los angeles-related stories
Posted Nov 6th 2009 9:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
Yesterday
there was a story on Deadline Hollywood that
Oprah Winfrey would be ending her syndicated talk show in 2011 in order to move over to her OWN cable network. She'd still have a talk show, one based on Los Angeles, but it would not be syndicated. It would be on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), formerly Discovery Health.
Well, after the news was reported all over the place, Oprah's company Harpo, Inc. issued a statement that there would be no announcement until the end of the year. They didn't deny it; they just said the announcement about the switch would be later in the year.
To the average fan, if Oprah stopped her syndicated show, it probably wouldn't matter too much. Most people have basic cable and OWN would probably be a major addition to most cable systems, as well as DirecTV and Dish. Longtime fans would be able to watch Oprah on cable or satellite. No biggie.
Continue reading Is Oprah ending her syndicated show for her OWN show?
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 1:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Casting, Reality-Free
Circle the date on the calendar. On November 24 -- that's right before Thanksgiving so you might be busy with other stuff -- don't miss
NCIS: Los Angeles because Pauley Perrette's Abby will be guesting. She won't just be on a monitoring talking to the folks in L.A.; she'll be in the City of Angels.
Goth Abby in the City of Angels?
We knew it was coming. But how oxymoronic. All that sunshine is counter to the dark vibe, although if you ask me, Abby is a walking oxymoron. She's a scientist in love with forensics who is covered in tattoos, has a dog collar as a necklace and likes pigtails.
Anyway, back to the crossover. Michael Ausiello's sources have leaked to him at EW.com that Abby's visit to the Left Coast is a major plot point. Abby is not there by choice; she's been abducted.
Continue reading Abby's trip to NCIS Los Angeles is set
Posted Oct 12th 2009 2:05PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
I love military style series. I haven't missed one episode of
JAG or its spin-off
NCIS over the years -- I even watched reruns, including airings dubbed in French! -- and have watched all
NCIS: Los Angeles since it began.
What I like most about
NCIS: LA is that they do undercover missions, taking different personae and using gadgets, and that it stars one of my movie crushes when I was a teen, Chris O'Donnell, as well as the talented Linda Hunt.
Sadly, there are small things that I don't get about the series. These small issues are sort of bugging me and making me not enjoy the show as much as I would like as I keep asking myself these questions every episode.
Do you share the same issues? Do you have answers for me so I can enjoy the show as I want to? The list of things I don't get about
NCIS: LA coming up!
Continue reading Things I don't get about NCIS: Los Angeles
Posted Oct 5th 2009 1:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Video, Casting, Reality-Free
Ever since the announcement that
All My Children was leaving New York, moving from the studios where it's been shot since the premiere in 1970, the big question among fans has been
who will be staying with All My Children when it moves west... and who won't.
The good news is that
Susan Lucci has decided to stay with the show, even if she's not giving up her New York home. Susan, as well as costar Vincert Irizarry, have decided to commute to Los Angeles, with
AMC arranging the schedule to make it more convenient for the veterans.
There's bad news, however, and it involves three big
AMC stars. Thorsten Kaye, who plays Zach, has decided not to relocate. In addition, Beth Ehlers (Taylor) and Aiden Turner (Aidan) have been let go. In other words, they have
not been invited to go west.
Continue reading All My Children fallout: who's in and who's out
Posted Aug 21st 2009 1:39PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Episode Reviews
(S06E01) Project Runway is back! With few exceptions, the show seems remarkably unchanged by
the move to Lifetime, so those who were fearful that without the Bravo touch
Project Runway would cease to be...
Project Runway, your fears should be allayed. The one significant change, one I'm still not sure about, is the move from New York to Los Angeles. New York just screams fashion to me, the rag trade, and the buzz of Seventh Avenue. L.A. doesn't, but we shall see how it plays out.
Meanwhile, Heidi, Michael, Nina and Tim were there, the touchstones of the show, and as the new contestants were unveiled, PR was off and running.
In a smart programming move, Lifetime ran a
Project Runway: All Stars edition before the Season Six premiere. Seeing familiar faces from the Bravo years immediately sent a message to viewers that this was the same
Project Runway.
Continue reading Project Runway: Season premiere
Posted Aug 18th 2009 12:19AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E11) After
last week's show, it was great to see
The Closer bounce back with a particularly strong episode. The case itself wasn't overly complicated or multi-layered, as some Major Crimes are, but that's probably because Brenda literally wandered into this one. And she wasn't alone. Charlie, her niece from Atlanta, was in the car. More on the Brenda/Charlie relationship as well as the case, after the jump.
Continue reading The Closer: Maternal Instinct
Posted Aug 11th 2009 11:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free
How many people remember
Dragnet? Or maybe I should say how many people remember actually watching
Dragnet, the "just the facts" police show starring the iconic Jack Webb? The reason I ask is because the
U.S. Postal Service is immortalizing Dragnet with a postage stamp tomorrow.
In light of the fact that letter writing and postal service are dramatically in decline, my guess is that there will be an older crowd nodding appreciatively when
Dragnet is honored. You see, the younger generation (did I really say that?) doesn't have much use for stamps and won't be buying the
Dragnet first class stamp.
