joined Big Shots (another ABC show) as a consulting producer. He will be in good company this time around as the executive producers of the show, Danielle Stokdyk and Jennifer Gwartz, were former producers on Veronica Mars.
Yes, you read right. It is possible that Mandy Patinkin, lead of CBS' Criminal Minds, be let go from the show. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello's reports that after he failed to show up for work, it was decided to write him out of the season premiere.
Warning! Gigantic spoiler ahead for Rescue Me. Don't read any further if you haven't watched the most recent episode.
Star and producer Denis Leary has not made a fan of his longtime co-star Jack McGee. The two used to be close but in the past couple of years (McGee says) that Leary has barely spoken to him. But that probably isn't going to be a problem anymore since...
Like I said, a major spoiler after the jump, so don't read on if you don't want to be, um, spoiled.
Here we go with another chapter in our daily soap "As Grey's Anatomy Turns." A few hours after telling the world he was "really angry" after being fired from ABC's hit show Grey's Anatomy, Isaiah Washington is now pondering suing the series. TV Guide reports that during an interview, Howard Bragman, Washington's spokesperson, claimed that the actor is really angry. Yesterday, the actor issued a statement in which he said "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." The actor is now ready to take matter in his own hands and let the Network and show how mad he is.
Apparently, the executives over at the CW network like to pull the chains of the collective viewer. Last year they did it when they said 7th Heaven and Reba weren't coming back, then they turned around and renewed them anyway. In 2007 they seem to be doing it again. This time with fan favorite Veronica Mars.
(S04E23) This was kind of a confusing episode to me. Not that the story was hard to follow, just that it seemed poorly conceived. I thought the case of the week was well done, but kind of out of place. With it being the end of the season, and the plan already in place to make this a two parter, I would have rather seen something that focused in on the big stories.
It almost felt like flipping the channels between two episodes that were running at the same time. The brief phone conversations between Gibbs and Shepard kind of tied the two stories together, but more than anything, they just pointed out that the story of the week was taking up time that could have been spent on La Grenouille. Maybe I'm just a little impatient, having caught a bit of the finale fever, but it just didn't all fit together for me.
It has been five long hours since viewers last saw 24's disgraced President Charles Logan being whisked into an ambulance after his ex-wife Martha stabbed him.
The reappearance of the Logans was a high point of the current, uneven season of 24, as fans and critics seem to adore the duo. So why has there been a news blackout when it comes to the condition of the man who, in the show's 11th hour, was quoting the Psalm of David about redemption and deliverance from evil?
Don't know. But TV Guide'sMichael Ausiello, quoting a 24 source, says the former president will not be heard from again this season. "It appears Logan is going the way of those Russian mobsters on The Sopranos," he wrote. If he's correct, then this is a damned shame. Why bring Logan back with such fanfare and promise, only to see him go out in a hail of stabbings with a kiwi knife?