er-related stories
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 2:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, Nurse Jackie
A funny thing happened when I turned on
Bravo over the weekend. Instead of an avalanche of
Flipping Out flip outs or
Real Houswives' table-flipping or Tabitha's disgusting beauty salons, there was drama on the cable net. Bravo aired NBC's medical drama
Mercy on Saturday morning.
On Saturday morning there really wasn't a lot going up against
Mercy. In fact, it had the field pretty much to itself for any viewers looking for a quality, fresh TV show.
I say fresh because unlike the reruns of
House or
NCIS on USA, I hadn't seen these episodes of
Mercy. So, rather than watch infomercials or pre-game college football chatter or animated cartoons, I watched
Mercy.
Continue reading Bravo boosts Mercy with Saturday marathon
Posted Oct 27th 2009 1:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
George Clooney learned a lot about television toiling away on
The Facts of Life and
E/R. The latter wasn't NBC medical drama that made him a star. I'm talking about the
1984 Elliott Gould sitcom on CBS that lasted a year, just 22 episodes.
But the point is this: he may be a major movie star today, but George knows and appreciates television. That could be why
George Clooney's behind Delta Blues, a cop drama that TNT has just picked up.
I use the term drama loosely, because it's something goofier than a straight drama. The lead character is an Elvis Presley impersonator when he's not working for the Memphis Police Department. One more thing: Like Elvis, he honors his mother... and lives with her. Does that make him a mama's boy? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Continue reading George Clooney, Elvis, the cops and TNT
Posted Oct 21st 2009 6:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Smallville, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Yesterday we told you that
Big Brother winner Adam Jasinski was arrested for trying to sell oxycodone pills that he had bought with some of his winnings from the CBS reality show (I'm going to assume he didn't spend all of the $500,000 on the pills, but who knows), and now we have another TV personality involved with the drug.
Sam Jones III, who you might remember as Clark Kent's best friend Pete from
Smallville and Pratt's younger brother Chaz on
ER, was
arrested this morning on charges of attempting to deal 10,000 oxycodone pills. The official charge is "conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute." The plot was major, says the DEA, and Jones has been called "the Hollywood connection."
Stay tuned the rest of the week for what I'm sure will be daily updates on Hollywood stars who are involved with oxycodone. Maybe we should start a category for it.
Posted Sep 11th 2009 10:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Casting, Reality-Free
Actress
Maura Tierney has been forced to abandon Parenthood, the NBC ensemble series in which she was cast last spring.
Tierney had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery and now must have treatment – chemotherapy and radiation.
The producers had pushed back production when Tierney's health crisis arose in July, but now that her condition requires prolonged treatment, she's walking away from the project and they will move on without her.
Maura released a statement saying that she was disappointed about not being able to do
Parenthood, but she was confident that she would recover and resume her career after her treatments are complete.
Continue reading Maura Tierney exits Parenthood
Posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:04AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Early Looks, Upfronts, Reality-Free
NBC seems to be sending out their screeners in dribs and drabs, so I'm making my way through their fall offerings very slowly. I've already given you previews of both
Community and Trauma, and now we've got
Parenthood, a new series based on a movie that was already turned into a series nearly twenty years ago. Who says Hollywood is out of ideas?
Parenthood is basically a less-melodramatic
Brothers & Sisters. It follows the Braverman clan, a family in Fresno made up of four siblings: Adam (
Peter Krause), Crosby (
Dax Shepard), Sarah (
Maura Tierney), and Julia (
Erika Christensen), along with their children and parents, played by
Craig T. Nelson and
Bonnie Bedelia. They all have their share of drama, but at the end of the day, they're all brought together in the most suburban of pursuits: Little League. Say it with me now: "awwww."
Continue reading TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 2)
Posted Jul 13th 2009 6:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.Now
this is a DVD release week. Lots of stuff for every type of TV fan. I'm definitely getting
Mad Men (and I'm going to watch all of the episodes again immediately to get ready for next month's launch of season 3), and I'm tempted to get the season 8 set of
Bewitched, though I'll probably wait for the inevitable complete series set. I've never seen
The Guns of Will Sonnett, but friends tell me it was good. Hopefully that's on Hulu or AOL Video or Retro TV so I don't have to actually buy it yet.
- American Gladiators - Season 1
- Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Collection 4
- Bewitched - Season 8
- Bleach - Uncut Box Set Vol. 3: The Rescue
- ER - Season 11
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted May 4th 2009 9:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Upfronts, Reality-Free
This leak appears to be unauthorized, but still pretty solid. It looks like the television remake of Ron Howard's 1989 film
Parenthood has been picked up by NBC for next season. Peter Krause (
Six Feet Under, Dirty Sexy Money), Maura Tierney (
NewsRadio, ER) and Craig T. Nelson (
Coach) are on board to star, and that's a pretty solid foundation right there.
The original
Parenthood movie starred everybody who was anybody in the late '80s, including Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards, Jr. and Mary Steenbergen and Steve Martin. It was like
Crash with an extended family, following multiple story lines that all ultimately connected.
Continue reading Now new show pick-ups are leaking out of NBC camp
Posted Apr 4th 2009 4:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
CBS has March Madness all night.- TV Land has an Andy Griffith Show marathon all night.
