Results tagged “bbca”

The studios say that the SAG rejected their latest offer but the SAG says that isn't true. Still no word of a strike vote from SAG - if this SAG stuff is of particular interest to you, be sure to check out The Hollywood Reporter's SAG/AFTRA "Strike Zone".

- Unless you've got some specific sports events you want to watch this weekend, things are pretty slow on the tube - you'd better hope your Netflix came in.

Looks like the SAG and studios have dropped negotiations without reaching a deal so look for a bunch more DVD reviews from me in the next few weeks because it's time to stock up for the summer.

It looks like Time Warner Inc. will be spinning off Time Warner Cable and announcing that sometime today. No word yet on how that might affect subscribers (like yours truly) of the TV, phone, and web services that the cable entity offers.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Viacom, MGM, and Lion's Gate are teaming up to place (yet) another premium channel in your cable lineup - supposedly there are movies and programming that HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, etc. are not covering. Is the logo going to be a lion with a Viacom dog collar?

Hey "Gossip Girl" fans, The CW is pulling the show off of its website because too many of you are choosing to watch it online vs. TV (where its ratings are slumping). So, I get it, restrict the viewing of the content and everything will get better. What do you want to bet that this won't fix the problem?

Naoko Mori plays science technician/alien-buster Toshiko Sato on the BBC's "Torchwood", the coolest science fiction show to come out of the UK in quite a while. In fact, when put up against a lot of the other science fiction originating on cable, "Torchwood" more than holds its own against "Stargate Atlantis", "Flash Gordon", etc. The production values are great and the stories I think are a bit more unique than some of these other incredibly inbred and convoluted series.

So can fans really make a difference? Word has it that enough fans got through to NBC for them to keep the high school football-romance-drama "Friday Night Lights" on the air through a partnership with DirecTV. This gives one hope that a group of people can make a difference but then disappointment that truly great shows like "Arrested Development" couldn't make the cut. Speaking of which, Will Arnett is on Jimmy Kimmel tonight - Arnett mentioned on Conan a couple weeks ago that perhaps there is an "Arrested Development" movie in the works, wouldn't that be something?

OK so the Oscars are this weekend. Even though the writers' strike is over, the prediction is that this will be a ho-hum (excuse me?) Oscars. First of all, the majority of the films presented for consideration are real downers, secondly, because of the strike, many potential presenters thought that the awards ceremony would be canceled or drastically cut back so they made other plans and are now not available to present at the show. I'm sure they will have enough presenters but perhaps there won't be as many "mega-stars", thus leaving room for more indie-types.

OK so the PBS examination of the Haditha massacre is going to be pretty heavy duty tonight, there's a couple options for lighter fare, and of course the season finale of Nip/Tuck will be the pornographic prime time finish.

OK so the Oscars a week from Sunday are what we're building up to but as an enthusiastic follower of Dexter on Showtime, I'm intrigued to see how it will translate to its network debut on CBS at 10:00pm this Sunday. At first I was concerned that the end result would be a heavily edited, several minutes shorter, vapid and empty shell of its former glory. Not so according to my Showtime contact. Evidently when they were shooting Dexter, for scenes that were gory, had nudity, or strong language, they shot alternate footage meant for broadcast TV. On Sunday we'll see if the result is a dumbed down and boring version of our favorite serial killer.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that '24' co-creator Joel Surnow is bailing from the show and the Fox network. Surnow is the "right-wing nutjob" who is a personal friend of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and President Bush - he's the one that had the brilliant idea to come up with a right wing "answer" to 'The Daily Show' for Fox, but the failure to produce one is evidence he never understood the question.

With even more evidence of the population spending more time with programming and movies online, Lifetime, which I jokingly refer to as the most sexist network on the planet, is now launching programs on the web. If you weren't getting enough reality TV, first verify that you don't have testicles and then check out mylifetime.com and look for "That Magic Moment" which is about couples' first time in the sack and the "Clean Start Challenge” about 10 goody-two-shoes women who are sticking to their New Years' resolutions.

Torchwood is a guilty pleasure and its new season starts tonight on the BBCA. If you've ever been in a foreign land and seen a slightly dated American TV program come on and felt that queasy embarrassment then you know what watching Torchwood is like. It's cheesy and over-the-top science fiction with British accents and the odd dashing American thrown in. Everyone is hyper-sexed and they don't seem to discriminate between whichever sex they are attracted to at a particular moment and despite all the sexiness and the fact that it's a Euro import, I'm always a little dismayed at the lack of skin and even more dismayed at some of the gay-'80s hairdos. Still, it's well shot, good for a few laughs, and the way things are going with US licensing of UK shows, you'll be seeing it on one of the big four before you know it.