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Dr. Horrible: Act One goes live

Neil Patrick Harris as Dr Horrible
The wait is over. Joss Whedon's new project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, made it's debut overnight with "Act One" going live on the internet. Acts Two and Three will follow on this Thursday and Saturday.

Unfortunately, the premiere was not without its issues. Almost as soon as the video became available, the familiar complaints of U.S. only video started rolling in. To their credit, team Dr. Horrible quickly updated their twitter account to let everyone know they were working on international viewing.

Assuming the geography issues get ironed out, it was a great start to the series. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) is very funny as Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion's Captain Hammer is the perfect foil. As good as Harris is, Fillion steals his thunder a little bit when he makes his grand entrance. Felicia Day is also terrific as Penny, and the three of them all do a nice job with what are very entertaining songs.

This is a slam dunk for anyone that counts themselves a Whedon fan. For those of you that are not among his legions, it's still worth a look. It's a little bit crazy, but the fun kind of crazy. The episodes are also available from iTunes.

Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, together again

Joss Whedon - The Cabin In The WoodsOK, technically this first bit is more movie news than TV news, but it does involve two pretty big TV names, so go with me here. Joss Whedon is reuniting with Drew Goddard for a new movie called Cabin In The Woods. Buffy fans will recognize Goddard as one of the writers from Buffy and Angel. He followed that up with stints on Alias and Lost. The pair wrote the new script together and it will mark the directorial debut of Goddard. Whedon is set to produce.

As is so often the case, there are not a lot of details about the script. When asked, Goddard said, "It's got a harder and darker edge, but it's also got classic Whedon qualities." He went on to add, "There's a reason the title is so straightforward. It's its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it." The cabin in the woods is its own sub genre and, for me, calls to mind Eliza Dushku in Wrong Turn. A handy recollection, because they also talked a little TV. More on that, after the jump.

Continue reading Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, together again

Emmy talk with Danson, Duchovny, Spade, Cranston, and Baldwin

Ted DansonThe Emmy Award nominations will be announced a week from this Thursday, and The Hollywood Reporter got a bunch of TV stars (both Emmy winners and nominees) together at a roundtable* to discuss the awards, and it's pretty lively.

While Ted Danson talks about it taking nine times before he won the Emmy for Cheers in 1990, David Spade explains that he was more bummed about not winning a Golden Globe for his role on Just Shoot Me more than not winning the Emmy, because he was beaten by Gregory Peck, who won for a really short cameo. Bryan Cranston reveals how his guest stint on The X-Files many years ago led to his role on Breaking Bad, and Alec Baldwin explains that it's actually OK that he doesn't get to swear on 30 Rock like his friends who have pay cable shows can.

Neil Patrick Harris makes some comments that reality show-haters will love.

* For the sake of journalistic accuracy, I actually have no idea if the table was round or not. It could have been a long rectangle.

Supporting comedy actor and actress finalists

Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing DaisiesHere come two more lists of the ten actors and actresses that are finalists for Emmy nominations in the supporting comedy categories. As with the other awards, there are some surprises on the list, and some notable omissions. For the ladies, the headline is that last year's winner, Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), didn't make the cut. Surprise finalists include Conchata Ferrell (Two And A Half Men) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live). I don't mind seeing Conchata on the list because she is consistently funny on the show, but I don't know that there is enough to her role for her to actually garner a nomination when you consider the competition.

On the other side of the coin, the defending champ, Jeremy Piven (Entourage), is back. None of the boys over at SNL managed to make the leap from Variety to Comedy that Poehler did.

Continue reading Supporting comedy actor and actress finalists

Is Dr Horrible the One? - VIDEO

Dr. Horrible
Technically it is Buffy/Angel week, but all things Whedon have a way of just melding together into one big stew. So it's a fortuitous bit of timing that a trailer for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was released this week. For those still unaware of just what Dr. Horrible is, I think it was summed up best by Nathan Fillion in a recent interview. It's about a super-villain (Neil Patrick Harris) who falls in love with a girl (Felicia Day), and the super-hero (Nathan Fillion) who blows it for him. The super-hero is kind of a dick. And... it's a musical. I think it could be very much more than that. More on that, and the new trailer, after the jump.

