anne heche-related stories
Posted Oct 28th 2006 3:17PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E08) This episode took a dramatic turn about halfway through. Initially, I was a little leery of the unusual turn of events but I think it worked because the writers eased us into the drama. The first half of the show alternated between goofy and dramatic and then it was just all drama up through the ending.
Continue reading Men in Trees: The Buddy System
Posted Oct 27th 2006 12:59PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: ABC, NBC, Industry, Programming, Ratings
It used to be that getting a full season order was the best news a new show could get, but nowadays I think shows are just as happy to get a few additional episodes OK'd.
Four new shows have been given the green light for
more scripts. Three of them are on ABC:
The Nine,
Men In Trees, and
Help Me, Help You, and one NBC's
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (yeee-hah). Of course, this is no guarantee that the shows will be awarded with a full season, but it's certainly a sign of hope (and also cool to see the networks actually getting behind shows that are quality but are struggling).
For those keeping score, the shows that have gotten a full season already are
Heroes,
Jericho,
Shark,
Brothers & Sisters, and
Ugly Betty.
Posted Oct 25th 2006 12:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Web, What About Brian
Interesting
piece in Slate today, on all of the TV shows on ABC that writer Troy Patterson calls a "nauseating lineup of yuppie dramas."
Which shows is he talking about? You can probably guess:
Men In Trees,
Brothers & Sisters,
What About Brian, and
Six Degrees. I think that Patterson's whole viewpoint can be summed up with this paragraph:
These shows share a view of the human mind modeled on Dr. Phil's and an aesthetic sense shamelessly cribbed from a Pottery Barn catalog. When you watch them, you're mostly watching people feel bad over beverages. Despite it's pseudo-literary ambitions, the genre's got a certain soap-operatic streak, and the soap's an orange-lavender bath wash.Ouch.
Continue reading Easy listening TV?
Posted Oct 21st 2006 12:10PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E07) The writers switched things up a bit this week and I was happy for it. Instead of tension between Ben and Teresa, it was between Sara and Teresa. And, Marin had her sister to contend with, rather than anything Alaska-related. Even Patrick and Annie had a different storyline this week, in which Annie took a back seat.
Does anybody believe that Buzz is Patrick's father? How is that even possible? How many people did Patrick's mother sleep with? He's a 26-year old man who believes his father is still alive, even though the man obviously died in a plane crash in the Alaska bush before Patrick was born. I pretty much guessed what Patrick's mother was hiding from him, which she said could make things better or worse. I'm almost positive that he's still pissed off at his mother for lying to him about who his father is, so that's a storyline that could stretch for a few episodes and make for some bonding between Annie and his mom (although, I like how the mom treats Annie poorly- it makes for some good comedy).
Continue reading Men in Trees: Ladies Frist
Posted Oct 7th 2006 11:01AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E05) Geez Louise, there sure was a lot of sex in that episode. A lot. Elmo was suffering from a late fall heat wave... double entendre is intended. Basically, everyone is hot and horny. Except the raccoon.
So... the big news is that Jack and Marin hooked up. A lot. In fact, their first tryst happened within the first 15 minutes of the show. So much for the sexual tension, but I think that's a good thing. I guess the writers have a good grasp on how that little storyline was going to get old soon. Although, sleeping together could just add another layer to the sexual tension between Marin and Jack. Only time will tell.
Continue reading Men in Trees: Talk for Tat
Posted Sep 30th 2006 9:45AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E04) Did anyone else's TiVo not record
Men in Trees? For absolutely no reason whatsoever, my TiVo decided not to record it. Nothing else was scheduled, but apparently it wasn't in the mood. All this is a fancy way of saying that I missed the first eight minutes.
I tuned in during a bar scene where Marin was mourning the cancellation of her third book and the townsfolk were mourning some guy named Franklin. So, the whole Lost & Found storyline was lost on me (heh heh). So was the Jack/son storyline.
Continue reading Men in Trees: Sink or Swim
Posted Sep 23rd 2006 7:29AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E03) Whoops. I missed the second episode of
Men in Trees. I was out of town last weekend and didn't realize the pilot wasn't also playing on Friday (there was an early premiere of it last Tuesday). Anyway, the recap surprised me so we'll see if I can play catch-up. Of course, this is the one show that is neither streaming on ABC.com nor is it available in iTunes. Grrrr.
My only question is... where did all the snow go?
Continue reading Men in Trees: For What It's Worth...
