My TV Musings » Television News

Writers’ Strike Commentary

webMistress — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:46:19 +0000

This writers’ strike has gone too far! Sure I sympathize with their original motives, to get residuals from the newer forms of media such as dvd rentals and online viewing, but enough is enough! When one group of people can convince a whole industry that they cannot continue to function, despite the fact that there are other people out there who are probably willing to step in and take their place, something has got to change.

I realize they have a right to peacefully demonstrate and to negotiate for different conditions in their contracts, but for the awards shows to feel that they have to shut down is ridiculous! Did you see how sad it was for the People’s Choice Awards to have no audience and rely solely on prerecorded clips for acceptance speeches? Poor Queen Latifah, trying to hold that together on her own! I wonder if she will feel the backlash of doing the show at all. And now the Golden Globes show is being cancelled!

When will it ever end?

FX Picks up 2 More Seasons of Damages

webMistress — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:10:48 +0000

Amid the uncertainty of the writers’ strike, FX continues business as usual. They have announced that production will start in New York early next year on Season 2 of their highly-acclaimed new series, Damages, the one with Glenn Close. Along with that, FX has ordered an additional 13-episode season for a total of 26 episodes coming our way. This while writers post locations and times for their picketing. The press release gives high praise to the creative forces behind the scenes as well as the marvelous cast. Let’s just hope lines of communication can open up enough between now and the end of the year so their plans can come to fruition!

Leave it to Beaver Star Sues SAG

webMistress — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:20:29 +0000

Ken Osmond, best known as Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver, a 1960’s family sitcom, is suing SAG, The Screen Actor’s Guild, for more than $8 million in residuals collected from foreign markets that have not been passed along to the actors involved. He has filed his suit as a class action in hopes of drawing more actors to the cause.

The suit requires approval before it can go further, and there are already two similar class-action suits proposed that have been pending for two years.

Emmy Awards

webMistress — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:34:25 +0000

The Emmys were announced last night and the results are highlighted below:

Nominations:

Outstanding Comedy Series
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Two And A Half Men
Ugly Betty

my pick of these was The Office

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Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal
Grey’s Anatomy
Heroes
House
The Sopranos

my pick of these was Heroes

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Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

my pick of these was, hands down, Steve Carell

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Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
James Spader, Boston Legal
Hugh Laurie, House
Denis Leary, Rescue Me
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

my pick of these was: i don’t watch the show, but i’ll pick denis leary because i like him so much

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Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

my pick of these was: i’ll go with America on this one

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Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Minnie Driver, The Riches
Edie Falco, The Sopranos

my pick of these was: gotta pick Kyra to go all the way

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For a complete list of all the winners, visit emmys.tv.

NBC moves from iTunes to Unbox

webMistress — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:19:21 +0000

I tried Amazon’s Unbox when my dvr missed a couple of “The Closer” episodes. I got a pretty good deal and figured it’s about the next best thing to getting them free, whether on tv or the web.

The contract NBC has with iTunes ends this year and they are moving to Amazon’s Unbox to make the new NBC shows available next day for download. If you buy a couple of episodes you might be able to get the rest of the season at a prorated cost. You can already find episodes of “The Office” and “Heroes” available for $1.99 each. Some shows may even be available as a season package.

On September 10, free pilot episodes of “Bionic Woman” and “Chuck” will be available.

Try it out, you might really like the “on demand” life!

Lauren Upton Speaks Again

webMistress — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:32:57 +0000

Lauren Upton, Miss Teen USA South Carolina contestant and 3rd runner up, got her chance on NBC’s Today show to “re-answer” the question she so terribly muffed at the pageant. She is quoted as saying:

“I would love to re-answer that question,” Upton said. “Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography.”

I agree that speaking extemporaneously would not be my strong point, but the contestants are well aware they will be put on the spot and she should at least have considered doing what other contestants seem to do, writing a pat speech they use no matter what the question.

Off the top of my head, I might have said “Teaching Americans to be able to read a map is second only to my goal to spread peace throughout the world.”

Depp Does Dark Shadows

webMistress — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:48:37 +0000

Rumors have been flying lately that Johnny Depp is interested in playing Barnabas in a screen version of the 1960’s soap opera, Dark Shadows. The beloved television show has been remade once in the 1980’s and a pilot was shot, with no success, in recent years.

For those interested, the annual Dark Shadows convention is held annually in August in Tarrytown, New York, near the Lyndhurst estate, the house used for the exterior shots of Collinwood, the main house of the series and movies done in the 1970s. Jonathan Frid, the original Barnabas, will be attending this year’s event.

Depp has been a fan of the original series for quite some time and is working to get production under way and a likely release is sometime in 2008 or 2009.

TV News of Interest

webMistress — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:05:38 +0000

Tired of setting up your favorite shows or tuning in and finding out you missed the beginning or ending because it started early or late? Well CBS feels your pain and they are instituting a service whereby you can get an email or a text message if a program will be delayed. It is called CBS Eye-Lert and will launch this fall. Registration will be available on CBS.com, CBSNews.com and Sportsline.com and it will include notification of late-starting shows due to sports game overages which seem to occur every week during those particular seasons. Since CBS will be running football this fall, they want to cater to the audience they could lose if not for this service.

Ann Coulter and Paris Hilton

webMistress — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:42:56 +0000

So many things in the news these days:

No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you gotta admit that Ann has kept the spotlight on herself and her books’ sales must be going through the roof!

Perhaps Paris should write a book – I’m sure it would soar to the top of the best sellers list!

Austin Weather

webMistress — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:13:41 +0000

I knew it was raining here a lot lately but didn’t know just how bad the area was taking it – according to CNN, lots of bridges are out to the north and in the Hill Country and since the rain hasn’t stopped yet, there’s no telling how bad it’ll get. Thank goodness I live close to work, I’d hate to miss it!