TVSquad

There are many medical dramas among the new shows announced for the fall, and one of them is TNT's HawthoRNe, starring Jada Pinkett Smith (it also stars Alias' Michael Vartan). Here's the first two minutes of the pilot. The show debuts June 16 at 9 PM.

And for future reference, I'm going to write all of my sentences like HawthoRNe. IT miGHt tAKE somE tIMe, bUt we'Ll gET uSEd TO iT.

Big Shots, the show I haven't heard one person talk about this new season, has been pulled from the lineup by ABC effective immediately.

The show starred Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, and Joshua Malina (who is on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight, probably to plug the show - awkward!) and aired Thursdays at 10pm, right after Grey's Anatomy. I guess not too many people were sticking around after that highly-watched show. There are three episodes left and ABC is taking the show off the air. No word on whether the show will return at a later date or if the episodes will show up online at some point.

ABC crammed in eight (!) panels today on new and returning series as the TV Critics summer 2007 press tour -- finally -- came to an end.

As predicted in my preview story about today's sessions, Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy; Private Practice) was indeed asked about ex-GA cast member Isaiah Washington, who was canned last month by ABC and then scooped up by rival NBC for a role on Bionic Woman.

A reporter wanted to know what Rhimes thought about NBC president Ben Silverman saying he was in talks with Washington prior to the actor being let go at the end of the TV season.

It's that time of the year. People are being cast in pilots left and right and some interesting stuff has been announced. At ABC, Christopher Titus (Titus) has landed one of the lead roles in an untitled project from Warner Bros. The show focuses on CEOs and also stars Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and Michael Vartan (Alias). McDermott and Vartan as CEOs is an easy sell. But Christopher Titus, Senior VP Harvard graduate? That's different, and something I look forward to checking out.

Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) is set to star in ABC's Suspect. The show is a procedural that will solve crimes by tracking suspects through a lineup. She's joined by Eric Palladino (ER) and Kathleen Munroe (Beautiful People). The ABC track record for procedurals is less than impressive, but the addition of Guy Ritchie (Snatch) as director is intriguing enough to give this one a look.

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting story about the five "hottest" television actors who are looking for plum roles. And by "hottest", the publication means they're most in demand (plus, they're good-looking).

The five actors that all the networks are trying to scoop up are: Jeremy Sisto, Paul Rudd, Peter Krause, Simon Baker and Gabriel Macht. Honorable mentions include Christian Slater, Steve Zahn, and Michael Vartan, who just took a role in an untitled ABC drama. A look at their profiles on IMDB show that most of these guys (except Slater & Zahn) currently have a break in their schedules.

So I'm reading Michael Ausiello's column over at TV Guide.com, and he mentions that Michael Vartan was very, very close to joining the cast of one of his top five favorite shows...but then he doesn't mention the show's name! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Therefore, until he does reveal the name of the show and why Vartan didn't join, we're just going to have to sit here and guess. As a reader at the site points out, Ausiello's favs include Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. The most obvious choice would be Lost, because, like Vartan's old show Alias, it's produced by J.J. Abrams. But is that too obvious? Not that it can't be obvious, of course. It would make sense that Abrams would offer him a role. I don't watch the other shows so I'm not sure what role he could have on those.

Readers?

This was hinted at a few months ago, but now it's official: on November 21, the same day the Alias 5th season DVD set is released (with tons of extras), Buena Vista is going to release a limited edition (40,000 copies) Complete Alias set. The set is going to come in a box that looks like a Rambaldi artifact, and will include 29 discs! The discs will have every single episode of the series, and there will be a bonus disc hidden inside a secret compartment in the set that will include many extras, including interviews with the cast and Jennifer Garner's first interview she ever did.

Not enough for you? The set will also include a hardcover book that will answer all of your Alias question, with an intro from J.J. Abrams himself. All this for only $200.

A few days ago I said I wanted the Complete West Wing set that was coming out this fall for Christmas. But if you wanted to buy this one for me instead I wouldn't mind. Your choice.