Posted Sep 13th 2006 7:42AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, OpEd, Men In Trees
(
S01E01) First of all, get
Northern Exposure out of your head right now. This is not the same show. In fact, it's not really like anything else that's currently on television and that alone makes
Men in Trees refreshing. The drama is low-key, the comedy is sweet and sometimes cute, and the characters seem to have depth. In fact, the characters are the best part of this show. We barely meet most of them in the pilot but we get the idea that they're not just small town simpletons, rather they're educated men and women with complicated pasts that no doubt include heartache and sacrifice. And Anne Heche is delightful, with the perfect balance of independence and fumbling fish out of water.
Continue reading Men in Trees: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Aug 22nd 2006 11:34AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Programming, Men In Trees
ABC is giving
Men in Trees a little help by giving it a Tuesday night premiere slot right after the season premiere of
Dancing with the Stars on September 12th. This has got to be good news for the show, which is unfairly placed in the Friday night lineup on ABC.
Men in Trees, starring Anne Heche as a fish-out-of-water in an Alaskan town populated with men, was originally scheduled to premiere on Friday, Sept. 22nd. Instead, ABC will air the pilot on the 12th and then again in its regular time slot at 9 p.m. on the 15th. Not sure what prompted the change... perhaps it was my
glowing review??
Posted Aug 15th 2006 10:31AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, NBC, OpEd, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Five, The Office, Sci Fi
5. Men in Trees I would have written this show off immediately if I hadn't been assigned to preview the pilot. A city girl ends up stranded in rural Alaska? Sounds like
Northern Exposure, doesn't it? I suppose it is similar, but maybe that's why I think it's so good. I enjoyed the Anne Heche character and the supporting cast has closets full of skeletons. Plus.... gorgeous scenery!
Continue reading The Five: Anna's fall picks
Posted Aug 5th 2006 2:57PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, ABC, Programming
ABC certainly doesn't seem to be making the same mistakes as it did early this century when it relied on only one show (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) to carry its entire programming schedule. In other words, it's not counting on the successes of Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy to carry the the whole network. So, only does it have a full slate of new series to try out on the public, but it is also experimenting with a few concepts that haven't been seen in awhile.
One of these is a new anthology series named Masters of Science Fiction. Created by IDT Entertainment, the same people who gave us Showtime's Masters of Horror, the six episode series will feature adaptations of stories from acclaimed science fiction writers such as Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein and Robert Sheckley. Each episode will be introduced by physicist, author, and recurring actor on The Simpsons Stephen Hawking.
A number of actors from current and new ABC series will be cast in this anthology. This includes Anne Heche from the upcoming series Men in Trees, Terry O'Quinn from Lost, and Desperate Housewives' James Denton. Also appearing will be Sam Waterson (Law & Order), Elisabeth Rohm (Angel), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings), and Macolm McDowell.
Posted Jul 14th 2006 12:34PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC
Now that
NBC and
CBS have us all excited about its fall season, it's time to move along to the screener DVDs we've been receiving from ABC. While we're not allowed to technically "review" each new show, we can give you a short preview with our initial thoughts.
For ABC, we're covering:
The Knights of Prosperity (formerly
Let's Rob...)
, Help Me Help You, The Nine, Big Day, Notes from the Underbelly, Six Degrees, Ugly Betty, and Men in Trees. (We'll do a Part 2 of the ABC previews once we receive the remaining shows.)
Continue reading TV Squad previews ABC's new shows
Posted May 31st 2006 11:41AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, Programming, Video, Web
You can get a really good idea of ABC's fall schedule
right here, where Yahoo! has posted clips from 12 of ABC's new shows for the fall. Clips include
Brothers & Sisters (Calista Flockhart),
Day Break (Taye Diggs),
Men in Trees (Anne Heche),
The Nine (Scott Wolf),
Six Degrees (created by J.J. Abrams),
Traveler, Betty the Ugly, Big Day, Help Me Help You (Ted Danson), In Case of Emergency, Let's Rob..., and
Notes from the Underbelly.
Some early thoughts after the jump:
Continue reading ABC offers a preview of its fall schedule
Posted Feb 15th 2006 11:09AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, ABC, Talent, Men In Trees
I have to give props to Reuters for its headline for this story,
ABC Matches Heche with "Men". As Mandy Moore would say, "that's funny."
Heche will play a shrink who moves to Alaska when she learns her husband has been cheating on her, only to discover Alaska is full of single men (it is?). Also cast in the pilot are Derek Richardson, from the movie
Hostel, and Emily Bergl, who played Francie Jarvis on
Gilmore Girls. We last saw Anne during an arc on
Nip/Tuck where she played a woman in the witness protection program.
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