Denis Leary and Peter Tolan are busy men. As the two executive producers behind FX's phenomenal drama Rescue Me, the two have had their plate full ever since the WGA strike ended. For those that haven't heard, Rescue Me was renewed for a network-length 22 episode season scheduled to air in spring 2009. I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Leary and Tolan earlier today and both pointed out that this is an entirely different animal since they're used to producing 13 episode seasons. Leary was quick to make a sports analogy: they pretty much have been working on season five since last year's football season and they probably won't wrap until next year's basketball playoffs. He also made an alcohol analogy: it's like they're in TV rehab. Coming from the guy who plays Tommy Gavin, I'd say that's fairly appropriate.
Posts with tag conference call
Denis Leary and Peter Tolan on Rescue Me, Red Sox, and writing
Continue reading Denis Leary and Peter Tolan on Rescue Me, Red Sox, and writing
David Boreanaz talks about Bones
Admit it: You all want to know what's like to talk to David Boreanaz, AKA, Angel from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, AKA, Special Agent Seeley Booth from Bones. I'd like to know what it is like to talk to him too, but one of the things about these conference calls is that you are instructed to hit two keys to queue up for your question, and I always hit them, but I never get selected to ask questions. I do, however, now know what it is like to listen to David Boreanaz talk on the phone, so I guess that's something, right? He sounds just like Booth. Go figure. If you are a longterm fan of Boreanaz, I'd have to guess that either he did the phone call in character as Booth or that Boreanaz is a lot more like the sometimes-abrasive Booth than the brooding and circumspect Angel.
Continue reading David Boreanaz talks about Bones
Glenn Close on Damages, The Shield, and Cruella De Vil
FX is either really worried or supremely confident about the final two episodes of Damages. First they offered up a conference call with Tate Donovan last Friday and then over the weekend, I found out that I'd have the same opportunity with Glenn Close. When a network starts offering up press opportunities with its biggest stars, either they're not afraid of what they'll say or it's quite the opposite and they're being offered up because something needs to be said. After speaking with Close yesterday afternoon, I think the former more accurately describes what's going on with Damages. Close is thrilled about working on the show and doesn't seem worried one bit about FX scrapping the drama after only one season.
Continue reading Glenn Close on Damages, The Shield, and Cruella De Vil
Me 'n Tate Donovan are BFF 4EVA!
OK... well not really. But that definitely grabs your attention more than "Conference Call with Tate Donovan," right? Well anyway, now that you're reading this, stick with me.
I was fortunate enough to be selected along with numerous other dignitaries, world leaders, and very famous people (again... not really) to participate in a Q&A with the Damages star earlier today and I must say: I wasn't excited about the last two episodes of the season but I am now. Either Donovan is just as full of it as his character Tom Shayes, or we are in for one hell of an ending.
Continue reading Me 'n Tate Donovan are BFF 4EVA!
Todd Bridges on Diff'rent Strokes movie, his sister, and reality shows
A network conference call is an interesting beast. It's not like a conference call at work, where everyone talks over each other and the meeting moves with a glacial pace. No, network conference calls are orderly, polite affairs, where you get in line to ask a question of the star and/or producer by pressing *1 and giving your name and affiliation, and the questions are nicely asked and at times, border on the obsequios. I guess the theory is that the network's PR people were nice enough to invite you to this, so it's best that you not piss off the people who were gracious enough to make themselves available to you.I was thinking all this when I was on a call last week promoting the upcoming movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff'rent Strokes, which airs Monday, 9/4, at 8 PM ET on NBC. The call was attended by Todd Bridges, who was interviewed for the film (as was Gary Coleman, who is pictured with Todd above), and by producer Stan Brooks. Not that the questions being asked were awful; in fact, they yielded a lot of information. But I was surprised that they didn't touch on a couple of topics.
Continue reading Todd Bridges on Diff'rent Strokes movie, his sister, and reality shows
Celebrate the 4th by watching television!
Stargate Atlantis season five - An early look
Saving Grace season two: An early look
