TV on DVD: "Max Headroom: The Complete Series" will be released on DVD August 10th and it's a gem. All 14 episodes of the genre bending/defying/defining series are in the set along with some great interviews and rountables with co-creators Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, and George Stone as well as cast members Amanda Pays, Jeffrey Tambor, Concetta Tomei and Chris Young. The discussions are so good (Jeffrey Tambor of "Arrested Development" fame is excellent!) that one almost doesn't notice the absence of series star Matt Frewer. more ›

Somebody please confirm for us that they also thought the Ryan Phillippe/Ke$ha edition of "Saturday Night Live" was a bit of a chore to watch. Certainly, the Shake Weight DVD commercial was very funny (see embed at end of post), but the rest, other than some moments during Weekend Update, felt somewhat lacking. What did Phillippe contribute other than a pretty face - and doesn't Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug" sound more than a little derivative of "Tik Tok"? more ›

Tonight is a huge night for Showtime with season premieres of "Secret Diary of a Call Girl", "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union", and the series premiere of "La La Land" - an ambush comedy project by British comedian Marc Wootton that is somewhat in the style of Sacha Baron Cohen but much more relevant to Los Angeles residents as they are his exclusive targets. more ›

One thing most people don't see is what happens in the Press Room at the Emmys. After the winners leave the stage, they have the choice to do interviews with the likes of ET's Mary Hart and other outlets. They also have the choice to go into the press room to answer questions from the 300-or-so members of the press assembled there. more ›

The TV Junkie survived the 100+ F temps of the downtown concrete furnace to bring you these video interviews with actors, producers, writers, comedians and reality show performers. We've divided up our footage into comedy, drama, and reality television segments. more ›

On Sunday, "Dancing with the Stars'" Carrie Ann Inaba and "The Bachelor's" Chris Harrison will be working the Red Carpet for TV Guide Network's coverage of the Primetime Emmy Awards. Earlier this week, LAist had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with the tandem who will be interviewing the biggest stars of the small screen on “Live at the Emmy Awards with Carrie Ann and Chris” from 6:00-8:00 p.m. ET/PT. more ›

Tonight is all about the final episode of "ER" and/or how to avoid it. NBC is pretty much devoting all of its prime time programming to "ER", what with retrospectives, and the two-hour finale. We admit that we used to watch "ER" about 10 years ago because we had a girlfriend that was an "ER" addict, kind of like the way one becomes a vegetarian because one's significant other is a vegetarian. At some point though, the show jumped the shark - was it the multiple helicopter crashes? The myriad of fatal diseases stalking their way through the staff? The constant replenishment of characters so that the "young" part of a "young doctors in love" soap opera could still fit the definition? more ›

Tonight's season finale of "Damages" promises to be a nail-biter - we know where we'll be at 10pm. As it approaches, we wonder how there could possibly a third season after this, but that's the result of great writing. Unfortunately it's conflicting with the season premiere of "Reno 911!" but we take solace in the fact that it airs again later, because we're cheap that way. more ›

Late night news: TBS is building a late night show around comedian/actor George Lopez (whom we have loved as Mayor Hernandez on "Reno 911"). The hour-long show will air at 11pm, Monday through Fridays but we're not so sure that it's a good move to go head to head with local news. We'll see what happens when the show launches. TBS has dabbled in late night comedy, with the Frank Caliendo vehicle, "Frank TV", which has not been renewed, and the admirable "10 Items or Less", headed by John Lehr, which is up for renewal now. more ›

Ad spending in the US dropped by 2.6% in 2008, with only cable increasing ad revenue for the year. TV and cable still retained a leadership position as the preferred media, taking more than 60% of all ad dollars. more ›

Tonight NBC is going to attempt to out-Gordon Ramsay FOX with Chef Marco Pierre White's new show, "Chopping Block". Our guess is that White will not have as foul a mouth as Ramsay but will have all his other TV-worthy qualities: intimidation, rage, and viciousness. May the most evil bastard chef win. more ›

Critics are being rather forgiving of Jimmy Fallon's (only slightly shaky IMHO) "Late Night" debut: they brought out DeNiro who is always a tough interview and Fallon kind of made it work, and Timberlake kind of saved the first show - not sure why they had Van Morrison on, are they trying to reclaim the age 55-and-up demographic? more ›

It looks like Andy Richter will be returning to the side of Conan O'Brien when he fires up his version of "The Tonight Show" starting on June 1st. Richter will be the announcer for the show and will appear in comedy sketches but it's not clear if he will be a fixture on the guest couch a la Ed McMahon. Now that the Academy Awards are over with and Conan has shut down production, late night TV is a wasteland this week other than Jimmy Kimmel. more ›

Even though the majority of eyes are focused on Sunday's Oscars, this Saturday, the Writers Guild of America will be doling out their awards and a sampling of scuttlebutt with regards to TV leaders include "Mad Men", "30 Rock", "The Office", "The Wire", and "True Blood". more ›