I know, I know, it seems like this is Columbo week here at TV Squad, but you've got to watch this. It's a video made for the 50th Anniversary of ABC a couple of years ago. I didn't watch the show, but I'm glad someone put it up on YouTube. Columbo has been called in to help Sydney, Jack, Vaughn and the rest of the team.

Who asked him to help out, and what is he supposed to help with? Well, you'll just have to watch it to see. You don't usually see a crossover episode involving two of your favorite shows, so this was a great find. Very funny stuff.

ABC has been playing with the schedule lately, so it's sometimes hard to find out when our favorite shows are going to have their finales. The Grey's Anatomy season finale aired on a Monday, and that Oprah special got switched around because of the President's speech. And now, since Lost is having a two hour finale this Wednesday, Alias has to switch nights for its two hour series finale. (Lost gets first dibs over Alias on the ABC schedule, of course.)

The finale airs tonight at 9, and promises to answer all the important questions: what is the ultimate Rambaldi plan? Who will live and die? Will Sloane turn good again at the last second? What caused the crash of Flight 815?

Oh, wait, that's the other show.

(S05E15) It's funny that after five years of elaborate disguises, wearing tight dresses and bright red wigs and bright blue wigs and faking Eastern European accents, the biggest and most difficult disguise that Sydney Bristow has had to don is ... herself. Or, more accurately, Syd pretending to be Anna Espinosa pretending to be Syd. Kudos to Jennifer Garner for giving a good performance as Anna. She could have just played herself (since she was herself), but she plays it just differently enough to make you believe it's Anna underneath.

(S05E14) Can someone please tell me why Syd is being so casual around her home, especially with the baby? I mean, here she is, in the middle of a global conspiracy, with people trying to kill her, friends being murdered left and right, coworkers turning against her, not knowing who to trust, and she still stays in her house, alone, with her baby? No  guards, no security devices? And when someone rings the doorbell there's no camera to see who it is, she just goes and opens the door? I'll believe all this Rambaldi stuff before I believe that.

So Nadia and Renee' are both dead, and Sloane is back with the bad guys trying to decode page 47. While they hold a funeral for Nadia, an autopsy shows a 30 year old chip inside of Renee's body ... and it has Michael Vaughn's real name etched into it ...

Alias-Media has a bunch of Alias news today. Not only is there a rumor that a special box set of all five seasons of the show will go on sale around Christmas (with lots of extras), but there is also news that next month, ABC.com will be auctioning off clothing and props from the show.

Sure, some might go for Syd's wigs or clothing, but I want one of the Rambaldi artifacts! Or, if I can't have one of those, maybe one of Marshall's gadgets.

[via TVshowsonDVD.com]

We're continuing to celebrate TV Turn-Off Week here at TV Squad, and by "celebrate" I mean ignoring it completely. We believe that everyone should watch TV, TV is good for you, and that there's no way we're going to shut off the tube for 7 straight days.  We'd miss too much.

Case in point: not only is Alias in its last season, but tonight is also the 100th episode of the ABC series. J.J. Abrams said in an interview recently that the past couple of seasons, ABC told him to get away from the Rambaldi/mythology storyline, and he complied. But now that the show is ending - and Abrams and company actually knew it was ending, it wasn't some season-ending "oh, by the way, you're not getting renewed" - they can really focus on Rambaldi all they want and end the show the way that they want to end it.

So, we all know that Alias fans have strong opinions about the show, the characters, the Rambaldi prophecy. Even the clothes that Jennifer Garner wears. But do you care enough to make a video expressing your thoughts on the show that will make you part of the season five DVD set?

ABC and Buena Vista wants to know why you're a fan of Alias. Why Sydney Bristow is such a great character. What your favorite storylines, scenes, and villains are. And many more topics. Check out the link above, plus all the other details at ABC. Deadline is May 8.

Warning: many spoilers follow!

(S05E10/S05E11) So there's a mole inside the CIA that's helping Prophet 5 with their mysterious plans for Sydney and her baby. Who is it? And how will the APO gang find the mole in time to save Sydney?

If you watched another show earlier this week, the mole will come as no surprise to you...