Continue reading Is Dr Horrible the One? - VIDEO

The What the *#@#%! Were They Thinking? Award: Winner - VIDEOS

Neil Patrick Harris and Britney SpearsAs if Britney Spears wasn't having a bad enough year, she is also now the TV Squad staff choice for the most egregious case of miscasting during this 2007-08 season. Yes, friends, for her turns as Abby on How I Met Your Mother, Brit-Brit is the first recipient of The What the *#@#%! Were They Thinking? Award.

Competition for this one was pretty fierce. Michelle Ryan of Bionic Woman barely edged Spears out on the readers' choice poll, and to me she seemed like the obvious choice; there were a lot of things wrong with BW, but Ryan's stiff performance was probably the worst of what was wrong. But by an overwhelming margin, the Squadders thought Britney's casting was the worse offense.

Looking back on her appearances, I can understand the vitrol. It's not that she was awful on the show -- opinions about that are mixed. It's the whole idea and motivation behind her guest stint that most people seem to find so patently offensive.

Continue reading The What the *#@#%! Were They Thinking? Award: Winner - VIDEOS

Million Dollar Password -- An early look

Million Dollar Password
Here's the thing about game show revivals: you have to satisfy people on two levels. For fans of the old show, you have to make the gameplay of the new show familiar enough to keep them happy and coming back. And, in order to attract new fans, you have to modernize and add touches that will suck in viewers and help build drama. That's one of the reasons why most new game shows have Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style darkened sets with swirling lights, and depend on ominous music and tight camera angles to create drama.

Million Dollar Password, premiering Sunday at 8 PM ET, has all of that. They even nabbed Millionaire's original American host, Regis Philbin, to give it that extra bit of primetime oomph. But does it work? Well... sorta. Fans of the Allen Ludden / Tom Kennedy / Bert Convy incarnations might be dissatisfied with what they've done to their old favorite, but even an objective observer can see that the gameplay has some flaws that are going to need to be worked out for the show to succeed.

Continue reading Million Dollar Password -- An early look

How I Met Your Mother: Miracles (season finale) - VIDEO

How I Met Your Mother: Miracles
(S03E20)
Wow, talk about a jam-packed episode. We saw major character development, flashbacks upon flashbacks, some issues resolved and others completely thrown into chaos, and a whole lot of funny talk of miracles.

Oh, and we saw Sarah Chalke, as Carter Bays told me last week. That was just cherry on the sundae, though.

Since so much stuff happened, let's just get to it after the jump, OK?

Gallery: How I Met Your Mother

Cobie SmuldersAlyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders at the GrammysAlyson HanniganNeil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as karaoke judgesJosh Radnor

Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Miracles (season finale) - VIDEO

Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview

Craig Thomas and Carter BaysIt's been a heck of a season for How I Met Your Mother, between the writers' strike that everyone had to suffer through, blogs and other websites picking apart episodes in Lost-esque fashion, and the Britney Phenomenon that got the attention of fans and non-fans alike. But the end result is a good one: the show has been picked up by CBS for a fourth season, giving fans one more year to enjoy the chemistry among the five leads while trying to guess who the heck the "Mother" actually is.

Despite the strike, co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have been able to get out 20 episodes for the third season. The finale will be broadcast on Monday, May 19 at 8:30. As he did before last year's finale, Bays and I got together by phone to discuss the season and the finale. Bays (who is on the right in the photo; Thomas, who is on the left, was on another call and couldn't make it) spoke about getting picked up, the finale, Sarah Chalke's role as Ted's new girlfriend Stella, how the show managed to pick up a mythology, and, of course, their very famous guest star. The interview is after the jump.

Continue reading Carter Bays of How I Met Your Mother: The TV Squad Interview

How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO

How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go(S03E19) I'm going to be speaking to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas tomorrow afternoon, and I think that one of the first questions I'm going to ask them is if Britney Spears is going to be a recurring guest on the show. It's starting to look that way, based on what we saw tonight; the way things ended, I can just imagine crazy Abby popping up once or twice per season, just to make Ted's life miserable. And since Brit Brit established the role, I'd imagine she'd come back and reprise it.

