timothy hutton-related stories
Posted Aug 27th 2009 3:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Good news for everyone who's ever been screwed by someone in power. Not so good news for everyone in power.
TNT just picked up Leverage for a third season, and I couldn't be happier. In the first season,
Leverage worked because of the cleverness of the heists the gang got up to. I found myself trying to figure out all the angles they were working, but by the end they still managed to trick me a couple of times.
The second season saw them lose their stately headquarters and tackle these jobs in a much more street level fashion, and in several ways the show got better. At the same time, rather than the heist always taking center stage, at times it was our five characters that shone brightest.
By that I'm referring to the quirks of their individual personalities, because we haven't gotten a great deal of character development this season. The banter and camaraderie within the crew gives us some great lines and moments each week, though. Now that a third season is secured, I'd like to see the character arcs for those great personalities pick up again.
Posted Aug 19th 2009 11:26AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
While this off-network summer season has reached a fevered pitch after last with
the return of Mad Men, not to be overlooked is that other cable shows have also been delivering the goods. Shows like
Burn Notice and
Leverage, for instance. Regarding
Leverage, there's good news to report.
TNT will air two extra Leverage episodes in the weeks ahead.
Continue reading TNT's giving us more Leverage
Posted Jul 14th 2009 12:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Early Looks, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
Watching an advance screening of the first episode of the second season of
Leverage was a bit like seeing the
Star Wars movies in numerical order. The small references make no sense and makes you feel like you're in a clubhouse that you haven't yet joined.
The second season, starting this Wednesday at 9 PM ET on TNT, makes me wish I had all control over time and space so I could follow along with everyone else during the first season. That and so I could make a lot of money by predicting the outcomes of high stakes horse races with an all-knowing sports almanac from the future.
Continue reading Leverage season two -- An early look
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 11:51AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton has had numerous chances to star in TV series during his successful career. It took the edgy blend of drama and humor in TNT's
Leverage to lead him to sign on for the show's lead role.
Hutton stars as Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator leading a team of thieves and con artists who balance the scales when ordinary people fall victim to corrupt politicians, authorities and corporations.
The show co-stars Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge as Ford's less than reputable teammates.
As
Leverage approaches its second season premiere July 15, Hutton connected with
TV Squad to share his hopes for the show.
Continue reading Timothy Hutton: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Jun 26th 2009 2:07PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Celebrities, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Casting, Reality-Free
Being a nerd, I'm very familiar with Jeri Ryan's career. She helped make
Star Trek: Voyager watchable for a while as a self-aware Borg and recently starred in CBS'
Shark alongside James Woods. But it was her work on the David Kelley shows
Boston Public and
Boston Legal that has me thinking she'll be a good fit for
Leverage.
The actress handled Kelley's sharp dialogue like a pro, and I'm guessing she'll bring the same confidence to her role as a "smart-ass, street-wise con woman" on the second season of
Leverage. Ryan has
signed on for a recurring role on the TNT heist drama. Her character will be a friend of Sophie's (Gina Bellman),
Leverage's sexy grifter with a bag full of tricks and foreign accents.
Continue reading Another Star Trek actor joins TNT's Leverage
Posted Feb 24th 2009 9:22AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free
When I sit down to watch television, I want to be entertained. I do not want to be bored, annoyed, depressed or angry. Just give me some good, clean fun. That's why it's been an infinite pleasure watching TNT's new drama,
Leverage, a show I have crowned the
best new show this season.
I recently had the pleasure of talking with Timothy Hutton, star of
Leverage, about the first season of the successful new drama. Oh yes, the charming Tim and I dished about his performance, his co-stars and what season two may bring.
One thing I learned is that the powers-that-be over at
Leverage don't tell their actors a whole lot. After being enamored with season one, I was dying for a spoiler of what's to come next season, now that we know
Leverage has been renewed (they start filming April 13, in fact). OK, I would have settled for a teaser, even a tidbit, but it seems they're still tossing most of that around in the writers' room. Here's what I did get:
Continue reading Timothy Hutton talks about Leverage's first season
Posted Feb 10th 2009 11:01AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Video, Interviews, Celebrities, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reality-Free
There is life after
Star Trek. Jonathan Frakes,
Star Trek: The Next Generation's former "Number One," has moved on from sci-fi stardom to a successful career as a TV and film director. He's helmed four feature films, countless hours of
Star Trek and
Roswell, plus the two latest entries in TNT's
Librarian telemovie franchise. Now, he's joining one of TV's most
critically acclaimed new shows.
Frakes directed tonight's episode of
Leverage, TNT's hit heist drama starring Timothy Hutton. The episode is a
Star Trek reunion of sorts with Frakes behind the camera and his former
Star Trek co-stars Brent Spiner (Data from
TNG) and Armin Shimerman (Quark from
Deep Space Nine) guest starring.
I spoke to Frakes by phone for a few minutes this week and, somehow, I was able to hold back from asking him a million geeky
Star Trek questions. (Now I'll never know if "Tom" Riker ever escaped from the Cardassians!) We discussed his love for
Leverage, his friendships with his former cast mates, and the possible return of
"Number One" Will Riker.
Continue reading Jonathan Frakes: The TV Squad Interview - VIDEO
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 2:04PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Who would've thought
The A-Team would work in 2009? OK, so
Leverage is slicker, better scripted, and it features 89% less explosions than
The A-Team, but the show's concept sure reminds me of Hannibal and B.A. Baracus' 1980s exploits as "soldiers of fortune."