Continue reading Dragnet rates a U.S. postal stamp
Posted Aug 11th 2009 12:19AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E10) One of the reasons
The Closer is a good show is that it's smart. It presents challenging situations and complicated crimes, and as Brenda and her crew figure out what happened and how to get the guilty to incriminate themselves, the viewer is along for the ride. The title of tonight's show was
Smells Like Murder. I think the subhead should have been, smells like a dud.
There was a good premise, a decent set up, suspects that were interesting ... all the elements were there. What went wrong was character. Things happened that were so out of character that it sunk the entire episode. More on that -- and Jack in the box -- after the jump.
Continue reading The Closer: Smells Like Murder
Posted Aug 8th 2009 7:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
First,
Paula Abdul walks away from American Idol (or was she shoved out by the producers a bit?), now comes news that
Susan Lucci's not sure about sticking with All My Children when the ABC soap relocates to Los Angeles in December. My thought was there's no way La Lucci was going to pass on the chance to keep on working, but she's saying it's a tough decision. "I don't know ... I love the show and I love playing Erica, but I'm just now going to have a couple of days off. It's a lot to think about."
Could Susan truly be thinking anything but, "Yes, I'm going"? Seriously,
All My Children has been her mainstay for 39 years. That's right, nearly four decades of continuous employment in essentially a starring role.
Continue reading Is Susan Lucci quitting All My Children?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 8:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
For nearly a week, ABC denied that there was any truth to the rumor that
All My Children was moving to the West Coast. Then yesterday the network just announced the cross-country relocation. ABC Daytime released a statement explaining that this December,
All My Children -- which has been produced in New York City for 39 years -- is going to Los Angeles. And
One Life to Live, also a New York soap, is getting
All My Children's studio. Yes, a hand-me down facility, but just don't think of it that way.
While the move for
AMC and
OLTL will mean better facilities and more space, what about the casts and crews? Will all the actors on
AMC make the move west -- or is this a way to cost cut and drop a few players along the way? Susan Lucci is a given; she'll go west.
Continue reading All My Children and One Life to Live on the move
Posted Aug 4th 2009 2:30AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E09) Every episode of
The Closer is a puzzle of sorts, and this one surely qualified, especially since it began in court with the case already decided. All that remained was the formality of Russell Clark -- guest star Bruce Davison -- elocuting to the judge. Well, not so fast. There were a few hiccups requiring Brenda's immediate attention.
The moment Cynthia Watros showed up as the victim's widow, anxious to reclaim her husband's belongings from the crime scene, suspicions were raised. But first Brenda had to figure out why Russell Clark had confessed to the crime, if he was covering for his schizophrenic son, James -- if James was capable of the murder in the first place, and then there was the question of what to do with Mama. Yes, Willy Ray was there, along with Fritz and Charlene, Brenda's niece.
Continue reading The Closer: Identity Theft
Posted Jul 28th 2009 12:20AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CSI, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E08) When I say that a lot of this episode of
The Closer felt like a
CSI episode, with the emphasis on the gory and gruesome aspects of original murder, I'm not being critical. And when I mention there were also elements that reminded of
Cold Case, that's also not a diss because
Cold Case is an underrated show.
But unlike
Cold Case, which brings the past to life,
The Closer remained very much in the present. Generally speaking, this was a pretty strong episode that played up Brenda's vulnerability.
Continue reading The Closer: Elysian Fields
Posted Jul 21st 2009 8:35AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E07) She's back. Clearly, the producers of
The Closer decided that Brenda needed an antagonist. Mary McDonnell has fit the bill. So far I think they've made her character a bit one-note, but I'm willing to see how she evolves over time. Or maybe it's just that I like Mary McDonnell.
Anyway, like internal affairs officers in most cop dramas, McDonnell's character, Captain Sharon Raydor of Force Investigation Division, seems to be anti-cop/pro-victim. Harry Callahan would hate her. She was better in this than
her previous episode, but not by much.
Continue reading The Closer: Strike Three
Posted Jul 14th 2009 12:13AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E06) There's an old show biz line that goes, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." Well, sometimes when dramas try a comic episode, it can be a little like death warmed over. Or a show can completely succumb to humor and forget the original genre entirely (you know that I'm talking about you, Mr. Monk). Fortunately, when
The Closer chooses to take a walk on the funny side, it usually hits the mark. This episode was a bull's eye.
It was also great to see
The Closer shine a light on J.K. Simmons. As Assistant Chief Will Pope, Simmons is great as Brenda's boss and the face of the L.A. cops in many tense situations, political and otherwise. A consummate character actor --
Juno, Burn After Reading, Spider-Man -- Simmons always brings a lot to the show. This episode was prime Simmons, with Pope the butt of the jokes and off his game, if you will. How else could a faux police detective named Dick Tracy dupe the chief?
Continue reading The Closer: Tapped Out
Posted Jul 7th 2009 9:36AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E05) Sometimes you'll see an episode of a show and everything is going along as you expect, you're entertained and intrigued, the actors and writers and producers and director have done their job well. For most of this episode, that was the case. If only that were true about the last five minutes.
There is no sense in gang violence, even as it was presented in this show. But the random, out of the blue quality made the ending even more senseless.
Continue reading The Closer: Half Loaded
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