And that's not altogether a bad thing. Once she becomes part of the fabric of the show, the episodes will be less about her presence and more about the story. Somehow (heh), Brit pulls off the nutty stalker role well enough, and maybe her acting will get a bit more refined the more she appears. At least I hope it does.

Why am I prattling on about Britney? Because there isn't much more about this episode that really stood out.

Gallery: How I Met Your Mother

Cobie SmuldersAlyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders at the GrammysAlyson HanniganNeil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as karaoke judgesJosh Radnor

Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO

How I Met Your Mother: Rebound Bro - VIDEO

HIMYM cast(S03E18) You know how I keep saying that guest spots ruin the chemistry of How I Met Your Mother? Well, that's not an absolute; sometimes, guests integrate well into the ensemble, or the story they're given is so good, that it just works. This week was one of those weeks. In fact, it was doubly good, since both Sarah Chalke and Will Forte did a good job of fitting in, with Forte being his usual creepy-funny self and Chalke being... well, anyone who reads my Scrubs reviews knows how I feel about Sarah.

What? I have respect for her acting ability! That's all...

Ahem... now, where were we?

Gallery: How I Met Your Mother

Cobie SmuldersAlyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders at the GrammysAlyson HanniganNeil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as karaoke judgesJosh Radnor

Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Rebound Bro - VIDEO

TV Land orders dating show for Cougars

How I Met Your Mother: Harris and SeymourMany people think that the term "cougar," which is loosely defined as "older woman on the prowl for younger men to date" was introduced on last season's How I Met Your Mother episode that had Jane Seymour seduce Neil Patrick Harris' Barney. But like I said in my review back then, I had heard that term before that episode aired. But we can definitely say that HIMYM popularized the term.

Now it seems like TV Land, which is becoming the network for reality shows starring people over 35, has decided to pick up a Bachelorette-esque series where a number of young men will be competing for the affections of "sexy and accomplished mature woman." The show is being produced by Mike Fleiss, who was the executive producer for the network's version of High School Reunion.

Continue reading TV Land orders dating show for Cougars

Britney definitely back on How I Met Your Mother

Britney SpearsWe knew it was coming. Since her first appearance on How I Met Your Mother broke ratings records for the series, it was inevitable that Britney Spears would return as crazy receptionist Abby. Last week we reported that Spears would be reprising her role on HIMYM. Today, CBS confirms the news and dishes about the episode that will mark the singer's return.

What's interesting about Britney's upcoming storyline in HIMYM is that she'll be paired with Neil Patrick Harris. If you recall the actor was recently misquoted saying that the show didn't need guest stars like Britney Spears.

Spoilers ahead!

Continue reading Britney definitely back on How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother: The Goat - VIDEO

HIMYM: The Goat
(S03E17) Interesting ending to this one, huh?

I'll get to that after the jump, for those who are spoiler-phobic. This was an episode full of story and character development, and some glimpses into the personalities of all five members of the HIMYM gang. And it was pretty damned funny. The show's starting on an end-of-season roll, and with some big emotional and interpersonal issues coming to a head right now, the last few episodes are looking very promising.

Now, about that goat...

Gallery: How I Met Your Mother

Cobie SmuldersAlyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders at the GrammysAlyson HanniganNeil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as karaoke judgesJosh Radnor

Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: The Goat - VIDEO

How I Met Your Mother: Sandcastles in the Sand - VIDEOS

Robin Sparkles(S03E16) Bless the peapickin' little hearts of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. All week, they've been setting us up, telling us about the return of Robin Sparkles, saying that we were going to get an episode full of eighties and nineties goodness, complete with James Van Der Beek, Tiffany, and Alan Thicke. We even got a video (full video is after the end of the review) as a taste.

But all of it was a ruse. A week-long ruse to distract us from realizing what was really going to happen in this episode. Since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, come with me to the after-jump portion of our review and then we can talk.

Gallery: How I Met Your Mother

Cobie SmuldersAlyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders at the GrammysAlyson HanniganNeil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders as karaoke judgesJosh Radnor

Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Sandcastles in the Sand - VIDEOS

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