TNT's freshman drama centers on a group of criminals turned Robin Hoods who pull off elaborate schemes to take down the dirty dogs of corporate America. So far,
Leverage has earned decent ratings and high praise from critics (Squadder Debra McDuffee called it
"the best new show this season."), and TNT is rewarding it by
green lighting a second season.
Continue reading TNT renews Leverage for a second season
Posted Jan 30th 2009 11:02AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, TV Squad Ten
Have you seen TNT's new show,
Leverage yet? It's been called a new age
A-Team, but I see it more as a lighthearted combination of
Ocean's 11,
Alias,
Burn Notice and even
How I Met Your Mother.
In fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb and state in no uncertain terms that
Leverage is the best new show to premiere this season. I would have given the title to
The Mentalist previous to
Leverage's premiere, but since then, it has continued to steal my heart a little more each week.
What makes
Leverage the best new show this season? In no particular order ...
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Reasons Leverage is the best new show this season
Posted Dec 10th 2008 1:35PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E02) "The world doesn't work this way." --Dr. Laroque
"Then change the world." --Nathan Ford
Oh, I really do like this show. It looks like the fine folks behind
Leverage are going to use this platform to "expose" the kinds of corporate corruption that we all know are there but may just not be able to prove. As established over the past several years, a lot of these bastards at the top of the corporate world are just as bad, if not worse, than the common street criminal. In fact, I'm going to go with worse. Tonight's target: Castleman, a company that provides a private "army" to the U.S. Government. You know, Blackwater.
In keeping with the Robin Hood concept, the idea behind this heist is to ensure that PFC Dwight Caplan can get the rehab he needs to get out and start working. The kid's not looking for a handout, just a fare shake in life. And since it was Castleman, and not insurgent fire, who took that away from him, he's looking for justice. Which is what
Leverage is all about.
Continue reading Leverage: The Home Coming Job
Posted Dec 8th 2008 6:29PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Ratings, Reality-Free
The commercial-free premiere of TNT's new heist drama,
Leverage, scored a hefty
five million viewers last night. It didn't touch
The Closer's insanely high numbers, but it'll do.
Leverage delivered TNT's best ratings for the 18-49 demo for an original series aired during a regular broadcast season. That means we'll probably see a lot more of Timothy Hutton and crew gracing our tubes in 2009. Fans of good TV everywhere should be celebrating.
I mostly tuned into
Leverage to see Christian Kane, who I loved as the scheming Lindsey McDonald on Joss Whedon's
Angel. Kane plays Eliot Spencer on
Leverage, a dude who could make Jason Bourne cry "uncle!" with his amazing hand-to-hand combat skills. Kane was only one of the things I liked about this show. The entire cast was great, especially Hutton, and the whole
A-Team meets
Ocean's 11 thing really worked for me.
Continue reading Leverage premiere scores five million viewers
Posted Dec 8th 2008 12:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01) Now that's what good television is all about. This slickly produced show managed to keep things light and fun in the world of high-stakes criminal espionage. It makes sense since executive producer Dean Devlin directed the pilot and slick and fancy is what he's all about. Certainly
Independence Day got by on its look and feel rather than any great plotlines or dialogue. Devlin's production company has also been behind the very successful
The Librarian series of films for TNT which are also very high on style.
Continue reading Leverage: The Nigerian Job (series premiere)
Posted Jul 9th 2008 1:40PM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Video, Angel, Friday Night Lights, Reality-Free
I've said it before, I'm a sucker for a series that casts actors from my favorite shows. It's really all it takes to get me to watch something at least once. I suppose that means I'm going to have to give Leverage at least a three episode run. Look at that cast photo. Christian Kane from Angel, Gina Bellman from Coupling, and Aldis Hodge from Friday Night Lights. And as a bonus, Timothy Hutton. That's a pretty good start.
If that's not enough, one of the executive producers is John Rogers. TNT lists him as being from Cosby, but I remember him for writing and producing one of the best pilots that didn't go to series that I've ever seen, Global Frequency.
Continue reading TNT's Leverage teaser - VIDEOS
Posted Jun 25th 2007 1:43PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming
Well, here's a quirky little plot twist no one expected.
Even though NBC pulled the show - twice - the network started showing the eight unaired episodes of Kidnapped last night (or early this morning) at midnight! They'll run the show at this time each week this summer. Not sure if it can be seen at that time in all areas. I know it wasn't on at that time where I live, so it's probably on at different times overnight.
This is an interesting move by NBC, considering the episodes have been available on the web site and the complete series was released on DVD. Maybe the other networks can follow NBC's lead and show short-lived/canceled shows overnight.
Posted Jun 4th 2007 11:04AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd
When I was asked to review the DVD of the series
Kidnapped, I eagerly jumped at the chance. After all, I've been a fan of the show since before it even aired:
I visited the set,
I went to the premiere,
I reviewed the pilot, I was among the throngs at TVS and elsewhere
that reported that the show was cancelled, and now I get to review the "thanks for everything, fans!" DVD. I feel like I witnessed the show's birth and death, and now I'm attending its funeral.
Despite the show's quality, it never had a chance; saddled with a bad time slot (Wednesdays at 10), NBC showed four episodes, then told the producers to stop at 13, shuttled the show to the Saturday death slot, then canned it after one Saturday airing.
Continue reading DVD Review: Kidnapped: The Complete Series
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