Last week we went to a sneak preview of Demetri Martin's new show on Comedy Central, "Important Things With Demetri Martin", which premiere's tonight at 10:30pm. The show has been in the works since last Spring so we are happy to see it make it on air. more ›

Truth is stranger than fiction - or life imitates fiction? Something like that: Anna Torv and Mark Valley, the stars of FOX's "Fringe", have married in real life. Fringe also did pretty good in yesterday's Nielsen numbers, with a 10+% increase in viewership over last week, but that increase is getting attributed to the popularity of its lead in, "American Idol". more ›

Sir Paul McCartney will pay a visit to Comedy Central's "The Colber(t) Repor(t)" tonight - we're wondering if Colber(t) will succeed in performing a song with yet another famous musician. [Also Colber(t)-related is his latest "remix challenge", so all you audio-tweakers should check out the details here.] more ›

Yesterday's inauguration of President Barack Obama spiked traffic for all the venues that attempted to carry streaming video and audio of the proceedings. The NY Times has more details in this report which was made further enjoyable because they quote an analyst named "Woodcock". more ›

We're shattered over the death of Emmy-award winner Patrick McGoohan who died yesterday in LA at the age of 80. McGoohan made his first mark on TV in the series "Danger Man" (released in the US as "Secret Agent") and won his two Emmy awards for his work on Peter Falk's "Colombo" which he acted in, produced, directed, and wrote several episodes. more ›

HBO has acquired the exclusive rights to air Barack Obama's inauguration kick-off events on January 18th. The actual inauguration ceremony will be carried by several outlets but the 90+ minutes of live performances preceding the ceremony will exclusively belong to HBO. In 1993, paid $1.5 million to air the performances preceding Bill Clinton's inauguration but unlike that year, HBO says it will provide access to all viewers and not just HBO subscribers. more ›

The TV Junkie says "welcome back" to you all, to a new year and a new "Winter Season" of TV. Premieres we are looking forward to this month are "Nip/Tuck" (FX 1/6), "Damages" (FX 1/7), "24" (Fox 1/11), "Battlestar Galactica" (SciFi 1/16), "Big Love" (HBO 1/18), and "Lost" (ABC 1/21). more ›

As we reported yesterday, Jon Voight is going to be on "24" and now we learn from THR that William Hurt will be joining his The Big Chill co-star, Glenn Close, on FX's "Damages" this Fall. "Damages" was easily one of the top three programs of the year in 2007 and the addition of Hurt is beginning to solidify a picture of how the second season will function - Hurt will have regular role for the entire season on the show, playing a character that will be both a client as well as a personal acquaintance to Glenn Close's Patty Hewes. more ›

more ›

One of my favorite films of 2007 arrives to DVD today, , rectify that mistake today by buying the new, juicier version. more ›

"Atonement" leads the pack of nominees for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards with seven nods, including top actor nominations for both leads, Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. "American Gangster," "No Country for Old Men," and "Sweeney Todd" also garnered nominations; you can read a partial list of the nominees here at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association website. Hayden Panettiere, Dane Cook, Ryan Reynolds and Quentin Tarantino read the list at the Beverly Hilton at... more ›

Tuesdays will be the worse for the lack of Damages until when, next Summer?!?! There seems to be just a couple worthy prime time choices tonight despite a full plate of new offerings that have, to me, seemed mediocre. Please tell me in the comments if you watch any of the following and why (I've got an open mind, I'll check them out again): Gossip Girl, Life, Dirty Sexy Money, Criminal Minds, Private Practice. 5:00pm... more ›

The much anticipated Damages finale is tonight - since the series was so very good I'm already thinking beyond the finale and more about which players will remain for a second season. Ted Danson's Frobisher is so delightfully evil the airwaves will be much the poorer in his absence, if in this season marks his departure. 8:00pm Five Days HBO - Part 4 of 5. The only new drama programming on at 8pm tonight other... more ›

A lotta hungover people in Boston today, no doubt - and with that drama, who the eff was watching the GOP debate? I don't really care about that much this week other than the Damages finale tomorrow night, but first things first. Late night's a bust with almost 100% repeats tonight. Did you catch last night's Curb Your Enthusiasm? Hilarious that Larry David's fictional wife is also leaving him - brilliant too. 8:00pm Chuck NBC... more ›

Hope you caught the season finale of Mad Men - it was excellent, especially the final pitch to Kodak (the finale will repeat tonight at 10:00pm on AMC). Am still bummed over the death of Deborah Kerr, of the King and I and From Here to Eternity fame (yeah, that was her rolling around in the surf with Burt Lancaster), she will be very much missed. We also lost the last remaining member of the Rat Pack (not the Brat Pack as I previously wrote), comedian Joey Bishop. more ›

OK, so maybe I'm inflating it a bit since there were 18 people on the phone interview with Glenn Close and we each got just one question but I got mine in there! I managed to say "uh" only twice or so to the 5-time Oscar nominee which made me happy. What I learned in the interview (other than that Close is a fan of the Daily Show) is that they just finished shooting the... more ›