- At 8, NBC reruns the ER finale, if you missed it.
- TCM has Take the Money and Run at 8.
- At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
- Lifetime has the movie Nora Roberts' High Noon at 9.
- Hallmark has the movie Love Takes Wing at 9.
- Also at 9: FUSE has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
- At 10, History Channel has a new Ax Men.
- At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with Seth Rogen.
- At 1AM, Cartoon Network has a new Bleach.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
Posted Apr 3rd 2009 1:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
No, George Clooney did not show up for the series finale of
ER.
But it was a pretty good finale anyway. It's impossible to please all fans of a long-running show in a series finale because we expect too much, and what we expect can change depending on whether you've been watching it since the beginning or just started four years ago. Do they focus on the old cast members coming back and focus on the people who have been there for the past few years? Do they tie up all loose ends neatly in a bow or leave things open-ended because that's how life is?
ER managed to do both last night.
After the jump, the good and bad about the last episode of
ER.
Continue reading ER: And In The End ... (series finale)
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 4:35PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
As we bid farewell to
ER tonight, I can't let it pass without commenting on my all-time favorite episode of the series, the incomparable "
Love's Labor Lost". Anyone who's a fan of the show should remember the heartbreaking story of a young couple, Sean and Jodi O'Brien, who were about to give birth to their first child and the ultimate devastating ending.
It was a gut wrenching, too-painful-to-watch hour of television that I've never forgotten. While there are many other brilliant episodes in the show's history, this stands out as one of the first examples of how powerful
ER could be.
Continue reading Best episode of ER ever?
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 4:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
- At 8, NBC has an ER Retrospective, followed by the ER series finale.
- CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and Eleventh Hour.
- ABC has a new In The Motherhood, followed by a new Samantha Who?
- FOX has new episodes of Bones and Hell's Kitchen.
- There's a new Smallville on The CW at 8, then a new Supernatural.
- AMC has It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at 8.
- Discovery has two new episodes of Destroyed In Seconds at 8, then a new Treasure Quest.
- Also at 8: Nickelodeon has a new Penguins of Madagascar.
- At 9, Spike has a new TNA Wrestling.
- At 10, Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes.
- The Biography Channel has a new Chris Isaak Show at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Bones, Smallville, CSI, Ace Of Cakes
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 10:13AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
Yup, tonight is the final
ER. NBC will have an hour-long retrospective at 8 PM and then the two-hour season finale of the show at 9 PM (sorry, fans of
My Name Is Earl,
The Office, and
30 Rock). We've seen several old favorites come back this season in previous episodes, and we know that a couple more are coming back for tonight's last hurrah. Will George Clooney be one of them?
Clooney already made an appearance on the show with Juliana Margulies
a few weeks ago, and I liked the episode enough. It's just that there was a slight something missing from the episode, something concerning Doug and Carol and them not knowing that the kidney going to County General was for Carter.
Continue reading And here we go again: will Clooney show up on ER again tonight?
Posted Mar 31st 2009 2:09PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Video, Reality-Free
So this Thursday at 9pm, the series finale of
ER airs on NBC. I think that even former fans who drifted away from the show when Anthony Edwards was killed off, or when Noah Wyle left, or when they just didn't enjoy the show anymore because it had been on for too long will tune into the finale. You can't watch a show for so many years and then just forget all about the finale. The thing has been on since Bill Clinton's first term, so we gotta find out how it ends.
The episode (like this season in general) will also have some familiar faces coming back to County General, and probably some in pictures and/or flashbacks (the episode will be preceded by a retrospective at 8pm). After the jump, a video sneak peek at the episode (and, yes, there are possible spoilers, so proceed with caution!)
Continue reading Here's a sneak peek at Thursday's ER series finale - VIDEO
Posted Mar 26th 2009 4:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
CBS has March Madness all night.- Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: Enterprise marathon all night.
- At 8, ABC has the series premiere of In The Motherhood, then new episodes of Samantha Who?, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice.
- NBC has a new My Name Is Earl at 8.
- FOX has new episodes of American Idol and Hell's Kitchen.
- The CW has a new Smallville at 8, followed by a new Supernatural.
- At 9, NBC has a new Office, then new episodes of 30 Rock and ER.
- There's a new TNA Impact on Spike at 9.
- At 10, A&E has a new episode of The Beast.
- Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
- Discovery has a new Treasure Quest at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: March Madness, In The Motherhood, Hell's Kitchen, 30 Rock
Posted Mar 20th 2009 2:07PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free
Did you see "The Wall" last night on
ER?
I don't know if this so-called "legendary" wall has ever been mentioned on the show before (if it has, I apologize), but I thought it was a rather out of the blue piece of symbolism for the show to have in its final episodes. Neela said that she had heard rumors about the wall but wasn't sure if they were true or just a myth, which I don't really understand because we're talking about a wall in a lower floor room with name tags on it, not the mythical land of Narnia.
All the big names were there from the quick shots I could see: Greene, Ross, Lewis, Gallant, Lockhart, Pratt. Was Carter's tag up there or did he take it off the wall when he came back this season?
Continue reading Which name tags were missing on ER last night?
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