Archive for March, 2008

I’ve already given you some of my highlights from the week, but today, I wanted to check in with some of the Web’s best TV bloggers to see what they were buzzing about. To see what was making headlines this week, just

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For those of us disappointed with the recent film adaptation of stories from King Henry VIII’s court, tonight’s second-season premiere of Showtime’s bodice-ripping soap The Tudors offers plenty of satisfying drama and intrigue.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers returns as the young brooding King of England who wastes no time in tonight’s first episode getting to the good stuff: greasing the wheels to divorce the queen in order to make room for the very ambitious Anne Boleyn. This season the historical period known as the Reformation is ushered in, as Henry looks to break from the Catholic church and faces resistance from his own court — not to mention Pope Paul III, played by the wonderfully chilling Peter O’Toole.

While the dry and sometimes yawn-inducing dialogue from season one remains, this time around there is less talk and more action, as King Henry tears his country apart in a quest for supreme power and (of course) the right to make Anne his queen. And yes, the series’ signature hot and heavy love scenes are back — and how. If you’re already a fan of this show, the second season brings back everything you expect and more. If you’re just learning about it now, tonight’s episode is as good a place as any to start if you want to give it a try. (In case you don’t have Showtime, you can also watch the episode online.)

Are you excited for the return of the steamiest series on cable? For now, you can check out a funny pseudo-remix video of many of the Rhys Meyers-as-king scenes if you just

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• Fox is new with the The Simpsons and King of the Hill, has a repeat of Family Guy, and is new with Unhitched
• NBC is new with Dateline and has repeats of Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU
• CBS is new with Big Brother, Cold Case, and Dexter
• ABC is new with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Oprah’s Big Give, and Here Come the Newlyweds
• The CW is new with Everybody Hates Chris, has repeats of Aliens in America and Girlfriends, and has a new episode of The Game
• MTV has That’s Amore
• VH1 is new with Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp and Rock of Love 2
• AMC has repeats of Breaking Bad
• E! is new with Keeping Up With The Kardashians
• FX is new with Dirt
• HBO is new with John Adams
• Showtime is new with the series premiere of Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union and the season premiere of The Tudors

The lush, other-worldly film The Fall was made long before Lee Pace was coming into American homes on a weekly basis via Pushing Daisies, but I only recently came across the trailer for it and learned that it has a new release date of May 9. Pace plays Roy Walker, a bedridden man who meets a little girl in the hospital. He starts telling her a fantastical tale, which as the description puts it, “reflects his state of mind.” Before too long, “fiction and reality start to intertwine in this uplifting epic fantasy.”

The film looks visually stunning (seriously, scroll through these vibrant images), and I’m curious to check it out in May. To see the trailer for The Fall,

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• The Hills: definitely alive. Sure, there are plenty of haters, but there’s no denying that MTV’s The Hills is still going strong in the second part of its third season. The show got its highest ratings ever for Monday’s premiere, with 4.8 million viewers; an additional 1.8 million watched the show online on Tuesday.
• Studying Greek. Sure, the numbers weren’t as high, but Greek also set its own record for ABC Family on Monday. The show scored 1.4 million total viewers, its best showing ever, and got all-time highs for the network among all adults 18-34 and women 18-34.
• CBS scores. I already told you the Britney stunt worked well for How I Met Your Mother, but CBS’ other Monday shows did just fine, too, with all the comedies getting at least 8.6 million viewers and CSI: Miami bringing in 15.8 million.
• Fallen Idol. American Idol was still the biggest thing on TV this week, but by a smaller margin than normal: a below-average 24.3 million people watched Tuesday’s performance show, and Wednesday’s results show brought in 25.4 million.
• Sinking like a . . . ABC’s quirky Eli Stone hit a series low on Thursday, with just 6.5 million viewers. Are any of you still watching?
• Trumped! And you thought The Apprentice was tired? Think again. The season finale of The Celebrity Apprentice scored 12 million viewers on Thursday, with the greatest number tuning in for the final half-hour to find out who was hired.

Source

• CBS learned a big lesson this week: Britney equals ratings gold. I learned you should never mess with the fanboys of Fanboys.
• The Oliver Stone Bush biopic cast is quickly filling out. I wonder who’s going to play Dick Cheney? Which reminds me, all that horse-loving talk aside, I’m starting to think Kristy Lee Cook is an evil genius.
• This is one of those weeks where TV news makes a lot of sense and then none at all. I can understand why there is interest in shows about escorts after the Spitzer scandal. But a show that’s just people falling? Really?
• More good stuff came out of the Paley Festival in Los Angeles this week, including the goods on Gossip Girl, Damages and Dirty Sexy Money.
• Well it’s the end of the road for the March book club, thanks to everyone for reading along! I’m really excited about April’s book, The Life Before Her Eyes. I hope you can hunt down a copy for yourself this weekend and join in. And don’t worry, I can confidently state the new editions of these books will never be selected.
• Axl Rose, if you’re listening, please finish up that that album so America can toast you with Dr. Pepper!
• Can you guess which rock songs these lyrics belong to? Also, can you guess what TV show I’m recasting based on these lyrics? “What would we do, baby, without us? Sha-la-la-laaaa. . .”

Photo courtesy of CBS

• Fox has Cops and America’s Most Wanted
• NBC has repeats of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order
• CBS has a repeat of CSI: Miami and is new with 48 Hours Mystery
• ABC has Catch Me if You Can
• MTV has Spring Break 2008: Pretty Smart
• VH1 has Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp
• TLC has Flip That House
• Late-night highlights include Ellen Page and Wilco on a repeat of Saturday Night Live on NBC, a new episode of Mad TV on Fox, and a new episode of Talkshow on Fox

The Paley Festival has officially wrapped up its two-week stand in Los Angeles, closing out its run with panels featuring the creators of The X-Files and the cast and creative team behind Mad Men. While I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for myself, at least there are video highlights to share!

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson didn’t attend Wednesday night’s X-Files panel, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t scoop to be had about the upcoming movie. A new trailer premiered during the panel, but it’s since been pulled down from YouTube (come on, Fox, please?). E! has interviews with producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. The Futon Critic has a liveblog of the event, and The Hollywood Reporter has its own account. A couple of tidbits:

• The movie doesn’t have a title yet — or rather, Carter knows what he wants to call it, but whether that becomes the official title is still in Fox’s hands.
• The producers just kind of figured out the show’s mythology as they went along. The movie, meanwhile, will be more “monster of the week,” less aliens.
• The issue of whether Scully’s baby is normal “will not go unconsidered” in the movie.

For a video clip and some of the highlights from Mad Men, just

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